New Compelling Evidence - Presidential Election Can Be Hacked

WASHINGTON - Nov. 4, 2016 - PRLog -- While many political figures and some talk show guests are repeatedly trying to assure the public that the forthcoming presidential election cannot possibly be hacked, those who are more knowledgeable are scrambling to take positive preventive measures, showing that they regard the threat as very real and clearly important, notes public interest law professor John Banzhaf.


        There is new compelling evidence that the risk is very real and deadly serious, says Banzhaf - who first developed the now-accepted technique for measuring voting power under the Electoral College for the election of the president - citing two very recent developments.

        First is the revelation that the federal government is reportedly mounting an unprecedented effort to counter any cyber meddling in the election.  If the White House, Department of Homeland Security [DHS], CIA, National Security Agency, and other knowledgeable agencies are all cooperating in this unique effort, the threat must be both very real and very serious, says Banzhaf.

        A second piece of new evidence is that Ohio National Guard's elite cyber-protection unit is being assigned to help protect the state from any election hacking.

        Although it had previously been announced that at least 46 states have asked DHS for help in guarding against hackers, and that DHS had established at least two new task forces for that very purpose, Ohio has gone one step further by deploying a military unit to help defend itself.

        Earlier, 17 intelligence agencies issued a joint statement announcing that Russia's successful hacking and disclosure of sensitive emails was "intended to interfere with the US election process."

        The FBI's also had reported that the data bases of election boards in at least 2 states were successfully hacked, and in at least 1 case the hackers were able to insert malicious software into the system, using off-the-shelf programs (malware) readily available from the Internet to even teenage hackers .

        Meanwhile, an anonymous DHS official reported that the voter systems of more than 20 states - including the key state of Florida - have been targeted by hackers just in recent months.

        Under our Electoral System, in a close election, hacking as few as several hundred votes in one key state could change the election's outcome.  Banzhaf reminds us of how the 2000 presidential election was decided by fewer than 1000 votes out of almost 6 million cast in Florida; so a hack of 600 votes could have resulted in a different president.  Thus the Electoral College makes us especially vulnerable to hacking.

        Banzhaf, who was hacking in the late 1950s, also notes that even a hack which didn't change the outcome of the election could result in a major loss of public confidence in the election system and perhaps even turmoil, especially since Donald Trump has suggested that he will charge fraud if he doesn't win.

        Banzhaf points out that if some election results appears suspicious, or only a few voting machines display clearly exaggerated results, or if the word "hacked" or a picture of Guy Fawkes appears on the screens of a few computers used to compile votes, disappointed voters could become very upset, and then even riot or worse to express what appears to be justified outrage.

        There are many other factors which make the presidential election especially vulnerable to hacking, says Banzhaf.

        These include the increased use of electronic voting machines (especially where they leave no paper trail), that more and more computers and data processing devices used in the election process are connected to the Internet, and that some states permit residents to cast their votes over the Internet.

        In short, even a very small probability that an election could be hacked, just like the small possibility that hackers could disable our electric power supply, airline navigation system, etc. must be taken seriously, considering the gravity of the harm which would be caused.

        Indeed, DHS Secretary Jeb Johnson is considering designating election systems around the country as a "critical infrastructure" in need of federal assistance and protection, joining the electrical grid, air transportation, and the banking system.

        However, while power and airline systems should be able to be fixed and back to normal shortly after any successful hack, damage to the faith of citizen in their voting systems would have long lasting effects.

JOHN F. BANZHAF III, B.S.E.E., J.D., Sc.D.
Professor of Public Interest Law
George Washington University Law School,
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor,
Fellow, World Technology Network,
Founder, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
2000 H Street, NW, Wash, DC 20052, USA
(202) 994-7229 // (703) 527-8418
http://banzhaf.net/  jbanzhafATgmail.com  @profbanzhaf