[EL] SIGN ON: Coalition letter urging fixes to security flaws in Los Angeles' new publicly-owned voting system

[Trent Lange]

Hello state and national partners and friends --

As you've probably heard, California has just approved Los Angeles County's
new publicly-owned voting system in the March election.  Secretary of State
Alex Padilla put important conditions on its certification, but it still
has serious security flaws:

   - To submit their ballot, voters must put it back into the ballot
   marking device (BMD), where it passes under the printhead which gives
   hackers an opportunity to alter it.  UC Berkeley Professor Philip Stark,
   inventor of risk-limiting audits, called this a "security fail".
   - Votes are counted using QR codes that voters can't easily verify —
   which Colorado's Secretary of State correctly banned because QR codes are
   "potentially subject to manipulation".
   - The optional paper ballots require voters to handwrite everything —
   offices, candidates, etc. — which slows down voters and introduces errors
   that may disenfranchise voters.

Also, the source code has not yet been publicly disclosed as open-source or
otherwise, which was a requirement for using public funds to develop it,
further adding to concerns about a lack of transparency and security.

*Please let me know if you can sign on to the attached coalition letter
drafted by California Clean Money Campaign, National Election Defense
Coalition, and Free Speech for People *and signed by academic election
security experts like Drs. Phil Stark, Richard DeMillo, and Doug Jones.

This isn't just a California issue.  Many parts of the new system are quite
good, but because it will be held up as a model of a publicly-owned voting
system for the rest of the country, it's especially important that not get
final certification with security flaws like being mechanically possible
for hackers to alter verified ballots and relying on QR codes to tabulate
votes.  *So please let me know if you can sign on to the letter, either as
an organization or individual.*

Let me know if you have any questions,

- Trent

-- 
Trent Lange, PhD
President and Executive Director
California Clean Money Campaign
(310) 428-1556
*Sponsor of AB 249, the California DISCLOSE Act, now law!*
www.YesFairElections.org <http://www.YesFairElections.org>
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