Feature Podcast: Voting in 2020 will likely be by mail

E-voting isn't ready for prime time, but Internet-supported mail-in elections are likely on the way...
03 Apr 2020 » Risky Business

This podcast is brought to you by the Hewlett Foundation. They provided us with a grant to support us doing some podcasts about cybersecurity issues that touch on policy. Regular listeners would have heard some of these special podcasts already.

Today’s guest is Jennifer Morrell. She’s a partner with Elections Group and is a recognised expert on election audits.

We were originally scheduled to record this interview just a few short weeks ago, but the COVID-19 crisis really hit and we had to postpone. And it’s a good thing we did, too, because the issues facing elections today are substantially different to the issues facing elections even a few weeks ago. The whole world has just shifted.

So, instead of having the usual conversation about risk limiting audits, voting machine and tally/counting infrastructure security, we had this conversation instead. How on earth do you run an election during a pandemic? There’s a tl;dr here – e-voting is still a pipe dream but internet supported vote-by-mail is where things will land.

I hope you enjoy this podcast.