The speaker discusses the importance of voting and the need for confidence in the voting system. They highlight the issue of how votes are counted and the lack of transparency in the process. They also mention the vulnerabilities of voting machines, citing examples of machines producing incorrect results and the potential for hacking.
The speaker suggests that voting machines should be as secure as possible and systems should be created to verify when a problem has occurred. They mention the consensus on conducting a risk-limiting audit after each election, where a small percentage of paper ballots are checked to ensure they match what the machines recorded.
The speaker criticizes the use of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) machines, which they describe as deeply flawed. They cite a New Jersey election where a husband and wife running for seats on their county's Democratic Committee lost by a significant margin, but had personally counted more votes for themselves.
The speaker also discusses the need for a paper backup system of voting, stating that it is a simple, old-fashioned, and effective solution. They express disappointment in the Senate's proposed plan for providing funding for new voting machines, criticizing it for offering less money and not requiring a paper trail or internet connectivity.
In conclusion, the speaker emphasizes the need for confidence in the voting system and suggests that people should trust their system more than they trust Sean Spicer doing the cha-cha on national television.
Here are some possible facts extracted from the text:
1. In 2016, Russian hackers targeted election systems in all 50 states.
2. Some voting machines are aging and vulnerable to exploitation by a committed adversary.
3. There is no single standard voting system in the US, and some machines do not produce a paper trail that can be audited.
4. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 offered states funding to buy new voting equipment, but some of the machines were not ready or secure.
5. Hackers have demonstrated how to tamper with voting machines in various ways, such as opening them with a pen, shaking them, or accessing them remotely via the internet.
6. A risk-limiting audit is a method of verifying the results of an election by checking a small percentage of the paper ballots at random.
7. In 2020, an estimated 12 percent of voters will use paperless direct recording electronic voting machines (DREs), which are considered deeply flawed and impossible to verify.
8. The House approved $600 million for states to buy new machines with security requirements, but the Senate has a different plan with less funding and no requirements.