I told @SpenserMestel (who wrote this misguided piece) that non-expert David Becker—who spread the myth that vote tallies can’t be hacked bc voting machines supposedly never connect 2 the internet—has prevented election security reform. He left it out. 1/ vice.com/en/article/m7v…
Instead, he cited Becker in support of the anti-transparency agenda of his hit piece. Which is odd because he said he had heard this about Becker already from at least one other person & that he would ask Becker how he got it so wrong. Did he ask him? Who knows? 2/
In my opinion, lack of transparency—including failure to message that REPUBLICANS had killed election security legislation b4 the election & the failure to declassify info re: the attack on the 29-6 election—are what enabled Trump to play victim. 3/
If that legislation had passed, no voting systems wld have been allowed to connect to the internet in 2020, & there wld have been RIGOROUS manual audits for all federal races. This wld have made it much harder for the Big Lie to take off. 4/
Mestel also cites—without critical analysis—the talking point that 2020 was “the most secure election ever.” He omits that the bar was exceedingly low & that this talking point has made it harder to pass election security legislation before 2022. 5/
I explain how Becker & others misled voters about internet connectivity—& how “the most secure election ever” talking points also misleads—in my piece here. 6/ jennycohn1.medium.com/why-have-so-ma…
Ironically, it was @Vice that published this excellent & groundbreaking piece by @KimZetter. 7/vice.com/en/article/3kx…
That @Vice would turn around and publish this new anti-transparency piece by Mestel—citing as an authority one of the key proponents of the “no internet connectivity” myth—shows just how much damage the misleading “most secure election ever” narrative has caused. 8/
From my own piece, explaining why the “most secure election ever” narrative misleads & is dangerous. 9/ 
10/
11/
12/
13/
14/
15/
16/ I believe I explained why the “most secure election ever” narrative misleads in my conversation with Mestel. But he omitted this important point too.
17/ The #FreedomToVoteAct is not nearly as good as the #SAFEAct (previously the #PAVEAct) on election security bc it wld not ban internet connectivity until 2030 (you read that right) & does not require manual audits until 2024 (even then, only 1 race must be audited).
18/ No one knows this bc Democratic leadership apparently decided it was best to respond to the Big Lie not with the truth—that Rs blocked election security reform b4 the election—but rather w/ a misleading talking point of their own (“most secure election ever”).
19/
20/ Mestel’s response to my critique.
21/ This is Becker’s exact testimony. From my piece. (In the past, he has called me a “probable Russian asset” for calling it out.) jennycohn1.medium.com/why-have-so-ma…
22/ Correction post 3: 2016, not 29-6! I was typing while talking to my kids!
23/ This is a video I created before the election with producer Kate Rosenberg. The modems still have not been removed.
24/ Here is @MarshaBlackburn, killing the #SAFEAct (previously #PAVEAct) election-security bill, which would have banned internet connectivity & required rigorous manual audits for all federal races in 2020. axios.com/gop-senator-el…
25/ Never forget.
https://twitter.com/ronwyden/status/1151172747986395137
27/ More critique (and back and forth) re: Mestel’s piece. Thread.
https://twitter.com/KimZetter/status/1480939194012749824
28/ And more. Zetter’s critique is justified imo.
https://twitter.com/kimzetter/status/1480941158150774790
29/ This Becker quote takes the cake. Who is the “they”? The experts behind Defcon have never said this to my knowledge. cc: @SeanFlahertyIA
31/ Oh look. @NPR is looking to Becker as an election-integrity authority too. Why do the same old stuffed shirts who get it wrong get all the air time? cc: @1a.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
