The Election Verification Network held its annual conference at GW’s Science and Engineering Hall on March 14-15 with a number of interesting invited talks and panel discussions.
Senator Ron Wyden (OR) opened the conference by announcing the launch of a modified version of the Protecting American Votes and Elections (PAVE) Act, which requires paper audit trails and risk-limiting audits (RLAs) for all elections. RLAs are audits which bound the maximum error in detecting an incorrect election outcome.
Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-8) opened the second day asking the audience for a detailed plan on how to get to secure elections starting from where we are now. He was introduced by Maryland State Senator Will Smith.
Other invited speakers included David Sanger, Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist at the New York Times and author of The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age; Suzanne Spaulding, currently with Center for Strategic and International Studies and previously undersecretary at the Department for Homeland Security (DHS); Commissioners Hovland, Palmer, and Hicks of the Election Assistance Commission; and Matt Masterson of DHS.
Computer science professor Dr. Poorvi Vora and Liz Howard (Brennan Center for Justice), co-chaired the conference, which also included panel discussions on federal legislation; litigation in the states; accessibility and verifiability; standards; and technology and audits held in 2018.
A live stream of the conference and the conference agenda are available online.