Election administrators have a complex job. They must balance multiple demands on their time and ensure that there exists the proper procedures, software and personnel to manage our voting booths. A new tool called risk-limiting election audits are becoming a hot topic for discussion in election reform circles as a method to identify trouble with election results.
On January 31st 2019, the Brennan Center for Justice held an 8 hour program which focused on “Making Every Vote Count: A Practical Guide to Risk-Limiting Audits”. There is a real hope the technique can be used to address weaknesses and shortcomings of voting technology since there is no full guarantee of security on computer software. One must also note the other solution of having voting systems that were software-free but that’s for another article. Here is the description from the event invite:
With the spotlight on election security, election administrators need tools to provide voters with confidence in all stages of our electoral system. Join election officials, cybersecurity experts, policy makers, and others for a practical overview of cutting-edge post-election audits, which provide statistical confidence in election outcomes.
As election officials across the country continue to look for opportunities to make their systems and procedures more secure before the 2020 election, what should election officials know about risk-limiting audits? What are they? What tools are necessary? How do they work in states with different voting systems? How much do they cost? We’ll tackle these topics and more.
During this talk you will get to learn more from top experts at the Brennan Center and also get answers to some of the above questions. The video lasts for a full 8 hours so get comfortable!
What do you think about the technology? Add you comment below…
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