Friday, August 12, 2016

Opinion: Protect Our Voting Machines From Hackers

Editor's Note: The author is the deputy director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

In the last two weeks, there have been credible reports that Russia is attempting to influence our elections by hacking into the Democratic Party's email server and other campaign files. These reports are troubling. But an attack on our country's voting machines, once deemed far-fetched, is even more disturbing.

In response, the Obama administration is considering designating America's electronic voting system as "critical infrastructure," which would likely bring more federal resources to protecting these systems from attack.

But with just three months before the presidential election, what can be done? In truth, making big changes to election machinery before this November isn't realistic. There isn't enough time. Fortunately, security experts and activists have worked for several years to shore up election integrity, and there is much we can do to secure the technology currently in place. 

Click here for the full article.

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