So, why are we doing this? To answer that, you can start with the overview in the ABOUT in the navigation bar at the top of this page. And watch the short video. Below in the “More Reading” area you’ll find links to some presentations that dig into the underlying crisis of deteriorating and aged-out voting machinery.
But here’s some important points to get started…
In a world where innovation has been reduced to spare parts from auctions in Southeast Asia with insecure supply chains (you read that right), election technology depends on a security strategy of “patch and pray.”
This is unsustainable.
And given the threat to trustworthy elections from domestic and foreign attacks; solving this has become a moral imperative.
What’s worse: did you know that three (that’s just 3) commercial suppliers of federally certified voting systems control 90% of the U.S. market?
And they lack any business incentive to invest in new technology development to deliver truly verifiable, accurate, secure, and transparent voting technology.
Simply put, it doesn’t “pencil out” for them. Some believe it’s about greed. We just say they’re living off of big-$ service contracts that states cannot escape.
However, when we’ve finished building ElectOS there will be a better alternative. That’s where our nonprofit project enters the picture. We have the incentive, because innovation for public benefit is our only mandate.
At the TrustTheVote Project there is no profit motive; there is only the public benefit drive to increase confidence in election and their outcomes. It’s about doing what’s right for voters.
You may have more questions; and we probably have the answers, but if you can’t find it, reach out to us. Below is a start with links to stuff you can browse at your convenience.
If you’re interested in diving deeper, we have a slide deck presentation, a recent manifesto of sorts, and a short essay on our “theory of change.”
If you’re interested in visually understanding the ElectOS system here is a high-level tour, and for the more technically adept, here is a paper describing the system architecture principles of ElectOS.
Beyond that, here are some links to stay current with our activities:
- The OSET Institute (our sponsoring organization) Blog.
- Our own TrustTheVote Project Blog.
- The OSET Institute Twitter Feed (quite popular).
- Our own TrustTheVote Project Twitter Feed (please help us grow this community!)
- The OSET Institute’s research papers page (lots of papers about all of this).
- The OSET Institute’s media page (continually updating)
