[NJTechDiv] ElectionGuard is coming
Mario Brusco
mrb620 at hotmail.com
Wed Feb 26 22:44:53 UTC 2020
this is from the show notes of a podcast I sometimes listen to. enjoy.
Microsoft’s “ElectionGuard” being used for the first time today!
As the saying goes, if it’s Tuesday there’s an election somewhere. And
in this case that somewhere is the small town of Fulton Wisconsin. But
what’s making history there today, is that the residents of Fulton
Wisconsin will be electing representatives for the Wisconsin Supreme
Court using voting machines for the first time powered by Microsoft’s
ElectionGuard software. These are the first voting machines deployed in
any US election that will be running Microsoft’s new voting software.
Recall that "ElectionGuard" is a fully open SDK that Microsoft has made
available at no charge on GitHub:
https://github.com/microsoft/electionguard
(um, something went awry here) world’s top cryptographers, and allowing
it to be extensively audited for bugs. The project has moved with
startling speed since it is viewed with great hope and optimism by US
election officials. Announced in May of 2019, it matured from a simple
idea to a US election pilot program in only nine months.
Microsoft first demonstrated their prototype voting machines to the
small audience of the Aspen Security Forum last July, they then released
the first ElectionGuard code to GitHub in September, then opened a bug
bounty program the following month in October.
Today’s pilot test is deliberately small, with only a few hundred votes
expected to be cast, but this will provide voting machine vendors, as
well as quite anxious US election officials, with a real-world test of
the software to see whether it’s worth a shot and ready for wider
deployment.
Before today’s event, Tom Burt, Microsoft’s Vice President for Customer
Security & Trust said that using ElectionGuard won’t be complicated
since Microsoft designed the software from the ground up around ease of
use, accessibility, and a user-friendly interface. He explained that the
voting experience is a three-step process:
First, a voter will select candidates on a touchscreen and verify their
choices.
Second, the voter will print and review for accuracy a paper ballot and
simultaneously receive a separate tracking code.
Third, the voter will deposit their ballot into a ballot box for counting."
But, as was described, there’s a LOT of wonderful quite advanced crypto
technology happening behind the scenes:
● After casting their ballot, each voter receives a tracking code.
● They can later use the tracking code on an election website to verify
that their vote has been counted and that the vote has not been altered.
● The tracking code does not reveal the vote, so it won’t allow
third-parties to see who voted for whom.
ElectionGuard employs a homomorphic encryption scheme developed in-house
at Microsoft under Senior Cryptographer Josh Benaloh. Counterintuitive
though it is, this form of encryption allows the counting of individual
votes while keeping the votes encrypted.
The ElectionGuard SDK also supports third-party “verifier” apps to
independently check that encrypted votes have been counted properly and
not altered. Verifier apps were created for use by voting officials, the
media, or any third party interested in the voting process. And
ElectionGuard machines can also produce paper ballots, as a printed
record of their vote, which voters can place inside voting boxes, like
old-fashioned ballots. And, finally, ElectionGuard supports voting
through open accessibility hardware.
The voting machines being deployed tomorrow in Fulton were built by
VotingWorks at:
https://voting.works/
Democracy is a choice. VotingWorks is a non-partisan non-profit,
building a secure, affordable, and delightful voting system. Our voting
machine creates paper ballots that voters can directly verify. Our
risk-limiting audit software ensures votes cast on any paper-based
system are correctly tabulated. Our source code is available on GitHub.
You can help by making a tax-deductible donation or joining our team.
And VotingWorks is not alone. Other voting machine vendors including
Smartmatic and Clear Security Now! #754 7Ballot have also announced
partnerships with Microsoft to build ElectionGuard-based voting machines
and a fourth group, Dominion Voting Systems, is also exploring the use
of Microsoft’s SDK. This is a perfect storm outcome since once officials
see how this works, what it means for the systems to be open and
auditable, and what this system features, no one who isn’t doing this
will continue being viable. This makes the welcome and long-overdue end
to proprietary closed voting machine systems. And good riddance!
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