Microsoft announced an ambitious effort it says will make voting secure, verifiable and more transparent with open-source software. Two of the three top U.S elections vendors have expressed interest in potentially incorporating the software into their voting systems.
The software kit is being developed with Galois, an Oregon-based company separately creating a secure voting system prototype under contract with the Pentagon’s advanced research agency, DARPA.
FILE – In this March 18, 2014 file photo, voters cast their ballots in Hinsdale, Ill. Microsoft announced Monday, May 6, 2019, an ambitious effort to make voting secure, verifiable and reliably auditable with open-source software that top U.S elections vendors say they will explore incorporating into new and existing voting equipment. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)Dubbed “ElectionGuard,” the Microsoft kit will be available this summer, the company says, with early prototypes ready to pilot for next year’s general elections. CEO Satya Nadella announced the initiative Monday at a developer’s conference in Seattle.
Nadella said the program’s software would help “modernize all of the election infrastructure everywhere in the world.”
Three little-known U.S. companies control about 90 percent of the market for election equipment, but have long faced criticism for poor security, antiquated technology and insufficient transparency around their proprietary, black-box voting systems. They are Election Systems & Software of Omaha, Nebraska; Dominion Voting Systems of Denver and Hart InterCivic of Austin, Texas.