Check out SMART Elections & SMART Legislation.

We have two nonpartisan orgs working to make U.S. elections secure, fair, accessible, well-administered & publicly verifiable.

SMART Elections is focusing on nonpartisan election observation to monitor, protect & verify the vote. Join our vibrant and fascinating monthly forums!

At SMART Legislation we author & advocate for legislation to protect elections.

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We are building bridges and lasting partnerships that can produce significant improvements in U.S, elections. Our elections must be both inclusive and transparent to be meaningful and trustworthy.

We focus especially on election security because that is our area of expertise, and we know that if security is not addressed - and votes are not counted accurately - then all other reforms are at risk.

SMART stands for:

  • Secure

  • Marked* & Audited by Hand

  • Accessible & Accurate

  • Registration for all eligible voters

  • Transparent

*(for those who are able) 

Please make a donation today to so we can continue this critically important work.

2 Tier Approach to Election Audits

Robust audits are the single most useful tool we can use to ensure the accuracy and security of our elections. I have written a proposal for a realistic approach to implement audits in as many counties as quickly as possible. The basic concept is to do 100% hand-count audits in places where it will not be burdensome, such as smaller jurisdictions, and those with simpler ballots. In larger jurisdictions, and those with more complex ballot content, risk limiting audits can be implemented; but it would be advisable to additionally audit one randomly drawn race on every ballot, and all races closer than 1 % with 100% hand-count audits.

I have presented this paper at 3 conferences now. The Electoral Integrity Project Workshop in San Francisco in August, The People's Convergence Conference in September, and the Take Back the Vote Conference this past weekend in Berkeley. The response has been very positive.

Below is a link to the complete paper. Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

If you support the work that I'm doing, please show that support by making a donation to my GoFundMe today. I very much need your help right now in order to continue.  Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, and thank you for the work that you are doing to move this issue forward! 

 

Click on the photo to read or download the complete paper.

Click on the photo to read or download the complete paper.

Hackers crack Voting Machines at DEFCON

This is my first report from the #DEFCON #VotingVillage in Las Vegas. In some cases within minutes—and in other cases within a few hours—of the village doors' opening, hackers in attendance said they had successfully penetrated some systems. The security investigators claimed to have breached or found major vulnerabilities in every voting system present.

Vegas is expensive. I also have other trips coming up and needed new camera equipment. Anything you can give to my GoFundMe account is greatly appreciated. I’m at over 25% of my goal, and the fund is trending! Very encouraging.

I’ll be doing a Facebook live hit at 6 pm PST today to take questions about what hackers were or were not able to at the #VotingVillage.

I believe we are at the tipping point. If we keep focused and work together we can make our elections significantly more secure and more transparent by 2018, and 2020.

Thank you so much for everything you’re doing.