Joey Dodds, Galois and Free & Fair
It is discussed in the media every day. It is the focus of congressional investigations and DEF CON villages. It is a core concern of our nation. Our democracy must be resistant to adversarial influences, both domestic and foreign.
Hundreds of millions vote on outdated computers that no cybersecurity professional trusts. Tens of millions vote with no paper ballot record. Government agencies responsible for the correctness and security of election computing systems—primarily the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)—are under-resourced. Elected officials and electoral officials already have their plates full with IT challenges such as database management and ransomware attacks. The costs of recertification make voting system vendors hesitant to make significant changes to their products, especially if they don't see universal demand across their customer base.
These groups understand that things can be better, but they need help.
This talk will explain in plain language (i) how we got to where we are today in elections in the USA, (ii) the aspects of the elections systems landscape that make change difficult, and (iii) practical actions we can take to break this cycle.
We will describe what we are doing in the Microsoft ElectionGuard project and in the DARPA SSITH project to help create a new generation of trustworthy election technologies.
Joey Dodds, Galois and Free & Fair
![](https://www.usenix.org/sites/default/files/styles/speaker_photo/public/dodds_joey_130x150.jpg?itok=O104nx0j)
Dr. Joey Dodds is a Principal Researcher at Galois and the co-founder of Free & Fair. Joey is leading the ElectionGuard project and is one of the core experts in the world on matters of trustworthy election technologies.
Open Access Media
USENIX is committed to Open Access to the research presented at our events. Papers and proceedings are freely available to everyone once the event begins. Any video, audio, and/or slides that are posted after the event are also free and open to everyone. Support USENIX and our commitment to Open Access.
![](https://www.usenix.org/sites/all/modules/usenix/usenix_files/images/usenix-locked.png)
author = {Joey Dodds},
title = {Trustworthy Elections},
year = {2020},
address = {San Francisco, CA},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = jan
}