Voting machines that do not provide a paper trail or cannot be independently audited should immediately be removed, concludes a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is recommending the use of human-readable paper ballots as the best way to protect the security and integrity of US elections, at least in the immediate future. In fact, the committee behind the report wants election officials to consider ditching voting methods that do not provide a reliable paper-verifiable audit trail as early as the upcoming 2018 midterms and for all local, state, and federal elections by 2020. It also does not want jurisdictions to permit the use of the Internet and Internet-connected systems to return marked ballots until “very robust guarantees” of security and verifiability are developed. Other recommendations include the need for states to mandate risk-limiting audits prior to the certification of election results and routine assessments of the integrity of voter registration systems and databases.
… Marian Schneider, president of election watchdog group Verified Voting, says the recommendations in the new report are exactly in line with what her organization has been calling for, as well.
While many states already use the kind of paper-based voting system that the report recommends, many others do not, she says. Some states use completely paperless voting systems or Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) systems, for which a voter’s choice is recorded and stored directly in the computer. Some DREs support a paper-based audit trail where voters can verify the system has properly captured their intent before casting their vote. And many states use a combination of paper and paperless systems, Schneider notes.
Full Article: The Best Way To Secure US Elections? Paper Ballots.