While
a lot of attention has been focused on reports of Russian (or other)
hacking attempts to interfere in our elections, the root cause for such
concern should not be the attempts—but what could be wrong with our
voting system that encourages such attempts:
A
recent study from the Brennan Center for Justice points out two major
ways in which hackers could succeed...aging voting machines and voter
registration using outdated software. It listed 3 ways in which states
can move to keep voting safe.
One, check voter registration systems regularly and upgrade if needed.
Two, replace old electronic voting machines that don’t have a paper trail—which allows independent checks for accuracy.
Three, audit votes. Only half the states do this, and often not well enough to catch ballot errors.
Congress and the states need to spend more money to see that these 3 things are done, done soon, and done sufficiently.
But there’s more...and these ideas were not in the Brennan report.
One..the
BIG one..eliminate the Electoral College. It stands to reason if hackers
want to influence a close election, concentrating on one big, but
vulnerable state’s voting system offers a much greater chance of
success than if we switch to "one person, one vote”—where the winner is
determined by the total national vote—and where hackers would have to
influence many, many more votes in many states to have a chance for
success.
Two...require
states to set the district lines for Congressional and legislative
seats by independent commissions and NOT by state legislatures. About 20
states do this now, Kentucky needs to join them...and with the next
census looming, needs to set up such a commission right away. The
Herald-Leader twice showed this approach works by coming up with
Congressional districts far more equal and far less “gerrymandered”
than what the legislature did.
If we truly want to stop hackers, and ensure that every vote counts we need to improve our democracy as well as our software.
I'm just sayin'...
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