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Are electronic voting machines the best method for voting? Why or why not?
What technological advances could make voting more accessible for people with disabilities, people whose first language is not English, and others? Explain your answers.
How would you improve voting? Consider how many people vote, how they vote, and why they vote. Explain your answers.
Take Action
Analyze the Brennan Center’s proposal to make voting machines better.
Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If so, how? List two to three ways. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the “other side of the issue” now helps you better argue your position.
Push for the position and policies you support by writing U.S. senators and representatives.
Sources
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Alexia Lachavanne, “The Advantages of Gambia’s Unique Marble Voting System,” gambia.un.org, June 1, 2022
Charles Girard, “Acclamation Voting in Sparta: An Early Use of Approval Voting,” Handbook on Approval Voting, researchgate.net, Jan. 2010
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Australian Ballot,” britannica.com (accessed May 5, 2017)
MIT Election Data & Science Lab, “Voting Technology,” electionlab.mit.edu (accessed Sep. 13, 2022)
Owen Edwards, “When Pulling a Lever Tallied the Vote,” smithsonianmag.com, Nov. 2004
Danielle Root, et al., “Election Security in All 50 States,” americanprogress.org, Feb. 12, 2018
Ellen Nakashima and Amy Gardner, “No Evidence of Exploitation of Dominion Voting Machine Flaws, Cisa Finds,” washingtonpost.com, May 28, 2022
Eric Geller, "Some States Have Embraced Online Voting. It’s a Huge Risk.,” politico.com, June 8, 2020
Michael A. Specter and J. Alex Halderman, “Security Analysis of the Democracy Live Online Voting System,” internetpolicy.mit.edu, June 7, 2020
Tamas Kadar, “What Is Browser Fingerprinting & How Does It Work?,” seon.io (accessed Oct. 12, 2022)
Democracy Live, “OmniBallot Fact Sheet,” democracylive.com (accessed Dec. 8, 2022)Joe Mascaro, “To Save Earth, Go to Mars,” aeon.com, May 11, 2016
Michael A. Specter, James Koppel, and Daniel Weitzner, “The Ballot is Busted Before the Blockchain: A Security Analysis of Voatz, the First Internet Voting Application Used in U.S. Federal Elections,” internetpolicy.mit.edu, Feb. 2020
National Institute of Standards and Technology, “Risk Management for Electronic Ballot Delivery, Marking, and Return,” politico.com, May 2020
Aviel Rubin, “Why Internet Voting Is a Nonstarter,” engineering.jhu.edu, Summer 2016
Turquoise Baker, et al., “Voting Machines at Risk in 2022,” brennancenter.org, Mar. 1, 2022
Anthony Fowler, “New Survey Reveals Concerns about the Security of the Nation’s Voting System ahead of the Midterm Elections,” harris.uchicago.edu, Oct. 10, 2018
Kate Brumback, “Cyber Agency: Voting Software Vulnerable in Some States,” apnews.com, May 31, 2022
Elections Infrastructure Initiatives, “New Report Finds That More Than $50 Billion Is Needed to Modernize and Run State and Local Elections Infrastructure,” modernizeourelections.org, Dec. 14, 2021
Statista, “Internet User Penetration in the United States from 2018 to 2027,” statista.com, Aug. 31, 2022
Statista, “Share of Adults in the United States Who Use the Internet in 2021, by Age Group,” statista.com, Jul. 26, 2022
Statista, “Share of Adults in the United States Who Use the Internet in 2021, by Ethnicity,” statista.com, Jul. 7, 2022
Statista, “Share of Adults in the United States Who Use the Internet in 2021, by Urbanity,” statista.com, Jul. 7, 2022
Statista, “Share of Adults in the United States Who Use the Internet in 2021, by Annual Household Income,” statista.com, Jul. 7, 2022
Yes Elections, “What Are the Leading Benefits of Online Voting?,” yeselections.com, Dec. 23, 2020
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