[NJTechDiv] ElectionGuard is coming

[Mario Brusco]

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!