Princeton Macintosh Users' Group

February 12, 2019: “A 2020 Vision of U.S. Election Security,” with Dr. Rebecca Mercuri

The meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., Stuart Hall at Princeton Theological Seminary, room 4.

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Despite the provision of a $380M federal grant to enhance technology and improve security in the 2018 midterm elections, machine failures and computer malfunctions again plagued polling places (in GA, PA, NY, IN, TX, and MA), resulting in late openings, long lines, and turned-away voters. Poor ballot layouts resurfaced in Florida, resulting in nearly 25,000 missed votes and the removal of the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, due to “misfeasance, incompetence and neglect of duty.” Many of the unauditable electronic voting machines have finally been replaced with paper ballot scanners, but creative State legislation (including in FL, MI and CA) has been used to thwart and prohibit hand counting, even when results fall within the range of equipment error.

Rebecca Mercuri, Ph.D., will examine some of the old and new shenanigans that we may be looking forward to seeing in 2020, shed light on the reasons why contrived (and even avoidable) disenfranchisement continues to play a fundamental role in American Democracy, and offer some suggestions for improvement.

About the presenter…
Dr. Rebecca Mercuri is the founder of Notable Software, Inc., where she provides cybersecurity, standards compliance, and expert witness services. Currently she is authoring a book on digital forensic investigations from the standpoint of criminal defense. Dr. Mercuri is well-known for having provided testimony in the Bush v. Gore election controversy, less than a month after defending her doctoral dissertation (Electronic Vote Tabulation: Checks and Balances) at the University of Pennsylvania’s Engineering School. Her Website and commentary on election technology is considered to be a primary resource and has been predictive of many of the problems and solutions in current relevance in that field. Rebecca is the Vice-Chair of the David Sarnoff Radio Club, a co-founder and Chair of the Princeton area ACM / IEEE Computer Society, and a past Chair of the IEEE Princeton / Central Jersey Section. In her spare time, she enjoys visiting lighthouses and historic antenna sites.