Page 6 - GCN, August/September 2017

[BrieFing]
Defending the ‘front line’
against election fraud
BY SARA FRIEDMAN
At the DefCon hacking conference in July, hackers successfully breached a wide range of election systems equip- ment. But Noah Praetz, director of elec- tions in Cook County, Ill., told members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commis- sion at a public meeting in August that the real-world voting security situation is not quite so dire.
At DefCon, “a lot of the equipment used was old, and the hackers’ access [to internal workings of the machines] isn’t a reality,” Praetz said. Furthermore, most jurisdictions use paper ballots or have a paper trail, whereas the DefCon hackers’ “critiques of the machines were aimed at the machines that don’t have either.”
In order to limit threats, he said all elections should have a paper trail; nearly 80 percent of jurisdictions al- ready do that.
Cook County has invested in applied forensic tools to make sure machines are counting ballots accurately, Praetz said. His board of elections tested 2016 voter data three times to ensure that nothing was hacked.
That sort of sustained attention is necessary, he added. Since former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson designated state elections assets as U.S. critical infra- structure in January, Praetz said he sees counties and cities as the front line in defending against election fraud.
“There is no substitute for on-the- ground expertise, but with this new threat space, we are going to need more assistance,” he said.
Praetz and other election officials are encouraging counties and cities to share information on voter fraud incidents. “The threats are fast, and breaches are becoming more common,” he said. “The hope of staying ahead should come from sharing information.”
Last month, for example, the Elec- tion Assistance Commission conducted a planning exercise in New York City that resulted in some surprising results, which remain classified.
“I found the meeting very informa- tive, enlightening and frightening,” Commission Vice Chairman Thomas Hicks said. “I would encourage every state to hold a similar meeting with election officials, emergency manage- ment folks and IT officials.”
Now that DHS has designated voting systems as critical infrastructure, the department is focused on preparing for the 2018 elections, said Brian Newby, the commission’s executive director.
“For us, showtime is Jan. 1,” he added, “and we need to have further discussions about the way cybersecurity threats will be communicated.”
Part of the challenge of securing elec- tion systems is the limited money that remains available under the Help Amer- ica Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, which provided funds to states for equipment, guidance and policy development.
Nearly $3.5 billion has been awarded to states and territories, and states
have yet to request only $4.3 million in allocated funds, according to the EAC’s 2016 Annual Grant Expenditure Report.
Unfortunately, “the requirements of HAVA are not a one-time expense,” said Mark Abbott, the commission’s director of grants and oversight. Elections officials must “replace the equipment that is aging out, and they are looking for new funds, whether it is federal financing through HAVA or state financing.” •
6 GCN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 • GCN.COM
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