Media Advisory: ‘Want secure elections? Then don’t cut security funding’

EXPERT ALERT

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

‘Want secure elections? Then maybe don’t cut security funding’

HOUSTON – (Feb. 20, 2017) – Eliminating the Election Administration Commission (EAC) could create another crisis when voting systems around the country are vulnerable, said a Rice University expert on voting security.

Dan Wallach, a Rice University computer scientist and voting security expert, made this point in a commentary titled “Want Secure Elections? Then Maybe Don’t Cut Security Funding” in Wired magazine.

According to the commentary, the House Administration Committee recently voted on party lines to defund the EAC, the leading federal agency responsible for helping states run smooth elections and preventing hacking.

“It’s evidence of a radical disconnect between a handful of influential House Republicans and nearly everyone else — including the scientific community, leading cybersecurity experts and even the White House — who contends that voting vulnerabilities are a serious problem,” according to the commentary.

Republicans on the committee voted to defund the EAC “as a way to save money and shrink the size and scope of government,” Wallach said.

“The Election Assistance Commission was borne of a bipartisan agreement in the wake of the 2000 presidential election’s hanging chad fiasco,” he said. “Eliminating a meaningful federal role in election security is asking for another crisis at a time when the country’s voting systems’ vulnerabilities are facing unprecedented threats.

“It’s true: There’s plenty of ‘fluff’ in the federal budget,” Wallach wrote. “But federal election security measures don’t fall into that category.”

To read the full commentary, click here.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Wallach, contact David Ruth, director of national media relations at Rice, at david@rice.edu or 713-348-6327.

Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio. ReadyCam is capable of transmitting broadcast-quality standard-definition and high-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7.

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Follow Dan Wallach on Twitter at @danwallach.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations on Twitter @RiceUNews.

This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

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