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posted by martyb on Sunday January 06 2019, @08:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the stopped-clock dept.

Securityweek has a look at the bits of HR1 with digital election security implications running:

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives has unveiled its first Bill: HR1, dubbed the 'For the People Act'. It has little chance of getting through the Republican-controlled Congress, and even less chance of being signed into law by President Trump.

Nevertheless, HR1 lays down a marker for current Democrat intentions; and it is likely that some of the potentially bi-partisan elements could be spun out into separate bills with a greater chance of progress.

One of these is likely to include the section on election security. This has been a major issue since the meddling by Russian-state hackers in the 2016 presidential election, and the subsequent realization on how easy it would be for interested parties (both foreign hackers and local activists) to influence election outcomes.

I'm all for secure and accountable elections but the feds are going to need to be careful and deliberate in what they mandate vs. what they place conditions for funding on. They do have significant authority as far as election laws go but their power is more deep than broad; most specifics are legally up to the states. Just because something is a good idea doesn't mean they currently have the legal authority necessary to do it.


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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 07 2019, @03:06AM (4 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday January 07 2019, @03:06AM (#782990) Homepage Journal

    City people knowing even a hundredth of the voters in their precinct? Best joke I've heard all day!

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @06:30AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @06:30AM (#783063)

    I only have to remember people in my ward and district. That makes around 600. Yeah, I can do that.

  • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday January 07 2019, @07:49AM (2 children)

    by captain normal (2205) on Monday January 07 2019, @07:49AM (#783080)

    I don't know about all metropolitan areas in this country, but I do live in a very populated area and I do know many of the poll workers in my precinct, and they know me. So I doubt that your post will hold much water.

    --
    When life isn't going right, go left.
    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 07 2019, @01:07PM

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday January 07 2019, @01:07PM (#783146) Homepage Journal

      Knowing you isn't amazing. You may be an outgoing, charismatic guy offline. Knowing every voter in their precinct would be beyond belief even in a small town though.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by slinches on Monday January 07 2019, @07:19PM

      by slinches (5049) on Monday January 07 2019, @07:19PM (#783305)

      I will counter your anecdote with one of my own. Polling places without voter ID verification systems are both slower and much less secure.

      In my case, the poll workers have been different for every election I have voted in and the precinct is big enough that I rarely recognize any of the other voters there. Substitution fraud was trivially easy back when the only voter verification was a list of names, just sign next to a random one and go vote. Not only did that system lack any real security, it was slow too. After the new voter ID requirements were introduced in my state, they deployed an electronic voter verification system that allows same number of poll workers handle 3-4x the number of voters/hour. The new verification system consists of a group of kiosks where you scan your ID and then hand it to the poll worker standing behind them to verify that the picture matches the person standing there. It then tells the worker if you are in the correct polling place and which ballot to give you (our polling places often cover two or more school districts and/or local municipalities, requiring a handful of different ballot configurations). Prior presidential elections had hour plus long lines, this last one I was able to just walk straight up to the kiosk, swipe my ID and go vote. (Note: voting here is still done on paper ballots with an electronic scanner to provide unofficial vote totals)