As recent events with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) being hacked solidify the fact that we cannot seem to secure anything connected to the Internet, one has to wonder if elections can also be hacked. The topic of “Hacking the Vote” reminds me of one of my favorite InfoSec security maxims; “high technology is often taken as a license to stop thinking critically”.
The push for electronic voting systems started very soon after the 2000 US Presidential election. That election was fraught with controversy. After complete investigations, most if not all turned up nothing. The US Election of 2000 was the first “Hack the Vote”, utilizing social engineering to create havoc and mistrust. Of note was the Palm Beach “butterfly ballot,” which some pundits claimed produced an “unexpectedly” large number of votes for third-party candidate Pat Buchanan.
