New US Voting Tech To Be Tested Ahead Of 2024 Elections

The 2024 elections are on the horizon, and to further safeguard the security of voting in the US, a new type of technology is about to be implemented. The push comes after sentiments of cyberattacks and other forms of interference threaten the integrity of polling in the country.

The initiative is led by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to provide a nationwide uniform testing program for the technology ahead of the upcoming elections.

Per Associated Press (AP), states have been left to evaluate the voting technology, including registration databases, websites for official reporting, and electronic poll books. In fact, in the 2020 elections, 15 states, including Nevada, Florida, and Arizona, didn’t require any pre-testing or certification for electronic poll books.

With the rise of computerized systems in one-third of all voting jurisdictions, there comes a unique set of security challenges, as most are hooked up to internet connections or interact with other systems, such as counties with a vote center model that allows citizens to enter their poll from anywhere. Here, electronic poll books communicate with each other to ensure that one person has not sent in their ballots more than once, nor have they already mailed in separately.

Without proper security measures, hackers could enter the system and remove voters from the registration rolls, kicking them off the list at the electoral stations and forcing them to cast a provisional ballot.

In a recent discussion of the testing program, Jamie Remes with VR Systems, a provider of electronic poll books and election management systems, said, “One of the major benefits of this program is that it will provide a consistent process for certification for all of the different states that adopt it.” 

 
After the 2020 elections, the rise of misinformation and other foreign actors attempting to interfere with the electoral procedure has changed the course of future polling procedures. 

“It’s not just about product testing,” said The Public’s Radio’s Jared Dearing, the center’s senior director of election security and the former director of the Kentucky Board of Elections. “It’s increasing the security posture of the companies that are creating these products.”
 
All said, how much of an effect the tests will have depends on how many technology providers and state election offices sign up. Nevertheless, there is reportedly great interest in the program, according to AP.
 
 
 
[via Associated Press and Interesting Engineering, Photo 82371523 © Roibul | Dreamstime.com]