CVF has been involved with election security since 1999 when staff and board members participated in the California Secretary of State's Internet Voting Task Force. CVF played a significant role in California's move to require a voter-verified paper audit trail and led the effort to eliminate paperless electronic voting in California. Strong post-election audits are also a high priority for CVF.
CVF's recent work to secure elections includes focusing on the security and protection of election officials themselves, who have increasingly been threatened and harassed in the wake of the 2020 Presidential election.
- CVF's 2021 report, Documenting and Addressing Harassment of Election Officials, shines a light on this troubling development and recommends reforms to implement to protect and defend democracy's frontline workers.
- In September 2022, CVF hosted Peace at the Polls CA to promote communication between local law enforcement and election officials.
- Resources and developments are featured in CVF's Resources for Supporting Election Officials and Protecting Election Officials in the News pages.
- CVF also worked with the Brennan Center to enact SB 1131, giving California election workers the ability to shield their personal information from public access by enrolling in address confidentiality programs.
Below are links to CVF's and others' recommended resources to learn more about election security in the California and the United States.
Federal Resources
- Know Your Voting Rights - Your Guide to Federal Voting Rights Laws from the United States Department of Justice
- Chain of Custody Best Practices from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission
- U.S. Voluntary Voting System Guidelines and NCSL's chart of states adhering to federal standards (2018)
- US Department of Homeland Security - Election Security
- Designation of Elections as Critical Infrastructure (two-page summary from the Congressional Research Service)
California Resources from the Secretary of State:
- Office of Voting Systems Technology Assessment
- California Regulations
- Los Angeles County's Voting Solutions for All People (VSAP) certification test reports and Secretary of State's certification conditions for VSAP 2.0 | Conditional Certification for VSAP 2.1 (Oct. 1, 2020)
- Office of Election Cybersecurity
- Voting Modernization Board
- How How To Use Your County's Voting System
- County-by-County Voting Equipment Chart (as of January 2020)
- Proposed Election Regulations
- Risk Limiting Audits Regulations (adopted in 2020)
- California Internet Voting Task Force report, released January 2000 by Secretary of State Bill Jones
- History of Voting Systems in California, by Ed Arnold, published in 1999 and accessed via the Internet Archive's WayBack Machine
CVF Resources
- CVF January 10, 2020 testimony at Los Angeles County's Voting Systems for All People (VSAP) 2.0 voting system certification hearing, and CVF's September 15, 2020 public comment regarding Los Angeles County's VSAP 2.1 proposed certification
- Joint Public Comment Letter dated Dec. 10, 2019, on the California Secretary of State's proposed Risk-Limiting Audit Regulations, and Joint Public Comment letter dated January 17, 2020 on the modified proposed Risk-Limiting Audit Regulations
- CVF policy brief: Modernizing California's Voting Technology: A Look Back, a Look Ahead
- CVF backgrounder: Public Verification of Software Vote Counts and California's Manual Count Law
- CVF Archives: Voting Technology Resources
Organizations, Studies and Resources
- National Conference of State Legislatures - State Laws Providing Protection for Election Officials and Staff (2023)
- University of Michigan's J. Alex Halderman et al's paper, Can Voters Detect Malicious Manipulation of Ballot Marking Devices? published Jan. 2020
- Center For Technology and Civic Life's post-election audits and risk-limiting audits videos
- Verified Voting and The Verifier
- Election Verification Network
- CITED, California Institute for Technology and Democracy
- Brennan Center for Justice
- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs' Election Cybersecurity Playbook
- Email and Internet Voting: The Overlooked Threat to Election Security
- The Myth of Secure Blockchain Voting, by CVF board member David Jefferson
- The Future of Voting: Accessible, Reliable, Verifiable Technology, National Academies 2018
- A Procurement Guide for Better Election Cybersecurity, published by the Brennan Center
- Little Hoover Commission March 4 2019 letter to Gov. Newsom and legislative leaders regarding voting equipment security
