A new study by the Stanford Cyber Policy Center concludes that election security in the United States is still far from where it needs to be in order to rule out efforts at tampering in the 2020 presidential election.
One major issue is the continued use of outdated voting machines that are vulnerable to cyberattacks. Such machines are used in the majority of counties in the US. This practice is especially risky if there is no paper backup, which is the case all across Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina, while it also happens in ten other states.
The report lists many recommendations for improving security, but it is clear that not all of these will be implemented by 2020. However, Stanford program director Andrew Grotto points out that “if you can’t implement all of them it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t implement some of them.” He believes that “we can still move the needle and improve quality and resilience of our democracy.”
