National Treasure: The Call for e-Democracy and US Election Security

Abstract

Faith in the US electoral system is at risk. This issue stems from trust or lack thereof. Poor leaders ranted and attempted to sew discord in the democratic process and even tried to influence election results. Historically, the US has relied on paper ballots to cast private votes. Votes are watered down by the Electoral College. Elections are contested due to voter IDs and proof of citizenship. Methods of voting are nonsensically complex. In the technology age, this can be solved with a Smartcard National ID backed by Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI). This could be a method to restore hope in democracy and move the country back towards elections under a Popular Vote. Numbers are empirical and immutable and can solve the issue of Election Security in a bipartisan way. NATO allies like Estonia have already broken ground in using technology for eDemocracy or (Internet-based) iVoting. Acknowledging cyber attacks will happen, this is an opportunity for DHS and DOD (CYBERCOM) to collaborate on domestic operations and protect critical election infrastructure. This idea will not fix malicious information operations or civil stupidity. However, this is the way forward to securing elections now and forever. The views expressed by this whitepaper are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of Dakota State University, the N.H. Army National Guard, the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. Cleared for release by DOPSR on 13 SEP 2024.