Discussion
Homeland Security Dept. Asks for Inquiries Into Pillars of Election Infrastructure
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/us/politics/mullin-homeland-security-ballot-devices.html?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Posted into New York @new-york-newyorktimes
This is an example of what a mixed bag the election “reforms” coming out of the administration are. Some of it (the attacks on ERIC, the baseless claims of widespread fraud, etc) is plain, easily refuted, nonsense.
But others are fully consistent with findings and recommendations of experts. Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs) *are* problematic security risks. While there is no evidence thus far of elections being rigged by hacking, we should eliminate vulnerable technologies like BMDs and DREs.
@mattblaze I can't remember right now: is the output of a BMD human readable?
@mark Different models behave differently. Virtually all print the ballot selections in human readable form, but some encode the selections in a barcode for scanning and tabulation. The human readable printout would be used in an audit or recount, however.
@mark The problem with BMDs is that they require the voters to diligently confirm that the printed selections are correct before casting the ballot, and every study done so far suggests that voters don’t actually do this very well.
So a malfunctioning or malicious BMD could affect an election outcome.
@mattblaze I received funny looks when I verified my VVPAT printout.
So once again, there’s no simple, clean partisan narrative here. There’s still work to do to improve the security and robustness of US elections, and understanding the path forward here requires rolling up one’s sleeves and digging in to the details.
Fortunately, and ironically given the low trust in elections today, there has been terrific progress over the last decade in making US elections more secure. Inherently insecure touchscreen DRE voting machines are rapidly disappearing. Post-election risk-limiting audits are being adopted in more jurisdictions every year.
But there’s still work to be done, including (even if it makes some uncomfortable) some of the things recommended by the administration.
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