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Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting
 
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Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting (Hardcover)

~ Aviel David Rubin (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rubin, professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins, tells the fascinating story of how he set off a media storm in the summer of 2003 when he and two graduate students revealed that the Diebold electronic voting technology in use in 37 states was riddled with errors and problems. A self-described "computer-geek," Rubin was publicly accused of undermining democracy by officials he describes as desperate to save face after investing state money in the machines. He also became the object of an e-voting industry campaign to smear his work, especially after it was revealed that he had connections to a voting software company. Refreshingly, he describes this potential conflict of interest with considerable candor. Rubin's account of his mounting frustration as governmental and industrial spin doctors continued to champion electronic voting in the face of its manifold problems, and turned electronic voting into a partisan issue, is a sympathetic one. Despite the inability of his critics to understand it, his explanation of the technological issues at the heart of electronic voting is clear, and his argument that votes need to be verifiable in order for the democratic process to be meaningful is so reasonable that it sounds almost revolutionary. (Sept. 5)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist

Rubin, a professor of computer science, found himself at center stage of the debate surrounding the safety and security of electronic voting when he and his grad students exposed serious failings in the code in electronic voting machines manufactured by Diebold. The company's source code had been hacked into and was posted on the Internet. Rubin's analysis of the code and the dangers of electronic voting were disclosed six months before his home state of Maryland was due to use the machines in the 2002 primary and general election, triggering scrutiny by Rubin's peers, politicians, and the media as well as a Diebold campaign to ruin his career. Rubin thoroughly analyzes the vulnerabilities of electronic voting and offers an absorbing account of how his involvement in the e--voting controversy affected his life and career, in what he describes as a scenario from a "bad Hollywood script." In this highly accessible book, Rubin offers readers a look at the weaknesses of electronic voting systems and the need for paper records. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Broadway (September 5, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0767922107
  • ISBN-13: 978-0767922104
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #958,923 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Aviel D. Rubin
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Customer Reviews

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37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book for any Democracy, September 9, 2006
By Gary McGraw (Dulles, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Buy this book if you care about the future of voting.

Once every blue moon a technologist who can both do world class science and also communicate effectively with normal people about deeply technical issues is born. Avi Rubin is just that sort of person. His work crosses the chasm from "important to computer security types" to "important to every voter in a modern democracy".

Avi has been at the forefront in telling the truth about computer security for years. His work ranges widely from Internet privacy and anonymity all the way to breaking RFID security. One essential thread runs through his work---a deep, humanitarian understanding of how security issues impact every day life.

Even if you could not care less about computer security you will enjoy this story. Telling the truth about technology can be hazardous---especially when it comes to something as widespread as voting machines. Avi has made his share of enemies in the electronic voting world. They would rather focus on politics and earning money than on safeguarding democracy. If you wonder what it might be like to be in the line of fire of large corporations and powerful politicians, buy this book and learn first hand what Avi has faced so far.

The most interesting thing about this book is that it relates a complete story but represents only the very beginning of what promises to be a long debate over electronic voting and democracy. Educate yourself today on this important issue, and then spread the word.

Gary McGraw, Ph.D.
CTO, Cigital
Author of "Software Security" and "Exploiting Software"
Host of <a href="http://www.cigital.com/silverbullet">The Silver Bullet Security Podcast</a> (featuring an interview with Avi Rubin in episode one)

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An election official's view of Rubin's work, October 9, 2006
By F. Oakley (Yolo County, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a supremely readable, very important book. Rubin's unaffected, engaging "gee whiz" attitude is the perfect antidote to the false pride of America's typical election officials and the obscurantism of the E-voting industry.

Rubin's cautionary history of the alarming deficiencies of current voting technology and the frank dishonesty (and less obvious manipulation of facts) of the E-voting industry is chilling.

America's leading computer scientists sound an alarm, but Rubin reports that know-it-all election officials refuse to listen. Why does this strange thinking persist and grow? Who benefits by the sloppy misapplication of amateurish technology to American voting?

I am the Clerk/Recorder of Yolo County, California, home of UC Davis and just over the river from the state capitol in Sacramento. I have had careers as a scientist & academic and as a lobbyist in Sacramento. I think I know how politics work. I appreciate the contribution of science to progress. I am not a Luddite. I knew two programming languages before I started grad school.

And I certainly do NOT know enough about computer design, architecture, security or user-interface to evaluate or warranty those qualities in any of the "certified" voting systems approved by the federal government or the incumbent California Secretary of State. After reading Rubin's book, I don't trust that anyone outside of academia is qualified or disinterested enough to address this problem.

Who profits when these voting systems are approved? Who stands to profit over time? Why are public officials complicit in this mess? Rubin does not address these questions, and it's probably just as well...
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars IS YOUR VOTE AT RISK? THE E-VOTING MACHINE QUANDRY!, September 8, 2006
By RBSProds "rbsprods" (Deep in the heart of Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
Five EDUCATIONAL Stars!! In this in-depth examination of 21st Century electronic voting machines and procedures in the U.S.A, author and award-winning investigator Dr. Aviel Rubin of Johns Hopkins University, an expert in computer science and e-voting machine operations and security, states we have a "fundamental right to fair, safe, and secure elections". Then he makes a strong case that as a nation we are in the midst of using risky voting procedures and e-voting machines that may or may not be accurately recording your vote and may not have the capability of doing a valid re-count. With these machines, he feels that if vote fraud occurs it is virtually unverifiable. In addition, the book is a primer on general e-voting machine matters.

In the early chapters, it almost has elements of a mystery novel: with foreign websites offering up proprietary codes, shocking CNN and the New York Times reports, Red Team hackers, lawsuits, private investigations, state investigations, reports and counter-reports, numerous conferences, angry opponents, and one e-voting machine manufacturing company standing tough in the trenches. But it is not a novel and the mystery ends when his team breaks the Diebold source code and discovers a lot of problems that could adversely affect elections everywhere in the US and around the world.

What are the voting problems? Consider the fact that Sarpy County Nebraska (using electronic touch screen machines but not identified as Diebold machines) had "As many as 10,000 extra voters" in the 2004 general election. Extravagant to say the least, but certainly representative of 30,000 voting machines problems around the country experienced in 2004. Dr Rubin does not assign any blame to any particular political party. And while his examination is specific to Diebold direct recording electronic (DRE) e-voting machines, he doesn't specifically exclude other e-voting production companies from having similar problemS.

Here's a shocker: the source code for the Diebold TS and TSx Accuvote machines, used in more than half the states in 2002, was actually found on and copied from Diebold servers and posted on a mysterious foreign website for download by anyone. Dr Rubin was part of an expert team that examined the Diebold source code in detail, wrote a 2003 report and had it's results undergo a form of "peer review" before it's results were initially published by the New York Times and broadcast on CNN. This book primarily delineates the results of that report and it's aftermath. Also included is a consideration of the Maryland-sponsored SAIC study whose results were subjected to differing interpretations. The independent groundbreaking role of investigator and idealogue Bev Harris, who was first to find the Diebold source code problems, is acknowledged.

The report highlights e-voting machine vulnerabilities (at the time of this investigation) which included: vulnerabilities of voter smart cards; the use of the "broken" cryptographic algorithm DES instead of the strongest algorithm AES; unencrypted fixed lineup of the candidates and propositions (if you change the order but not the votes, you change the results of the election), and questionable crypto key management, among others.

As Dr Rubin describes his various working activities during the period from 2002 to 2004, he introduces us to many studies, reviews, technical terms, conferences, types of machines and procedures. We follow him from study groups to reports to conferences to media appearances and eventually to a 2004 polling place where he acts as an official poll judge in the 2004 election, and we learn the issues and problems as we go. His conclusions about the 2004 general election may surprise you. The author was also on investigation groups that looked at the insecurities of military and civilian overseas voting programs and revealed big problems there with the VOI/SERVE programs. Then he addresses the realization in Washington DC and among many states that a particular type of e-voting system is the way to go to help prevent fraud with e-voter machine systems. (I'll treat this as a spoiler). Dr Rubin does believe a truly secure e-voting machine is possible if it has four traits (another spoiler). And the book addresses his terse relationship with Maryland voting official Linda Lamone over Maryland's purchase of Dibold e-voting terminals (definitely not a spoiler!). He identifies a number of states that are moving in the right direction or are already there in terms of having the right e-voting machine platform. He also addresses handicapped voting and the required machines.

Diebold has issued a statement that based on the SAIC study their voting station "provides an unprecedented level of election security". I do wish the actual "Rubin" and "SAIC" reports had been included as an Annex but I don't know how voluminous this book would have become in that case. Be aware, however, that this book is only one side of this very important issue, so educate yourself on all viewpoints. I plan to! Highly recommended. Five Revealing Stars!!!

(This review is based on an unabridged EBook Digital Download in Abode 7 Reader; Save a Tree, download your books.)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars brave new ballot lacks substance
Brave New Ballot proved to be a huge disappointment. Rather than delve into the substance of a very important topic, Rubin spends most of the text taking pot-shots at critics... Read more
Published on March 23, 2007 by T. Bischel

2.0 out of 5 stars Important information here, but this book is a disappointment
I bought this book hoping for a clear, simple discussion of the problems with electronic voting that I could give to non-technical people. Read more
Published on January 30, 2007 by A. Pukinskis

5.0 out of 5 stars EVERY VOTING AMERICAN SHOULD READ THIS
Very readable, in fact, very gripping in the telling. It tells what happened since the introduction of voting through computers began with the Help America Vote Act six years... Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting thriller about threats to our democracy
This is a great book for three reasons:

1. It reads like a spy thriller novel that you'll have a hard time putting down.

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Published on November 15, 2006 by Ted Linden

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book on an Important Issue
Brave New Ballot is something of an oddity; it's virtually a tech policy tell-all. It provides a personal, in-depth look at Rubin's crusade against paperless, unverifyable voting... Read more
Published on October 26, 2006 by Timothy B. Lee

5.0 out of 5 stars Important work on the insecurity of e-voting systems
In an important new book Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting, Avi Rubin writes `too often in American life, when it comes to... Read more
Published on September 20, 2006 by Ben Rothke

5.0 out of 5 stars When science meets democracy
This is a book about science overcoming PR in one of the most important facets of our democracy: voting. Read more
Published on September 16, 2006 by Patrick D. Mcdaniel

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