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10-5-2016 - CSO - Q&A: The myths and realities of hacking an election - CSO Online asked several experts for their thoughts on the realities of election hacking

10-5-2016 - CSO - Hacking an election is about influence and disruption, not voting machines - Election systems have problems, sure, but voters are the larger, softer target

10-5-2016- CSO - One election-system vendor uses developers in Serbia - T oday, election system makers can operate in much the same manner as any vendor to build code; that includes using overseas developers. One major election technology company, Dominion Voting Systems (DVS) , develops its systems in the U.S. and Canada but also has an office in Belgrade, Serbia. It was recently advertising openings for four senior software developers in Belgrade .

10-5-2016 - CSO - If the election is hacked, we may never know - Hacking an election is about influence and disruption, not voting machines, voting booth election

Resources

OSETS flagship effort is the TrustTheVote™ Project. The objective is to develop freely available, more verifiable, accurate, secure and transparent elections technolog What is the TrustTheVote Project?

OSET sees themselves as change agents. OSET is tax-exempt 501.c.3 non-profit organization chartered with research, development and education on elections technology reform. In the digital age, more access to information means all elections are close. The sheer volume of ballots makes the use of computers in elections inevitable and downright necessary.

The OSET Institute was established in November 2006 by a couple of concerned technologists in the Silicon Valley as a California non-profit corporation dedicated to the public benefit. Originally, and until 2013 the organization was known legally as the Open Source Digital Voting (“OSDV”) Foundation and its name evolved in October 2013 following the IRS final determination of our tax-exempt status after a record-breaking six (6) year prosecution of our status application.

The OSET Institute is all about making elections software technology publicly available in order to increase verification, accuracy, security, and transparency (in process), and ensure that ballots are counted as cast. The work is all about integrity in elections.

PA Election Updates and Resources

Keystone Votes: The Coalition for Modern Elections - Pennsylvania’s election system is broken. Though all citizens of age have the right to vote, many still face obstacles that prevent them from exercising that right – particularly those in low-income communities, people with disabilities, and racial and ethnic minorities.

Past PA Cases

Banfield v. Cortes - The case, Banfield v. Cortes, alleges that the improper certification of DRE voting machines violates the plaintiffs’ constitutional right to vote as well Pennsylvania election law. The lawsuit aims to decertify the DRE voting machines and put in place a secure and reliable voting system that can be meaningfully monitored.

Voter ID: Applewhite v. Commonwealth - In conjunction with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Advancement Project, and Arnold & Porter LLP, the Law Center challenged the photo ID law in Commonwealth Court shortly after it went into effect in early 2012. UPDATE: Governor Tom Corbett announced on May 8, 2014 that the state will not appeal a Commonwealth Court judge’s ruling that prohibits enforcement of Pennsylvania’s voter ID law.

Voting Access in Chester County - The lawsuit asked the court to order Chester County to return the Lower Oxford East polling place to the Lincoln University campus, to authorize federal elections monitors in order to prevent unnecessary obstacles, and to award damages to residents who faced extreme difficulties or were prevented from voting in the 2008 general election. The case quickly went into negotiations, then into mediation under the direction of federal magistrate Judge Jacob P. Hart. A settlement was reached in the case in August of 2010. The Law Center partnered in this case with DLA Piper LLP, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Marian Schneider, Esq., a Chester County lawyer and voting rights advocate. Outcome Under pressure of the lawsuit, Chester County agreed in August 2010 to stop interfering with the most fundamental American right – the right to vote – and agreed in settlement to return the Lower Oxford East polling place to the Lincoln University campus, where it had been in the 1990s. The County also agreed to notify all Lower Oxford East voters of the change in polling location and to transfer a portion of Lower Oxford East to Lower Oxford West in order to lessen administrative burdens.

Voting Access in Chester County - Election administrators did not allow the safeguard of emergency paper ballots, and many voters, unable to wait in hours-long lines, left their polling places without casting a ballot. In response, Pennsylvania’s voting commissioner issued an order stating that emergency ballots could only be distributed when every single machine in a precinct failed. In October 2008, the Law Center, joining a coalition of Pennsylvania voters and civil rights groups led by the NAACP State Conference of Pennsylvania, filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to ensure that voters receive emergency paper ballots on Election Day when 50% or more voting machines become inoperable at any polling site in the state. With record numbers of voters expected, Pennsylvania risked widespread disenfranchisement if action was not taken, and the case was followed closely by media and voting rights advocates nationally. Outcome District Court Chief Judge Harvey Bartle III granted preliminary injunction in Cortes on October 29th, ordering Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortes to direct poll workers to issue emergency ballots immediately whenever 50% of voting machines in a precinct are inoperable. He wrote: “The right to vote is at the foundation of our constitutional form of government. Ultimately all our freedoms depend on it. Protection of this right under the circumstances presented here is without question in the public interest.” Secretary Cortes issued a release the same day stating that his office would not appeal the decision and would comply with the Judge’s order. The lawsuit gained national attention, providing an important ruling that the right to vote includes freedom from unnecessary obstacles and fear that one’s vote will not be counted.

PA Voting Rights Resources

Voter Registration, Identification, and Locations

For detailed information about the voter ID law, what type of ID you need to have, and how to obtain proper ID, visit the Committee of Seventy’s website or read the ACLU’s “know your rights” toolkit.

For information about the voter ID laws in other states, visit the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Laws “Map of Shame.”

You can find your local polling place and information on registering to vote on the VotesPA website. Make sure to check the site before each election as polling places can change between elections.

For more information about voting procedures, rules, and the rights of voters, visit Common Cause Pennsylvania’s Voters’ Tool Kit.

For information about how to vote and preparing for election day, click this link from the City of Philadelphia City Commissioners, the body responsible for Philadelphia elections.

Voter Suppression To report voter suppression efforts or problems voting, call Election Protection: 1-866-OUR-VOTE or visit their website.

Advocates and Coalitions

Advancement Project: The Advancement Project is a policy, communications and legal action group committed to racial justice by helping organized communities of color dismantle and reform the unjust and inequitable policies that undermine the promise of democracy. Voter protection is one of the Advancement Project’s central issues.

Common Cause Pennsylvania: Common Cause Pennsylvania is a non-partizan citizen’s organization whose goal is to ensure open, honest, accountable and effective government in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Election Protection: Through a national hotline, website, and comprehensive voter protection field programs, Election Protection provides Americans from coast to coast with comprehensive voter information and advice on how they can make sure their vote is counted.

PA Voter ID Coalition: The Pennsylvania Voter ID Coalition is composed of 80 organizations that have convened to conduct non-partisan education activities about Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law, which will go into effect at the November 6 general election.

Why Tuesday?: A 501(c)3 non-partisan organization, Why Tuesday? advocates moving election day to a weekend in order to accommodate more citizens’ schedules and increase turnout.