29 August 2016

Hacked voter databases, and the folly of running out the elections clock

FBI reports voter databases hacked in Arizona and Illinois. Michael Isikoff at Yahoo has the story, as do the Washington Post and other major news outlets. In Illinois, where 200,000 voter records were illicitly downloaded, the voter registration system was shut down for 10 days in July.

In Georgia, personal information for six million was exposed, but the state’s elections chief says he doesn’t need — or want — federal help to make his antiquated computer system more secure.

If asked, elections officials will tell you not to worry, that their system is secure, and that security is a high priority. Some, perhaps many, officials may even believe that. Voters should not. All elections systems are underfunded, designed for convenience, and often run by political appointees or electees who don’t know a byte from a bite. Sometimes, voting and vote counting machines are programmed by vendors, not civil service IT personnel. Data backup schemes may not be adequate.

Overall, the plan for avoiding an elections data disaster amounts to staying lucky, and praying for divine protection. It is not premised on the idea that God helps those who help themselves.

FiveThirtyEight warns Hillary that it’s too soon to run out the clock. Nate Silver reports that Trump is closing the gap slightly, and that she’ll need to pick up some undecided voters (there are still a few) to win. I agree.

Although news reports depict the election as a horse race between Clinton and Trump, with a couple of slow ponies bring up the rear, we should remain mindful that it’s also a contest of political philosophies and parties in a country that’s fairly evenly split into liberal and conservative factions. Donald Trump may be a buffoon and bigot, but he’s the Republican nominee because millions like his style and even agree with him. The smart strategy for Hillary is not running out the clock. It’s piling up the score and helping down ballot Democrats.