Revisioning the U.S. Elections Process: Voting Security and Election Integrity

Concerns about the overall integrity of the U.S. electoral system have been raised in light of recent events including the real (and perceived) vulnerabilities of voting technologies (in all forms), as well as the possible interference in U.S. voting by external actors. These questions have been further intensified by the social, political and process complexities of the U.S. electoral system. These perceptions of, and certainty in, the security of electoral processes have significant impact on public confidence in electoral system integrity. The objective of this paper is to clearly articulate the various dimensions of security in a comprehensive manner, while taking into consideration other key system objectives such as accessibility, usability and transparency. Any meaningful conversation on ensuring the security and reliability of the voting process needs to be based on fact and empirical evidence rather than “conventional wisdom.” This is true regardless of whether the underlying technologies are digital or paper based.