Thread by @mattblaze

Election security is really simple if you just ignore the requirements and the logistics.

Examples of election things that are very convenient to ignore:

- Ballot secrecy
- The US constitution
- State and territorial election law
- Funding
- Voters with accessibility needs
- Usability
- Election logistics
- Geography

One of the most common misconceptions about US elections is that they’re the same across the country. In fact, there are over 5000 election jurisdictions (mostly counties) in the US, governed by 50+ state/territorial election laws. Each one does things a little differently.

Differences include everything from ballot format, offices and issues people vote for, procedures for in-person/mail-in/early voting, equipment used, assistive tech available, to how it’s all paid for.

It’s different in the next town over, and very different in the next state.

We vote on more things than any other democracy in the world, at at least three different levels of government (federal, state, local). Some states and localities also have ballot initiatives/propositions/bond issues, sometimes dozens of them.

Local contests like school boards sometimes mean that you get a different ballot from your neighbor across the street, in the same polling place.

None of this is simple, and the fact that something works in one place doesn’t mean it will in others (or comply with election law).

Does all this complexity and variation create problems and make election logistics difficult? Absolutely. But it’s imbedded in the basic structure of the US and state and local government. That’s not something that’s “simple” to change, nor is it something to do lightly.

The vast majority of tweet-level suggestions for “simple improvements” to US elections amount to “just re-write the constitution and re-structure the government.” Maybe that’s a good idea, but it’s not in any way simple or without other consequences.

Precious few ideas for improving elections - including many very good ones - are unqualified improvements. They’re mostly TRADEOFFS, perhaps improving something, but at the cost of something else. An important question to ask about any proposal is “what’s being traded off here”.

And before you say “I don’t understand why it’s done this way, we should do it differently”, find out WHY it’s done the way it is. Elections have a lot of delicate moving parts, many of which are not obvious without in-depth study.