The Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR) released a research report titled “Voter Registration Database Security” dated September 2018. The authors/researchers of the report are David Becker, Jacob Kipp, Jack R. Williams, and Jenny Lovell who are respectively Executive Director, Program Manager, Research Associate and Research Associate at the Center. David Becker is actually the Co-Founder and Executive Director for CEIR and well known election reform advocate.

The new research report used a survey to look at “three major areas of VRDB security: (1) prevention, (2) detection, and (3) mitigation”. The report discusses the findings of that survey in detail. Here is a taste:

Experts agree that attempts to interfere so far have been aimed at undermining Americans’ confidence in elections, not changing actual vote totals. That means attackers seem particularly interested in seeking to infiltrate systems like elections websites or voter registration databases, which are more readily accessible than the machines that actually tabulate votes. If those systems were compromised, it could create chaos and confusion that could further damage Americans’ faith in our electoral system.

Based on the survey responses, it’s clear that states are taking securing their VRDBs seriously, though there’s still room for improvement. Significant majorities have implemented best practices for VRDB backups, cybersecurity training, and monitoring of VRDB access. However, states could still improve in certain areas. Many states, for example, need to review their password requirements and still need to implement multi-factor authentication.

The Center for Election Innovation and Research is a “nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to improve election administration through research, data, and technology”. You can see CEIR Co-Founder and Executive Director David Becker discuss other ways to boost voter confidence in elections during this panel discussion from February 17, 2017 on C-SPAN. The video is about 80 minutes long. Click here to watch the video. Also, be sure to checkout our Election Technology section for full coverage and updates on voting in the modern world.