Tag: 2018 U.S. Midterm Elections

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Georgia’s secretary of state Brian Kemp doxes thousands of absentee voters

Georgia’s secretary of state Brian Kemp and candidate for state governor in the midterm election, has taken the unusual, if not unprecedented step of posting the personal details of 291,164 absentee voters online for anyone to download.

Kemp’s office posted an Excel file on its website within hours of the results of the general election, exposing the names and addresses of state residents who mailed in an absentee ballot — including their reason why, such as if a person is “disabled” or “elderly.”

People on Twitter quickly noticed, expressing anger.

The file, according to the web page, allows Georgia residents to “check the status of your mail-in absentee ballot.” Millions of Americans across the country mail in their completed ballots ahead of election day, particularly if getting to a polling place is difficult — such as if a person is disabled, elderly, or traveling.

When reached, Georgia secretary of state’s press secretary Candice Broce told TechCrunch that the all of the data “is clearly designated as public information under state law,” and denied that the data was “confidential or sensitive.”

“State law requires the public availability of voter lists, including names and address of registered voters,” she said in an email.

That might be technically true. Voter and electoral roll data is public and available, usually for a fee, though rules vary state by state. Names and addresses of voters can be requested from each state’s electoral commission or secretary of state’s office. Political analytics firms often taken this data and supplement it with their own polling data to try to determine potential swing voters.

But the way in which Kemp’s office approached confirming absentee ballots was met with anger.

“While the data may already be public, it is not publicly available in aggregate like this,” said security expert Jake Williams, founder of Rendition Infosec, who lives in Georgia. Williams took issue with the reasons that the state gave for each absentee ballot, saying it “could be used by criminals to target currently unoccupied properties.”

“Releasing this data in aggregate could be seen as suppressing future absentee voters in Georgia who do not want their information released in this manner,” he said.

Republican candidate for governor Kemp — at the time of writing — received 50.3 percent of the vote on Tuesday, ahead of Democratic rival Stacey Abrams, who currently serves as the minority leader in the state’s House of Representatives.

Kemp, who as secretary of state effectively runs the state’s elections despite running in one, has been accused of voter suppression in recent weeks, including accusing the Democrats of hacking his office’s election systems, citing no evidence. It’s not the first time he’s pulled the hacking card — Kemp tried a similar move two years ago.

Kemp was also responsible for purging the voter records of more than 50,000 minority voters ahead of this week’s elections.

Abrams has refused to concede in the race for governor, amid hopes of a runoff.

Millions of Texas voter records exposed online

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How to stream U.S. elections coverage if you don’t have TV

You don’t need a TV to tune in to live coverage of the U.S. elections results today – and you don’t have to have Hulu or another live TV streaming service, either. Today, YouTube announced a list of news organizations that will be broadcasting live elections coverage on its site today – helpful for those who don’t have another way to watch at home, or need to tune in while on the go. There’s also live coverage available on other sites, including Facebook, Twitch, Twitter and elsewhere.

As more people cut the cord with traditional pay TV, YouTube’s reach has been growing when it comes to distributing the news. That’s apparent in the list of available news media organizations that have decided to broadcast live to YouTube tonight.

For comparison’s sake, YouTube in 2016 reported viewers had spent over 20 million hours watching and rewatching the presidential debates on the site ahead of the U.S. elections. It then pointed viewers to live coverage from a handful of outlets like NBC, PBS, Bloomberg and Telemundo, as well as MTV, the online news show The Young Turks, and an election special from Complex News.

This time around, all the major broadcast networks are participating on YouTube’s platform.

The company says viewers can tune in to watch live election results throughout the evening on the following channels:

Several outlets are choosing to broadcast on Facebook, too, including ABC News Live, CBS News, and PBS News Hour.

The Washington Post will broadcast on Twitch.

On Twitter, ABC, PBS, and Univision will live stream election coverage, says Poynter.

Snapchat will feature Washington Post in the Snapchat Discover section, NBC’s “Stay Tuned” news stories (these are on IG, too), and will offer live Election Day coverage itself starting at 6 PM ET, hosted by “Good Luck America’s” Peter Hamby.

In addition to YouTube, CBS will live stream coverage on its free streaming news service, CBSN, which is also available through its streaming service, CBS All Access.

And ABC is covering all the bases, with commercial-free streams from ABC News Live across Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple News and its own site, as well as on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Yahoo News (disclosure: also owned by Verizon, TechCrunch’s parent) will live stream on Yahoo.com, AOL.com, HuffPost and Tumblr.

Apple News will have an elections hub, including live streams.

Poynter’s handy resource also includes other places to get the news directly from media companies’ own websites and elsewhere, including The New York Times, CNN, Fox News, FiveThirtyEight, Telemundo, Newsy, and more.

more 2018 US Midterm Election coverage

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Google’s Doodle commands you to Go Vote

I know, you’re cool. You don’t do anything the corporate overlords command. But maybe, just this once, make an exception. Today’s Google Doodle mixes up the ole’ rainbow color logo with a very simple message: Go Vote.

I mean, you were going to do it anyway, right? “Most important midterm election during our lifetimes” or whatever and all that good stuff.

Clicking on the Doodle, which is available both at Google.com and as a new Chrome tab, brings up the results for the query, “Where do I vote #ElectionDay.” From there you enter your address to find your hashtag polling place.

Also, Taylor H. also put together a handy list of resources to find out more before heading to your local polling place. And if you’ve already voted, congratulations, you’ve participating in the fundamental underpinnings of the democratic process. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Here’s a map detailing whether or not you can tweet out that ballot:

 

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Google’s Doodle commands you to Go Vote

I know, you’re cool. You don’t do anything the corporate overlords command. But maybe, just this once, make an exception. Today’s Google Doodle mixes up the ole’ rainbow color logo with a very simple message: Go Vote.

I mean, you were going to do it anyway, right? “Most important midterm election during our lifetimes” or whatever and all that good stuff.

Clicking on the Doodle, which is available both at Google.com and as a new Chrome tab, brings up the results for the query, “Where do I vote #ElectionDay.” From there you enter your address to find your hashtag polling place.

Also, Taylor H. also put together a handy list of resources to find out more before heading to your local polling place. And if you’ve already voted, congratulations, you’ve participating in the fundamental underpinnings of the democratic process. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Here’s a map detailing whether or not you can tweet out that ballot:

 

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2018 Midterms: 4 resources every voter should know about

Voting in the U.S. can be confusing. By design, every state is different. On top of that, disinformation meant to discourage voting is rampant this election. Cut through the noise, arm yourself with the facts and vote. We’ve got resources to help you.

1. Fill out a sample ballot for your state

If you’re not voting absentee or by mail, it’s helpful to have an idea of everything that’s on the ballot before you head into vote in person. Before you head to the polls, you can fill out a sample ballot through When We All Vote or an even more comprehensive one on Ballotpedia representing your state and local races online. Best yet, you can print, email or screenshot that and take it in with you to have a reference for your IRL voting experience so that you don’t get overwhelmed.

2. Know your rights

With rampant disinformation actively discouraging some people from going to the polls, it’s vital that you know your rights on Tuesday. Nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org offers a guide to common problems encountered at polling places. Run into trouble? Call the Election Protection Hotline at 866-687-8683 for help. Whatever you do, don’t get discouraged — there are volunteers and organizations that can help sort things out.

Look over Vote.org’s list of common election day problems so you know what to do in case something goes awry.

If you aren’t yet registered to vote but decide that you’d like to (do it!), 18 states and the District of Columbia offer same-day registration that allows you to register and vote at the same time. Be prepared to provide an official ID and prove your residency with a utility bill, though be sure to look up the specific requirements of your state before you show up.

Is it legal to post a ‘votie’ in your state? Check this map

3. Find Your Polling Place

Figuring out where to vote and getting there is half the battle. Vote.org provides a useful polling place locator so you can look up the nearest place to cast your vote. This is important. “Polling locations are assigned by residential address,” USA.gov explains. “You should go to your assigned location since your name will not be on the roster at any other location. Your polling place may change from one election to the next, so check before you go to vote.”

If you try to vote at a polling place that isn’t the one you are assigned, you might have to fill out a provisional ballot. Provisional ballots are for “a voter whose eligibility to vote cannot be proven at the polls on Election Day” and Ballotpedia has a full guide to state by state practices for counting votes by provisional ballot. Be sure to check your state’s guidelines and proceed with caution — some states will not count a provisional ballot cast in the wrong precinct. The ACLU also provides a polling place guide as well as other state-specific resources worth a look.

4. Get to the polls

If you know where you need to be but are worried about getting there, a few tech transportation companies are running election day promos. The bike sharing company Motivate will offer free rides for anyone in the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Jersey City, New York City, Portland, Minneapolis and Washington D.C.

If you need a ride to the polls, Uber users in the U.S. can cash in on a $10 ride credit using the code “VOTE2018”. For election day, Lyft partnered with Buzzfeed to provide 50% off of rides using a special zip code-specific promo code and will also provide free rides to people in some underserved communities in partnership with some nonprofit partners including Voto Latino, Urban League affiliates, the National Federation of the Blind, Faith in Action, League of Women Voters, and the Student Vets of America. To check on those rides, check out or get in touch with the relevant organization.

Quick links:

Tl; dr? Here’s what you need:

Fill out and email or print a sample ballot

Find your poll location

Know your rights before you vote

And again, if you have any issues at the polls you can call Contact the Election Protection Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE and the Department of Justice Voting Rights Hotline (800-253-3931).

more 2018 US Midterm Election coverage

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Former Facebook security chief says creating election chaos is still easy

As someone who’s had a years-long front-row seat to Russia’s efforts to influence U.S. politics, former Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos has a pretty solid read on what we can expect from the 2018 midterms. Stamos left the company last month to work on cybersecurity education at Stanford.

“If there’s no foreign interference during the midterms, it’s not because we did a great job,” Stamos said in an interview with TechCrunch at Disrupt SF on Thursday. “It’s because our adversaries decided to [show] a little forbearance, which is unfortunate.”

As Stamos sees it, there is an alternative reality in which the U.S. electorate would be better off heading into its next major nationwide voting day, but critical steps haven’t been taken.

“As a society, we have not responded to the 2016 election in the way that would’ve been necessary to have a more trustworthy midterms,” he said. “There have been positive changes, but overall security of campaigns [is] not that much better, and the actual election infrastructure isn’t much better.”

Stamos believes that it’s important to remember that foreign adversaries can’t dictate the outcome of an election with any kind of guarantee. What they can do — and what he calls his “big fear” — is that they can still mess everything up in a way that calls the entire system into question.

“In most cases, throwing an election one way or another is going to be very difficult for a foreign adversary, but throwing any election into chaos is totally doable right now,” he said. “That’s where we haven’t moved forwards. ”

Former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos: Being a CSO can be a ‘crappy job’

Stamos gave examples of attacks on voter registration sites that lose voter data or denial-of-service attacks on the day of elections.

“With a disinformation campaign at the same time, you can make it so that you have half the country that thinks the election was thrown,” he said.

To a foreign adversary seeking to undermine U.S. democracy, creating that kind of doubt isn’t very technically difficult. Even with no votes changed and no voting systems breached, a little doubt goes a very long way toward accomplishing the same goals as a more sophisticated hacking campaign.

Stamos cites new ad funding disclosures as one substantive change that will help make U.S. democracy healthier, but more efforts need to be taken.

“Russian interference or not, we do not want a future where campaigns and candidates are cutting up the electorate into smaller and smaller pieces — so I think ad transparency is the first step there,” he said.

In some cases, those efforts will require a major shift in the way both the U.S. government and private social media companies have conducted themselves. For one, as he wrote in Lawfare, the U.S. needs “an independent, defense-only cybersecurity agency with no intelligence, military or law enforcement responsibility” rather than a patchwork of agencies each partially responsible for cybersecurity defense.

The news may not be great for 2018, but a strong dose of realism now will amplify the clarion call to do better before 2020.

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Valimail offers US election boards, campaigns and voting vendors its email anti-spoofing service for free

Valimail, an enterprise email security firm, announced that it will offer its email protections for free to relevant government workers and campaigns through the 2018 midterms. That offer covers state election boards, voting system vendors and major party U.S. election campaigns, including congressional, statewide and gubernatorial candidates. The company will also offer the same email fraud prevention service, known as Valimail Enforce, to the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee at no cost through the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

“Bad actors are trying to disrupt our elections and sow chaos in our democracy,” Valimail CEO and co-founder Alexander García-Tobar said in a statement. “They are targeting email because it is one of the weakest points in digital communications.”

As Valimail observes, spear phishing attempts in which an attacker tricks their target into opening a malicious email are a particular problem. In a spear phishing attack, a hacker can compromise a target’s login credentials by getting them to click on a fraudulent link or just by pretending to be someone they aren’t and obtaining usernames, passwords and other sensitive information. (The suspected Russian government-affiliated attackers who compromised a Gmail account belonging to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chair John Podesta used spear phishing to achieve their goals.)

Spear phishing attacks often employ email spoofing, a strategy in which the attacker disguises their true identity and makes an email look like it’s coming from a trusted domain. Citing its own research, Valimail notes that 90 percent of cyberattacks originate in spear phishing and two-thirds of those employ a fake “from” address to target potential victims.

Valimail Enforce prevents this kind of attack with an email authentication system that only allows authorized senders to use a domain name. The company’s email authentication service employs standards like SPF, DKIM and DMARC and is Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) authorized, making it easier for government entities to adopt its security tools.

Valimail raises $25M in additional funding for its email authentication service

Though no states and campaigns have signed on to the new offering yet, Valimail has been talking with the National Association of State Election Directors and the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency tasked with coordinating security for election systems — now designated as critical infrastructure — among the states. Valimail follows companies like Cloudflare and Synack in offering its services at no cost to help secure election systems.

Due to the state and local-led nature of U.S. elections, it’s very difficult to ensure that security measures can be uniformly implemented and enforced across the board. It’s too late for the patchwork of post-2016 election security efforts to provide any kind of comprehensive assurance for the 2018 midterms, but private tech companies are stepping in to fill some of the gaps. At the very least, getting some security relationships in place and educating state and local officials on potential precautions should be a useful stepping stone to more secure elections by 2020.