News & Insights
We’re Making History in Real Time.
Our timely insights share informed perspectives on the rapidly evolving story of Election Technology, as it unfolds.
2023: Faith In The Future of Democracy
Faith in the future of democracy is something that has been tested in recent years, as we have seen many otherwise patriotic Americans struggle with their waning faith in democratic systems. Despite this, we can still have faith in the future of democracy as long as we remain committed…
Mistakes Are Not Malfeasance – It’s Important to Know the Difference
In the current polarized environment, every hiccup and anomaly in how elections are being run is potentially a reason for partisans on both sides to allege “fraud,” “suppression,” or similar claims. Needless to say, all of those conditions are corrosive to democracy, and they need to be rooted out whenever they occur. Concerns about these issues can’t simply be dismissed. On the other hand, responding to every error in election administration as evidence of malfeasance also carries very real risks…
Manufactured Chaos
With the midterms in less than 14-days, the level of “noise” in the country is reaching a fever pitch. Partisan actors are sowing doubt about the legitimacy of elections through mis- and disinformation across multiple platforms. When confusion and persistent falsehoods seep into the minds of average voters, they not only threaten the public’s trust in elections, but democracy itself….
Observing International Day of Democracy 2022
The goal of International Day of Democracy is to promote and uphold the principles of democracy. Democracy, at its simplest definition, refers to a government ruled by the people through representatives that have been elected by the whole population. Today is the annual day of observance; our co-founder & COO offers some reflections…
2022 Copenhagen Democracy Summit Recap
This year, the OSET Institute was honored and humbled to receive five invitations to the 5th Copenhagen Democracy Summit, which took place on the 9th and 10th of June in Copenhagen Denmark. It was a remarkable event for which we were honored to attend, participate, co-host a side-meeting, and serve as a co-sponsor...
The Unhandy Logistics of Hand Counts
Fear of technology is like any other phobia: the roots of it are grounded in reality, but the expression of the fear ranges from fantasy thinking to conspiracy theories. The recent push for hand-counted paper ballots (compared to hand-marked) is quickly becoming a repository for the fear of technology. There are several reasons why hand-counting exclusively is problematic…
Nothing ‘Authentix’ About It
Recently, the Washington Post ran an article about a new initiative surfacing in at least four states in effort to improve election integrity by making anti-counterfeit ballots. This is a solution in search of a problem that is a waste of taxpayer dollars. We explain why…
Piling on the Kraken-Busting of Waldron...
This week the TrustTheVote Project posted an article that is a breakdown/take-down of a slide presentation circulated inside the Trump Administration in the final weeks leading up to 1-6-21. That article combined with some other events this week led us to offer a couple additional points here…
Sham Audits are Bad for America
The post-election sham underway in Maricopa County, Arizona should concern every American. Whether you're an avid or casual observer of this un-serious, circus-like event, it's a harbinger of grave threats to democracy that could spread farther.
Kraken Busting and the "Most Secure Election Ever"
The November 2020 election has been called “the most secure ever,” for several good reasons, despite the fact that there is still a lot of worrisome room for improvement. Now it appears we may need to crack down on some more Kraken-wannabes before they become such.
The Basics About the Walled City of Election Administration
Our readers and followers may recall this tweet thread we posted in late November about where votes are counted and stored and how exactly basic voting systems function. The Trump Administration’s persistence of a false narrative about election rigging (“stop the steal”) shows no sign of letting up in the waning days of his presidency. So, it’s time to debunk these claims with an easier to follow explanation (a fact-based narrative) rather than continuing a whac-a-mole approach of pointing out each of the many falsehoods as they pop up, and individually responding. So, OSET Institute co-founders John Sebes & Gregory Miller offer a simple article about what is actually true…
Election 2020: The Most Secure Ever...
Recently, we read Eric Tucker’s and Frank Bajak’s article about the assessment that this election was " the most secure" in American history. (The statement is captured here if the current Administration has removed it). However, we must not believe that “the most secure election” means that there is no further need for government funding or innovation in the existing election technology infrastructure, or that we can just let the status quo remain. We cannot…
Updates on Absentee Ballot Processing in Competitive States
In the week since we launched my Survey on Absentee Ballot Processing, there have been developments and updates as to the absentee process and procedures in the states we highlighted. This article is the main update to the paper as we’re in the closing week before November 3rd, the final day of the election…
Visualizing Election Uncertainty
Our top data visualization wrangler, EJ Fox is now working on a highly relevant and timely effort to gather insights on how to best visualize election data. Longer term, this is part of our data analytics and reporting subsystem work of ElectOS called VoteStream. EJ is focused on how different newsrooms are preparing to visualize uncertainty (e.g., uncounted ballots and more) for the 2020 election. And this work starts with a brief open survey…
Georgia Continues to Tempt Fate This Election Season
If voting technology fails on Election Day, Georgia doesn’t have enough backup paper ballots to keep voting lines moving. Edward Perez, of the OSET Institute and Gowri Ramachandran, of the Brennan Center For Justice co-author this important and timely Op-Ed…
Mistakes Are Not Malfeasance – It’s Important to Know the Difference
With scarcely three weeks until voting ends on November 3, protecting democracy means that it’s essential to properly distinguish between “honest mistakes” and more nefarious conditions that could impact election outcomes. Particularly given the speed at which information travels through social media, if voters and the media are not circumspect, they may unwittingly spread mis- or disinformation. Here are some tips to consider…
Swing Dance
During the coming weeks, America’s election infrastructure will be tested as perhaps never before, especially due to changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Add in threats of foreign interference, disinformation, intense polarization, and ill-founded presidential warnings of “rigged” results, and the country is in for a challenging election process. In that context, we present “Swing Dance,” our assessment of the process and technology risks that exist in the 14 most competitive states for the 2020 election…
A Republic, if you can keep it.
On this Independence Day, we mark the 244th year of our country’s existence as a sovereign nation. In the days following the Founding Fathers’ deliberations on our governing documents at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked at one point what form of government they had determined. He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it…”
Stop the Nonsense About “Counterfeit” By-Mail Ballots – Here are the Facts
The baseless claims that the President of the United States and the U.S. Attorney General have recently made about the possibility of foreign countries interfering with the November election by creating "counterfeit" by-mail ballots are gaining lots of attention, and with good reason. These assertions need to be thoroughly clarified and corrected, because they are not based on facts…
Vote By Mail: A Pragmatic Response to a National Election Hit by COVID-19
As the U.S. battles the spread of COVID-19, expanded Vote-by-Mail is a feasible pragmatic method to help protect the operational continuity of democracy administration and to avoid dangerous disruptions to constitutionally mandated national elections.