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aleph32 t1_itqw806 wrote

Assuming the basic voting equipment is secure, how secure are the systems for agglomerating all those individual counts against, say, hacking or social engineering?

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TheOfficialACM OP t1_itr96ni wrote

The purpose of a risk limiting audit (the topic of this thread!) is to efficiently determine if the tallying process gets the correct outcome. That's an important defense against hacking.

Social engineering / misinformation / disinformation is an important topic as well, but that's outside of the election system, in the sense that we can't fight misinformation by improving how our voting machines work. That said, fighting misinformation is a huge challenge that election officials now face. (Summary of the issues from the Brennan Center.)

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Natanael_L t1_itsiy5o wrote

With paper ballots as a backup and protected from tampering, it's pretty hard to mess with a competent audit and not get caught.

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