Yahoo, the DNC, Federal Reserve, Ashley Madison, US Office of Personnel Management, Google, Sony, Jeep, Charles Schwab, JP Morgan, Target, Symantec, Northrop-Grumman, the US State Department…
The above is a partial list of corporations and agencies that have been hacked in the past few years. Given the incredible computer security resources available to each of them, it is reasonable to expect that it is not a matter of “if” but of “when” any widely used Internet voting system will be hacked. This year 30 states plus Washington, DC are allowing overseas military and civilians to return their voted ballots over the Internet; Alaska allows any Alaskan to vote over the Internet. States typically implement Internet voting with the hope of increasing voter access, especially of military voters, or reducing electoral costs. But it is critical to consider the prospective impact of hacks on election outcomes before allowing voted ballots to be delivered over the Internet. A safer option for military voters with access to postal mail is provided by the 2009 MOVE Act, which requires the posting of blank ballots online at least 45 days in advance of an election. Overseas voters can download the blank ballot, print it, mark it, and then return the marked ballot via postal mail.
There is no required Federal government oversight of Internet voting vendors, and there is no special legal accountability. When asked to develop standards for Internet voting, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) concluded that today’s technology cannot mitigate against many of the threats. NIST also stated that malware on the voters’ computers could compromise the secrecy or integrity of the ballots.
Malware is one of a multitude of Internet voting threats. A voter casting a ballot on a malware-infected machine might select candidate A, but the malware could change the vote to candidate B without the voter’s knowledge and submit the rigged ballot over the Internet. If the malware is pervasive, election outcomes could be decided by the malware creator, while the malicious activity goes undetected. Even if a successful hack is detected, correction could be difficult or impossible; ultimately, any Internet voting hack could create doubt about election outcomes and cynicism among the voting public.
Full Article: Internet Voting: Not Ready for Prime Time | Huffington Post.