Here is how to perform elections in a manner that is trustworthy:
1. One citizen, one vote
2. citizens are assigned a digital certificate that is verified by multiple third parties each time it is used, much like an SSL certificate can be verified for encrypted communications between a person and a web-seller like Amazon.
3. each device involved in the election such as the voting machine, the scanning machine, wireless access points, switches, routers, modems, etc. is given a similar digital certificate. Each site should also have a digital certificate and this should be correlated with the devices located at the site such that all the devices make up part of the correct block\hash - this would essentially say that at
4. what can be done with the above items is provide a seamless end-to-end chain of custody for the votes transmittal between sites.
5. such transmittals should be counted within encrypted databases that use salt technology to make them close to impossible to crack- (or really completely impossible to crack due to the huge number of characters mandated for the encryption key) in the timeframe that the election would take place. Keep in mind that anything can be cracked given enough time. The idea here is to use sufficient encryption such that in the span of the vote it would be impossible to perform a valid crack.
6. ALL data and transactions would only be written to WORM media- which allows WRITE ONCE and READ MANY functions. Basically the data can only be written once and cannot be changed.
7. All devices, for national security reasons, must be manufactured in the United States by corporations that are publicly owned only by US Nationals.
8.All software MUST be open sourced and readable to any.
9. All software must be digitally signed using a digital certificate similar to those mentioned above.
10. All devices must be 100% accounted for at all times to prevent tampering. Such devices should be kept under video surveillance during non-election periods.
11. such devices should be fully updated 60 days before an election occurs and then repeatedly tested to determine viability for the election using the sample election ballots. All testing should be fully recorded to WORM media.
12. WORM media should be allocated by state boards of elections to each county using a chain-of-custody process.
13. laws need to be written such that breaks in chain of custody invalidates the results much like the case for drug tests.
14. Boards of elections in each county should be free from interference from outside sources of money. Their money needs to come from the county and the money needs to be accounted for in the same manner that election campaigns need to account for sourcing and distribution of funds.
15. Connectivity to\from voting machines need to be tracked via log and written to WORM media. Such connectivity must be via a VPN tunnel, or similarly end-to-end encryption tech. Defense in depth is necessary. One layer of defense is insufficient.
16. Encryption should use the highest order of algorithm \ hashing available, such as AES256 \ SHA512. When technology advances so should the employment of these technologies, such that iterative generations of the AES encryption or SHA hashing be used when available.
17. because new tech is produced frequently, hardware and software should initially be developed as a framework which would allow features to be plugged in. For example, an encryption module could be plugged into the software when it becomes available and tests out successfully.
18. there is significant expense in doing all of this for an entire state. Funding would need to be procured, but the tech would prove to be long-lasting in that you could support elections for many years from one round of buying because of the modular and open source architecture.
19. Note that what a voting machine does is very simple. There is never a reason to weight votes differently. its just a counting mechanism that needs to repeatedly demonstrate that it cannot be tampered with.
20. tabulation of votes should occur both electronically and physically with a paper receipt which the voter could then go view on a website to verify that it was counted properly.
21. None of the technology that is used should be proprietary in a manner such that the source code cannot be publicly viewed. Again, this is simple technology. When you obfuscate the inner workings you are trying to hide what is happening. There is no legitimate reason for this to be done. It is entirely nefarious.
i’m sure other ideas would fit in with this or fix the shortcomings in this. This is just what i’ve come up with off the top of my head after 25 years of experience with IT.