To Deter Foreign Hackers, Some States May Also Be Deterring Voters (npr.org)

A number of states are blocking web traffic from foreign countries to their voter registration websites, making the process harder for some U.S. citizens who live overseas to vote, despite the practice providing no real security benefits. From a report: On its face, the "geo-targeting" of foreign countries may seem like a solid plan: election officials around the country are concerned about foreign interference after Russia's efforts leading up to the 2016 election, so blocking traffic to election websites from outside the United States might seem like an obvious defense starting point. But cybersecurity experts and voting rights advocates say it's an ineffective solution that any hacker could easily sidestep using a virtual private network, or VPN, a commonly-used and easily-available service. Such networks allow for a computer user to use the Internet and appear in a different location than they actually are.

Comments

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner

[rsilvergun]

once again, this is just good 'ole fashion voter suppression.

For my money I want to see voting made mandatory, like Jury Duty. That would be the best way to end voter suppression. Also move voting to Saturday or Sunday and/or make it a national holiday with mandatory pay. Oh, and I don't care if you're convicted of a crime or even currently in prison. _Everyone_ gets to vote. If America has so many Ax Murders and child molesters they can swing an election maybe we should fix that first before worrying about who gets to vote...

Of course, our ruling class isn't going to allow that. Sad thing is there's a portion of Americans who really believe we should stop the "wrong" people from voting. I get the racists and why they feel that way, I even get the nutters who want to repeal the 19th amendment. But then you get regular folk who just have some vague notion of who the "wrong" people are that they can't put it in words that I can't explain. Maybe they get it from right wing talk radio, I don't know. Either way it's messed up.

Re:Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner

[XxtraLarGe]

For my money I want to see voting made mandatory, like Jury Duty.

Nothing says freedom like compulsion! Have you ever considered that many people who don't vote do so consciously because they don't like any of the available choices? Or that they don't believe in government in the first place (i.e. anarchists, Amish, some pacifists)? Or how about sortitionists, who don't even believe in elections?

Then there's Jury Duty. I think jury duty would be better if they allowed people to voluntarily sign up. There's probably no shortage of retirees and unemployed that wouldn't mind making a few extra bucks.

Re:Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner

[TechyImmigrant]

>Well, Jury duty isn't truly mandatory....
>If you don't register to vote, then you are not put into the pool of possible jurors.

Bullshit. I'm not a US citizen and I certainly haven't registered to vote (since it would be a crime) but I've been selected for jury duty 4 times. Each time I get to fill in a post card and tick the "I'm not a citizen" excuse box.

Re:Do you want a secure election or not?

[Anonymous Coward]

All this bitching about needing ID's to vote is insane, no other country in the world is stupid enough to relax the voting requirements as much as some states do...

No ID required: Australia, Denmark, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland)

ID required only when identity in doubt: Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden

Multiple non-photo IDs accepted: India, Canada

Photo ID required, but easy to obtain: Spain, France, Malta, Belgium, Mexico

You were saying?

Re: It isn't what but how.

[Uberbah]

Jill Stein being in the race and taking more votes in 3 states than Hillary lost by is how you got Trump.

That's also wrong, as more Republicans voted for Johnson and McMullen than Democrats did for Stein. Take third parties out of the race and Clinton would have done worse, not better. In fact she would have lost at least Minnesota, as she was ahead of Trump by only 45,000 votes in that state - Johnson and McMullen put together had more than three times that many.