“Bad guys always know how to get in. They’re always going to spend the time, they’re always going to figure it out. All you’re doing by keeping your design secret is you’re preventing all the good guys from helping you make it better.”
As the United States approaches the midterm elections, voters in Mississippi and New Hampshire will cast their ballots using machines running free software from VotingWorks. Election boards nationwide face mounting pressure from potential disruption or federal interference, mirroring conclusions drawn in a recent CISA election report regarding the vulnerabilities introduced by digital voting systems.
Inside the VotingWorks Deployment
These systems operate entirely disconnected from the internet. They serve to assist in the recording and counting of paper ballots.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) notes that these systems bring a level of freedom, transparency, and likely more security to their states’ elections. Free software advocates argue that true election integrity requires transparent, publicly verifiable source code, a standard that is beginning to see real-world implementation.
Weighing Open Standards Against Proprietary Security
The push for open code aligns with Principle 9, Auditable, of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG 2.0), which calls for voting systems to be “auditable and enable evidence-based elections.” Despite these guidelines, digital voting implementation varies widely across the US. Many commercial vendors continue to shield their software behind “trade secrets,” citing security-through-obscurity reasoning.
Proponents of open-source election technology reject that premise. Ben Adida of VotingWorks points out that proprietary designs prevent good guys from helping to make systems better while failing to deter sophisticated attackers.
The Broader Debate Over Election Infrastructure
By opening source code to public testing and modification, local administrations can uncover vulnerabilities early.
As the midterms unfold over the next few weeks, the debate over whether electronic infrastructure strengthens or undermines democracy centers squarely on the availability of voter-verifiable paper ballots and transparent software code.
