Thread by @jennycohn1

“Election Security Problems Still Must Be Addressed” (In other words, the Big Lie did not make legitimate election-security concerns vanish.) 9/27/21 1/ newsweek.com/election-secur…

“The election system industry has little to no oversight, transparency or regulation, and what little security testing there is, is voluntary, lax and woefully outdated.” 2/

“The federal agency tasked with voting system testing and certification [@EACgov] has been criticized extensively for its excess dysfunction and lack of security expertise.” 3/

The EAC is “currently being sued for violating federal [election] transparency laws and improperly meeting privately with voting system vendors to weaken new voting system standards.” 4/

“Some states still use dangerously obsolete paperless computer voting machines, while others are replacing them with insecure, untrustworthy computerized ballot marking devices.” 5/

“Thirty-two states permit internet voting for a substantial numbers of voters, and some state officials are trying to expand this highly risky method of voting.” 6/

“Far too few states conduct rigorous post-election audits to confirm that electronic results match what is on voters' ballots. [The ones that do, check only a few races.]” 7/

“Some states continue to use voting machines with wireless modems to transmit election results from the polls. And many jurisdictions remain tragically under-educated on basic computer security literacy.” 8/

“In 2018, after researching election security extensively, the Senate Intelligence Committee made recommendations to address known issues, and called for strengthened election security standards nationwide.” 9/

“These [recommended election security] reforms were largely incorporated into bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate, but Republican leadership and the Trump administration blocked any election security reform legislation from advancing.” 10/

“It's hard to ignore the irony that Trump now (falsely) claims election security problems led to millions of fraudulently cast ballots, after he himself blocked measures to shore it up.” 11/

We need:
* paper ballots marked by hand w/ a pen (exception 4 voters w/ disabilities)
* removal of wireless modems from scanners
* a ban on internet voting
* robust manual audits
w/ a transparent chain of custody
* backup paper poll books
* transparency re: breaches 12/

* preservation of digital ballot images, which are public records 13/

Note: that I added the last three items on this list. 14/

Note also that @AmyKlobuchar’s new voting bill does not require manual audits until after 2022 which is unacceptable. Earlier versions of her bill omitted this key requirement too. She has effectively run out the clock on such a requirement, and I am sickened by it. 15/

Nor was there any messaging around such a requirement. This was the one time we might have had sufficient pressure from GOP voters to pass such a requirement. It cld have been a standalone bill. 16/

I will never understand this lack of Democratic leadership & messaging on meaningful election security reform in time for the 2022 election. What a wasted opportunity. 17/

There is much at stake. 18/

Since 2016, election-security experts have almost unanimously recommended rigorous manual election audits to confirm electronic results. It is appalling that neither party sought to implement such a reqmt for 2022–even after the sh#t shows in 2016 & 2020. 19/

#HandMarkedPaperBallots #RobustManualAudits
(We need BOTH) 20/

Article in post 1 by @SEGreenhalgh & @jhalderm (I added the criticism of the current voting bill) 21/

.@threadreaderapp Plz unroll

My notes on two unexpected 22/ Democrat House losses in Florida from 2022.