The Independent View: DHS Looking at Security of Ballot Marking Devices

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) DHS hopes to provide Cyber Defenses to every 2020 Presidential Campaign, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Chris Krebs said Tuesday at an Atlantic Council Event.

There are some Complications, such as making sure that the Campaigns don’t feel like DHS is providing Invasive Services. But another DHS Official, Senior Cyber Adviser Matt Masterson, said Campaigns seem to be taking the Threat Seriously.

DHS is also Scrutinizing the Reliability of Ballot-Marking Devices (BMD) following a Study from Experts concluding that they Cannot be Reliably Audited, Krebs also said Tuesday, but the Department hasn’t come to a Firm Conclusion. “It's part of the conversation to look at what the next generation of technology looks like,” he told Reporters, given a Debate over the Importance of using Hand-Marked Paper Ballots and “whether the risk of BMDs can be managed.”

But Krebs, who said he hadn’t Finished Reading the Study yet, said it’s Part of a Larger approach. “I think where we want to go is in the development pipeline for a lot of these companies as they're putting the next technology into market,” he said.

DHS will Focus on Building Relationships with Local Officials and Educating them on need for Secure Equipment ahead of the 2020 Election. The U.S. Government got Serious about Nation-State Cyber Threats after Realizing how Pervasive they were, a DOJ Official said.

I have written about this problem with BMD's before.

Any Device that Prints the Voter's Selections, but Not the actual Ballot, but then uses some type of Unseen Encrypted Bar Code or Electronically Counts the Voter's Selections, without the Voter Verifying their Selections Match what is counted, you have an Un-Audible system.

With an Optical Scanning Ballot Reader, you can use the Actual Ballot or Stored Ballot Image to see how the Voter marked their Choices, in an after Election Audit.