Reflections on TTBR & Everest
Core researchers and public officials reflect on California's landmark Top-to-Bottom Review (TTBR) and Ohio's EVEREST study, evaluating their legacy for election security.
Summary
The Origins of State-Sponsored Voting Security Reviews
In the mid-2000s, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner commissioned independent academic computer scientists to conduct unprecedented security reviews of all certified voting systems.
Methodologies of the TTBR and EVEREST Studies
Researchers including Matt Blaze reflect on the intensive red-team audits and source code reviews that exposed pervasive architectural flaws, default cryptographic keys, and exploitable hardware ports across major voting vendors.
Catalyzing National Election Security Reforms
The findings spurred a nationwide shift away from paperless Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines toward voter-verified paper ballots and established standards for independent security auditing.
Applying Historic Lessons to Current Election Threats
Evaluating the legacy of the TTBR and EVEREST studies highlights that open, adversarial security evaluation remains vital as election infrastructure incorporates modern connected technologies.
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