Research
No Research without action. No action without research.
- Kurt Lewin
A Statement Regarding the Need for Responsible Efforts of AI in Elections
A new policy statement by CTO John Sebes, with contributions from Institute co-founder Gregory Miller outlines five principles toward responsible research and development of AI in elections. First, it is observed that a multi-stakeholder consortium of the best and brightest in election administration, technology, and AI needs to be gathered to address the security and integrity implications of artificial and augmented intelligence in the administration of democracy. That’s a larger effort; however, in the mean time, it is important to set forth five principles our CTO believes are imperative for any attempt to develop beneficial applications of AI to election administration…
Open-Source Policy Briefing
A new policy briefing by co-authors CTO E. John Sebes, Senior Strategist & former Oregon Elections Director, Deborah Scroggin, and Sr. Member of Technical Staff Dr. Clifford Wulfman outlines a pathway toward increased technology transparency that is increasingly being called for on an increasingly bipartisan basis. The briefing summarizes why proprietary, closed voting systems are contributing to public distrust and how state investments and policy decisions that reasonably deploy public technology (i.e., open-source) in election administration can lead the way in rebuilding public trust.
A Statement Regarding Recent Unauthorized Election Technology IP Disclosures
The OSET Institute has been encouraged to offer its position on questions about the public, but unauthorized availability of certain intellectual property (IP) assets related to certified, installed and operational voting systems and the potential risk or threat to election security involving those voting system technologies. It has been suggested that such a statement could be helpful to courts, legal counsels, media, and other interested members of the public. Here is our position…
Toward Voters’ Equal Protection in Participation
Important strides have been made in the ways in which American voters with disabilities are served. Nevertheless, misconceptions about these voters persist at the highest levels, including a lack of awareness of the rights specific to these voters, and how these rights are not met. Outdated but common views illustrate lack of awareness of the specific voting rights of Americans with disabilities. Many voters with disabilities must accept risks and challenges that other voters do not. In fact, they may not be able to vote at all, because they are not served by any of the current options. This paper offers a roadmap to addressing this challenge.…
By-Mail Voting Survives 2020
In the midst of a global pandemic complicating a national election, the electoral process had to be modified to accommodate a safe alternative to voting in person. This paper examines the expanded use of by-mail voting to address the crisis, and the restrictive (some would say “suppressive”) challenges it faced under the guise of securing the integrity of the election.…
Analyzing the Keshavarz-Nia Affidavit
This is an analysis, requested by several, of the technical veracity of Navid Keshavarz-Nia’s November 25th 2020 Michigan federal lawsuit affidavit (Civil Case No. 20-13134). Although the case was lost in a December 7th ruling, it potentially may be appealed, making the substance of this Affidavit still relevant and at issue…