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Election Verification Network (EVN) Conference
Securing the Election in the 21st Century
March 9-11, 2016
Washington, D.C.
Conference Agenda
As of 3/5/2016 (subject to change)
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Hotel Lombardy
3:00pm Annual Meeting of Network Participants/Priority Survey
The Road Ahead: A new vision for EVN: CoCo annual report to the Network and an open discussion
on proposed changes to EVN in 2016.
5:30pm Meet ‘n’ Greet Opening Reception
7:00pm Dinner on your own
Thursday, March 10, 2016
George Washington University, City View Room
7:45-5:00pm Registration
8:00 am Coffee Service
8:30-8:45am Welcome Remarks: Mark Lindeman, Chair Coordinating Committee
8:45-9:00am Participant Introductions: Keneta Anderson, Quixote Foundation
9:00-9:20am Opening Remarks: Mary Cheh, District of Columbia City Councilmember
9:25-9:55am Keynote Speaker: Dana DeBeauvoir, Travis County Clerk
Building STAR Vote: Shoot for the Moon, if You Miss and Hit the Stars, Bonus!
Having a great development team and product is essential for delivering Star Vote. There are, however, many other essential aspects of this path-breaking project: the financing, software licensing, certification, distribution, customer support, and maintenance…We need to plan it all and do it all.
9:55-10:10am Break
10:10-11:25am Managing Voting Systems Today while Planning for the Future
Moderator: Marian K. Schneider, Pennsylvania Department of State
Panelists: Edgardo Cortes, Virginia State Board of Elections
John Fortier, Bipartisan Policy Center
Ryan Macias, California Secretary of State Office (invited)
Brian Newby, U.S. Election Assistance Commisssion (EAC)
Jurisdictions now have at least a decade of experience with elecronic voting systems. Election officials are now facing the challenge of managing legacy systems while looking to leverage new technology. This session will explore how to maintain security and verifiability as a core goal for legacy systems both now and as election technology evolves.
11:25-1:15pm Lunch on Your Own
1:15-2:30pm Managing Voting Systems Today while Planning for the Future
Moderator: Luther Weeks, CTVotersCount
Panelists: Harvie Branscomb, Coloradans for Voting Integrity
Stan Martin, Adams County Clerk and Recorder’s Office
Alex Schwarzmann, University of Connecticut, Voting Technology Center
Philip B. Stark, University of California, Berkeley
Electronic auditing offers the potential of efficiency and increased accuracy over manual audits, yet it could be “Black Box” auditing without the public verification necessary to provide justified confidence. We will discuss what is available today and in the near future, and how electronic auditing can be as transparent and publicly verifiable as manual audits.
2:30-2:45pm Break
3:00 pm Alternate Voting Technology Models
Moderator: Gregory Miller, Open Source Election Technology (OSET) Foundation
Panelists: Matthew Dunlap, Maine Secretary of State
Joseph Kiniry, Galois
John Sebes, Open Source Election Technology (OSET) Foundation
There are strong arguments from credible sources that we could shift away from he legacy system design toward a modular system based on application-specific components. What should that model be? What would be the constituent components? How does the certification process need to evolve to support a new architecture?
4:00-4:15pm Break
4:30 pm When Government Takes Over the Business of Voting Systems
Moderator: Lawrence Norden, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
Panelists: Adam Ambrogi, Democracy Fund
Dana DeBeauvoir, Travis County Texas
Dean Logan, Los Angeles County
Gregory Miller, Open Source Election Technology (OSET) Foundation
Norman Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute
Some new voting systems are being developed by local government: How will the design, development, and certification be funded? How will the systems be marketed to other jurisdictions? What is the role of philanthropy? What are the risks that the new systems will succeed technically, but the business models will fail?
6:00 pm Award Reception & Ceremony
7:30 pm Dinner on Your Own
Friday, March 11, 2016
George Washington University, City View Room
8:00-12:00pm Registration
8:00 am Coffee Service
8:30-8:40am Welcome
8:40-9:10am Opening Remarks: Justin Levitt, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, United States
Department of Justice
9:10-10:00am Keynote Speaker: J. Alex Halderman, Associate Professor of Computer Science and
Engineering, University of Michigan
Internet Voting and Cybersecurity: What Could Go Wrong?
Internet voting might increase voter participation and provide a high-tech upgrade to traditional polling methods. Unfortunately, it also raises some of the most difficult challenges in computer security, because of the need to safeguard election servers and voters’ computers against powerful attackers, while simultaneously protecting the secret ballot. How well can election technology defend against modern security threats? Dr. Halderman will discuss his experience conducting in-depth security evaluations of Internet voting systems used int he U.S. and around the world. Two case studies in Estonia and in the District of Columbia will illustrate the practical obstacles to securing Internet voting against attacks by foreign governments and online criminals.
10:00-10:15am Break
10:15-11:45am Internet Voting: Can Pandora’s Box be Shut?
Moderator: Barbara Simons, IBM Research (retired)
Panelists: Matthew Davis, Virginia Department of Elections
Susan Greenhalgh, Verified Voting
Neil Jenkins, Department of Homeland Security
Ronald Rivest, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Wendy Underhill, National Conference of State Legislatures
States are increasingly allowing some Internet voting, especially for military members. Meanwhile, more studies find Internet voting at present to be insecure. What are the specific dangers and what can be done to protect our elections given these dangers?
1:15 pm Lunch (Provided)
Informal Brainstorming Strategy Session, Facilitated by Barbara Simons
”How might we react to efforts to implement Internet voting in California and beyond?”
12:45-2:15pm The Secret Ballot in Jeopardy
Moderator: Susan Goodman, Common Cause
Panelists: Jeremy Epstein, SRI International
Caitriona Fitzgerald, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Marc Rotenberg, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Citizens have come to expect that they have a right to a secret ballot in U.S. public elections. However, as states adopt new Internet-based systems for voting, this privacy could be compromised. Voters’ identities and associated ballots are vulnerable to cyber attack and exposure, but the scope and severity of this threat is not widely understood by voters or election administrators. Moreover, in states where overseas and military voters are permitted to vote over the Internet, voters are routinely told to waive their right to a secret ballot in order to use the voting technology. The secret ballot is being eroded without public discussion or decision-making about the consequences. This panel will review the legal, technical and historical context in which the erosion of the secret ballot is occurring and the consequences this holds for our democracy.
2:00-2:10pm Break
2:10-3:20pm Hitting the Trifecta: Having it All with Secure, Accessible and Available
Remote Ballot Marking
Moderator: Susan Goodman, Common Cause
Panelists: Whitney Quesenbery, Center for Civic Design
Sharon Laskowski, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
John Schmitt, Five Cedars
Pamela Smith, Verified Voting
In a world where voting outside the traditional poling place is increasing, we think it’s possible to design a system that voters can trust to mark their ballot remotely before returning a paper ballot. When we looked at the steps in the voter journey to use these systems, we found little conflict between the goals of accessibility and election integrity. Not only can the two sets of requirements co-exist, but also in many cases, they support each other. Come kick the tires on a short list of principles and guidelines that can inform the design and development of remote ballot marking systems.
3:20-3:30pm Break
3:30-4:45pm The Brave New World of Certification and Testing: Where Do We Go From Here?
Remote Ballot Marking
Moderator: Dean Logan, Los Angeles County
Panelists: Mary Brady, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Brian Hancock, U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC)
Douglas Kellner, New York State Board of Elections
With a revitalized EAC, the plans to revise and overhaul the VVSG are well underway. This session will provide an update on the progress of the NIST/EAC working groups and provide perspective from the EAC on the testing and certification process as it evolves to tackle new technologies. We will also hear from state and local election officials on the front lines of certifying systems.
4:45-5:15pm Closing Remarks – Coordinating Committee
