Editorial on the Special Issue on Election Security
Leigh Metcalf · Digital Threats Research and Practice · 2021
Inadequate Election security is a growing threat to democracy.As more technology is used in elections, the digital threats become more apparent.The National Academies recently released a report titled "Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy" that describes existing and future threats.This special issue is concerned with addressing those threats.There are two articles in this abbreviated issue.They include "On Secure E-Voting over Blockchain, " an examination of the pros and cons of using blockchain for secure voting.They include an implementation of a secure e-voting method using the Ethereum blockchain and consider the problems and solutions of using it on a large scale.The second article is on "More style, less work: Card-style data decrease risk-limiting audit sample sizes." This is an important article in that it considers the methods used in risk limiting audits.The article considers a new method to reduce the sample size needed for these audits, thus saving money while protecting the legitimacy of the election.