The Perils of Online Voting
By Justin Riemer, President, USGI, and Marshal Trigg, Junior Counsel, USGI
Christmas came early in Anchorage, Alaska, according to the New York Times.
The Mobile Voting Project (“an experiment that feels both inevitable and impossibly futuristic,” cooed the Times) now allows voters to receive and cast ballots entirely online after providing identification to election officials. The article, while noting security concerns, ultimately presents the initiative sympathetically. Anchorage’s election administrator told the paper they’re “trying to make it even easier . . . to vote . . . so you don’t really have an excuse not to vote anymore.”
That framing is a common one; but is voting a service that must be made maximally convenient? And should convenience be subordinate to other considerations like election security?
What the Times largely omits is more instructive. A group of the nation’s leading voting security experts issued a pointed response criticizing the article for ignoring decades of research reaching the same conclusion: “online voting is not secure.”
Their statement also highlighted a few inconvenient facts. Bradley Tusk, the venture capitalist funding the Mobile Voting Project, previously commissioned a project to develop standards for secure online voting. When his own team of experts warned that “current technology cannot provide the level of security needed” for internet voting, Tusk ignored them and pressed ahead anyway. And despite Tusk’s claims that mobile voting increases participation, his 2020 trial in Washington’s King County Conservation District elections saw turnout remain flat at 0.49% of registered voters. The promised democratic revival didn’t materialize, yet the pitch remains unchanged.
Indeed, many security experts chafed at the King County venture. As one put it: “I don’t know that I have run across cybersecurity experts whose mortgages are not paid by a mobile-voting company who think it’s a good idea.” The same year, MIT researchers determined that the mobile voting app “Voatz”—also funded by Tusk—contained vulnerabilities that “allow different kinds of adversaries to alter, stop, or expose a user’s vote.”
Other experiments in online voting hint at its potentially catastrophic consequences. A study of Ontario’s 2022 online municipal elections revealed flaws and other vulnerabilities “that risked secretly hijacking up to a million online ballots.” And online voting certainly doesn’t eliminate the possibility of human error. Ironically, the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) recently had to rerun its online leadership elections “after an official lost the encrypted key needed to unlock” the results.
Those who oppose internet voting aren’t Luddites or partisans. They include some of the most respected computer scientists in the world who base their opposition on technical realities: the attack surface is too large, the defenses are inadequate, and the consequences of failure are severe.
Internet voting is often sold as the future, i.e., a natural progression from online commerce to civic participation. However, elections are inherently different. For-profit industries have determined that the increased profits from commerce, such as online banking, outweigh the inevitable cons due to fraud. But such a cost-benefit analysis is obviously ill suited to voting. Elections are not designed to absorb a certain amount of fraud and still deliver intended results. Votes must be both secret and secure. Anonymity makes it impossible to verify individual ballots were counted as intended, and you rarely can reverse election results once officials are sworn into office. A successful attack on an election might never be detected and, even if it were, cannot be remedied.
The stakes are far higher than individual convenience. And the real test of election administration isn’t whether it embraces the latest technology, but whether it maintains public confidence while ensuring all and only eligible voters can participate. In an era of intense polarization and disagreement on voting policies, opposition to online voting remains one of the few areas of expert consensus across the political spectrum. We should preserve it.
Three states, Arkansas, Kansas, and South Dakota, certified constitutional amendments for 2026 that would bar noncitizens from voting in all state and local elections. Four additional proposals in Alaska, California, Michigan, and West Virginia remain pending – either gathering signatures or awaiting further legislative approval.
Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) sent formal notices to New York and New Mexico alleging their registration forms and procedures violate the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Both letters point out that the states’ voter registration applications violate HAVA by not specifying applicants must provide a Driver’s License number if they have one. As reported, RITE’s letter to New York also points to a state regulation that improperly allows voters to register who fail to provide a Driver’s License number or SSN+4, or affirm they possess neither. RITE’s letter to New Mexico asks whether they maintain a HAVA exemption applicable to a limited number of states and whether they complete required verification checks.
Alabama
An election worker was arrested after allegedly calling the probate court and threatening to kill staff, reportedly because he was removed from poll work before a run-off election. The individual remains jailed on a terroristic-threat charge and is due to appear in court.
Arizona
Under a resolution introduced in late November, the amendment would end Election Day early ballot drop-offs, eliminate the “active early-voter list” that auto-sends ballots to most voters, and require voters to confirm their address every election cycle to stay on the list. The proposal would also require voters returning early ballots in person to follow stricter ID and location requirements.
California
The proposed 2026 voter ID initiative’s amendment would require government-issued photo ID for in-person voting and partial ID numbers for mail ballots, plus provide free voter ID cards to those without them. The driving force behind the initiative is Carl DeMaio, via his group Reform California.
Colorado
The Colorado Clerks Association asked Governor Polis to reject a request, backed by the Trump administration, to transfer former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters from state prison to federal custody. Peters was convicted in October 2024 on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges tied to a 2021 breach of county election equipment. State prison officials say state law requires any transfer be initiated by the state, not federal authorities, and Polis’s office confirmed it does not plan to pursue a transfer.
The Department of State scheduled a public rulemaking hearing on December 5 to consider a preliminary draft of permanent election rule changes. The draft would revise multiple aspects of election administration, including vote center procedures, mail ballot handling, canvass board composition, signature verification, voting system certification, and accessibility standards.
Connecticut
A court filed additional charges against two people already under investigation in the ongoing absentee ballot fraud probe in Bridgeport, related to misuse and mishandling of ballots in recent elections.
District of Columbia
The DC Board of Elections was planning to implement ranked choice voting (RCV) for the June 2026 crowded primary, following approval by voters in 2024 under Initiative 83. The council has since delayed the push. The rollout will include updating ballots, election software, and outreach plans.
Idaho
A hand recount added 373 previously uncounted ballots to the county’s November 4 election totals but left the originally certified outcomes unchanged. Officials attributed the discrepancy to a procedural error during the initial count.
After a Justice Department request tied to concerns about noncitizen voting, Secretary of State McGrane provided the publicly available voter file, omitting personally identifiable information. County audits since then have produced only a handful of cases involving ineligible voters, mostly people with felony convictions. Separately, the state health agency shared SNAP recipients’ personal data, including Social Security numbers and citizenship indicators, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture at its request.
Indiana
State lawmakers reversed course this week and scheduled a December special session to consider a new congressional map aimed at redrawing districts before the 2026 midterms. House Republicans will reconvene on Dec. 1 and the Senate on Dec. 8, after previously rejecting map changes. The proposed map would redraw the state’s two Democratic-held districts and could shift the balance of the state’s entire U.S. House delegation.
A new analysis by the Voting System Technical Oversight Program (VSTOP) at Ball State University found that municipal elections in Indiana cost significantly more per vote than midterm or presidential contests; about $15.62 per vote in 2023 compared with roughly $5.26 in 2022 midterms. The report also found counties using “vote-center” systems spent less per voter than those using traditional precinct-based systems, primarily because they required fewer poll workers. Although the study noted potential efficiencies from aligning municipal elections with larger cycles and expanding vote-center use, it offered no formal policy recommendations.
Kentucky
A lawsuit claims an assistant county clerk admitted the Board of Elections did not meet to certify 2024 results and instead assigned a random certification date. Plaintiffs argue this created falsified official records and could constitute election record tampering. The suit focuses on several local races in Union, Walton, and Florence, and seeks penalties and further court review rather than immediate removal of additional officeholders.
Maryland
Prince George’s County has released the unredacted voter registration records of Ian Andre Roberts, an illegal alien who, until his recent arrest by ICE, served as the Des Moines, IA School Superintendent. The county released the records after a legal threat by RITE and the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) claiming the previously released redacted records violated the National Voter Registration Act’s records disclosure provision. The documents show Roberts answered “yes” to the citizenship question on his application. RITE and AAF say this case underscores the lack of safeguards to keep noncitizens off the rolls.
Montana
The Secretary of State’s Office says it will begin using the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system to cross-check voter rolls and flag individuals who may not be U.S. citizens.
Nebraska
Brian Kruse announced he will resign as Douglas County election commissioner effective January 9, 2026. He has led the election office since 2016, overseeing local and national elections, and said he will return to the funeral-home industry where he worked before taking the post. The governor’s office is now accepting applications to appoint his successor, as required under state law for counties of Douglas County’s size.
Nevada
The special session lasted one week and, among other things, the Legislature used a last-minute move to advance a proposed constitutional amendment putting the right to vote by mail directly before Nevada voters. Under the resolution, county clerks would be required to send a mail ballot to every active registered voter, along with locations for voters to drop off mail ballots. The resolution passed both chambers on party lines and will return in the 2027 regular session; if approved then, it would appear on the ballot for voters to decide in 2028.
New Jersey
A county court judge resolved a backlog of more than 100 disputed ballots after a tie among commissioners on whether to accept them. The ballots, including some provisional votes and mail-in ballots flagged over signature concerns, were returned to the board with instructions for stricter signature review. In a subsequent vote, the board accepted nearly all but deadlocked on two mail-in ballots for an elderly couple.
New Mexico
Reports indicate Valencia County officials discovered that a voting machine had erroneously added about 204 “nonexistent” ballots across 12 races, even though it was not used on election night. After review and validation, county election directors corrected the vote totals and confirmed the numbers now match the tally published on the state Secretary-of-State’s website. The manufacturer declined to explain why the extra ballots appeared. No election outcomes changed as a result of the correction.
New York
On November 20, a court ruled that the town of Newburgh lacks standing to mount a facial constitutional challenge against the state’s Voting Rights Act, clearing the way for a minority-vote-dilution lawsuit under the law to proceed. The decision leaves the state’s VRA fully in force, preserving its tools for voters to challenge at-large election systems that allegedly dilute the electoral power of protected-class communities.
North Carolina
The State Board of Elections (NCSBE) sent a second round of “Registration Repair” letters on November 24 to voters whose records lack either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number – a requirement under state and federal law. This included over 73,000 voters.
State Auditor Boliek noted that NCSBE voted to move forward with using the federal SAVE database to verify immigration status for voter-registration purposes. Officials say the system will help enforce the state constitution’s requirement, amended in 2024, that only U.S. citizens may vote.
The Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) says it will update its voter-registration procedures after an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office found six noncitizens were erroneously registered to vote through the DMV. The DMV plans new staff training and software updates to require citizenship verification before completing registrations at its offices and online.
NCSBE renewed its request to the DMV for full Social Security numbers of DMV customers who are registered voters — aiming to improve cross-database matching, identify duplicate or ineligible registrations, and help ensure accurate rolls ahead of the 2026 elections.
Oregon
A hearing on proposed updates to the Oregon Motor Voter Program (OMV) is set for January 6, 2026 at 11:30 AM. The proposed § 165-005-0170 rule would revise OMV procedures — including requiring vetted proof of U.S. citizenship at the DMV, multilingual voter-registration notifications, inter-agency agreements for data transfer, periodic audits, and updated procedures to transmit registration data from DMV to county election officials.
Pennsylvania
Northampton County officials used 30 numbered ping pong balls in a drum to choose winners for 116 races in last month’s municipal election after those contests ended in exact ties. The draw covered a mix of positions, from election judges and inspectors to municipal auditors and tax collectors, filling dozens of local offices for upcoming terms.
Fayette County officials state that all 276 provisional ballots cast after a pollbook error on Election Day have now been counted and submitted for state certification. The error occurred because the state sent an outdated voter file, causing some eligible voters, including one county commissioner, to be wrongly flagged as having already voted.
Matthew Laiss, charged with double-voting in 2020, argues Trump’s pardon language covers his case. His attorneys say the pardon applies to any conduct connected to 2020 elector activity, including his alleged double vote. Prosecutors disagree, and a federal judge will determine whether the pardon blocks the charges.
South Carolina
The State Election Commission unanimously chose Jenny Wooten as its next Executive Director following months of turmoil that included the firing and later arresting of the agency’s prior top officials. Wooten had been serving as interim director and previously worked as chief of staff for the commission. Her appointment now awaits approval from the state Senate.
South Dakota
The state postponed rollout of SDVotes, a $4.5 million upgrade intended to replace the existing statewide registration system. County auditors said the originally planned launch this month would come too soon, especially in larger counties with many ballot styles, and requested additional time for thorough testing. Officials now expect SDVotes to go live in January 2027.
Texas
The Secretary of State notified Harris County that a complaint alleging use of PO Box addresses instead of required residential addresses on voter registrations may trigger state oversight under a recently-enacted law. The county has 30 days to respond.
Vermont
Governor Scott said he supports Secretary of State Hanzas’s refusal to comply with a demand from the U.S. Department of Justice for unredacted statewide voter-registration data; rejecting what he called federal overreach. The DOJ sued after Hanzas declined to share information including names, addresses, dates of birth, and driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers.
Virginia
There is a new legal challenge by a former felon arguing disenfranchisement violates a post-Civil War law that governed Virginia’s readmission to Congress. Supporters of reform say the change could restore voting access to more than 300,000 Virginians stripped of their voting rights. Currently, only the governor can restore voting rights for people convicted of felonies in the state.
Wisconsin
The state elections commission now mandates that any election observer removed from a polling site receives a written order detailing the reason for removal. The commission aims to finalize a brochure by February and have the rules distributed to election workers.
DOJ Voter Data Lawsuits
The Department of Justice expanded its nationwide voter-data enforcement campaign Tuesday, filing suit against six additional states for allegedly refusing to provide statewide voter registration records. The new defendants—Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington—are accused of failing to comply with federal disclosure requirements for election data. With these latest filings, the total number of states sued by DOJ over voter data access now stands at fourteen.
Arizona
Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission v. Fontes, No. CV2025-064149 (Ariz. Super. Ct.)
On December 2, the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission filed a lawsuit seeking to void the recent name change of the Arizona Independent Party (previously No Labels), arguing that the rebranding will “cause widespread voter confusion.”
Petersen v. Fontes, No. CV2024-001942 (Ariz. Super. Ct.)
On November 24, the Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed a superior court ruling invalidating three provisions of the 2023 Arizona Elections Procedures Manual after finding that Secretary of State Fontes exceeded his statutory authority in adopting them. The provisions governed juror questionnaires, circulator registration, and active early voting lists. The court also affirmed the lower court’s finding that the legislators who brought the case—the President of the Arizona Senate and the Speaker of the House—had institutional standing to sue on behalf of their chambers.
Arkansas
League of Women Voters of Arkansas v. Jester, No. 5:25-cv-05087 (W.D. Ark.)
On December 1, Secretary of State Jester appealed a November 19 federal district court ruling which would temporarily block Arkansas from enforcing several recently enacted state laws regulating citizen-led ballot initiatives and referendum signature gathering.
Florida
State of Florida v. U.S. Dep’t of Homeland Sec., No. 3:24-cv-509 (N.D. Fla.)
On November 28, four states—Florida, Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa—entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that will allow the federal agency to access state driver’s license records through Nlets, a nationwide law enforcement data network. In exchange, DHS agreed to continue development of its bulk-search citizenship-verification program (known as SAVE), which the federal government uses to screen voter-registration records for potential noncitizens.
Georgia
In re Georgia Senate Bill 202, No. 1:21-mi-55555 (N.D. Ga.)
On December 1, the Eleventh Circuit issued a per curiam opinion which vacated and remanded a district court injunction that had blocked enforcement of Georgia’s statutory ban on distributing food, water, or gifts to voters standing in line at a polling place. The panel did not reach the merits of the First Amendment claim, but instead ruled that the district court applied the wrong legal framework for a facial challenge, citing the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Moody v. NetChoice.
New Georgia Project v. Raffensperger, No. 1:24-cv-03412 (N.D. Ga.)
On December 3, a federal court heard arguments on a motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging provisions of a 2024 state election law that restricts locations where voters can receive election mail and alters procedures for challenges of voter eligibility.
Michigan
Republican Nat’l Comm. v. Benson, No. 25-____-MZ (Mich. Ct. Cl.)
On November 18, RNC filed suit challenging the statewide guidance that allows overseas citizens with Michigan-ties (but who have never resided in the state) to register and vote. The complaint argues the guidance violates Michigan’s constitutional residency requirement and seeks a declaratory judgment to block it.
Republican Nat’l Comm. v. Benson, No. 24-000148-MZ (Mich. Ct. Cl.)
On December 3, a state court ruled that a new state law requires election inspectors to reject absentee ballots where the unique identifying number on the ballot stub does not match the number on the return envelope, or where the stub is missing altogether.
Mississippi
Hull v. Kelly, No. 2025-66C-1 (Miss. Cir. Ct. Covington Cnty.)
Testimony concluded on December 1 in a post-election challenge to the results of Mount Olive’s June 3 mayoral race. The plaintiff, contesting her loss to the incumbent mayor, alleges widespread irregularities in the validation and counting of absentee ballots. The court is expected to issue a ruling in the coming weeks.
Nebraska
Kuehn v. Pillen, No. D02D124-0004307 (Neb. Dist. Ct. Lancaster Cnty.)
On December 3, the state Supreme Court heard an appeal brought by John Kuehn, a longtime opponent of legalizing medical cannabis, which challenges the validity of the 2024 medical-cannabis ballot petition drive. The appeal alleges widespread fraud and notary-misconduct in the signature gathering process that led to the ballot initiative’s placement and later voter approval.
Texas
LULAC v. Abbott, No. 3:21-cv-00259 (W.D. Tex.)
On November 21, Supreme Court Justice Alito granted an emergency stay of the Fifth Circuit’s ruling that would have required Texas to return to its 2021 congressional map. The Fifth Circuit panel had held last month that plaintiffs were likely to prove that the 2025 map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.
In Re Huggins, No. 03-25-00903 (Tex. Dist. Ct. Travis Cnty.)
A voter-approved $3 billion dementia-research fund is on hold pending resolution of a lawsuit contesting the November election results. Plaintiffs argue that the counties failed to properly certify their voting machines.
Utah
League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature, No. 220901712 (Utah Dist. Ct., Salt Lake Cnty.)
On November 21, the state’s Third District Court ordered “tweaks” to the congressional map she selected earlier in the year after state election officials pointed out boundary defects: split households, mis-drawn boundaries and other technical issues affecting several municipalities. The need for correction came after a prior ruling (Nov. 10) in which Gibson struck down a map adopted by the state legislature and instead approved an alternative map submitted by plaintiffs.
Senators Roger Wicker and Katie Britt filed legislation that would allow states to require proof of U.S. citizenship when people register to vote by mail. The bill amends the federal mail voter registration framework to make citizenship documentation a permissible requirement for federal elections.
This comment submitted on December 1 by 12 states responds to a proposed update to U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system of records, broadly raising concerns that the expanded system could sweep in U.S.-born citizens and subject them to bulk citizenship status checks. It claims the revised System of Records Notice (SORN) imposes “unacceptable risks” to eligible voters by enlarging SAVE from an immigration status tool to one potentially used for nationwide voter-list verification, increasing chances of erroneous citizenship flags or disenfranchisement.
At the 2025 Capital Forum, a DHS official urged state legislatures to take a more active role in protecting critical infrastructure, including elections. The presentation highlighted rising risks from drones, AI, and cyber threats, and emphasized coordinated planning with local agencies and private operators. The official noted that federal support is not sufficient without complementary state-level policies and preparedness.
The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) significantly scaled back its election-security support ahead of the 2025 elections, raising concern among state officials about capacity for the 2026 midterms. The end of federal funding for EI-ISAC and MS-ISAC eliminates free threat-monitoring and security services long used by state and local election offices, and many jurisdictions reportedly had to rely on their own resources or new partners to perform tasks previously handled by CISA.
A Heritage Foundation memo argues that courts have repeatedly misused Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) to justify redistricting based heavily on race.
Joshua Douglas “argues that state courts should adopt a presumption of unlawful partisanship under state constitutions” and “deem partisan-based mid-decade redistricting unconstitutional.”
AEI will be hosting a conference on December 9 at 10:00am ET on “Bush v. Gore and the Help America Vote Act, 25 Years Later.” Participation is available in-person and online.
The House Administration Committee’s Subcommittee on Elections will hold a hearing on December 10 at 2:00pm ET on potential updates to the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).