With the 2012 election season finally winding down and the 2012 election tomorrow, the question of who a person is voting for is likely solved, but there are some important questions that need to be asked, but are consistently skirted – the integrity of voter databases.  This issue was very briefly raised when Florida started to purge its’ voter rolls of ineligible voters.

But first, why are the voter rolls so important? And why is the security of these rolls an important election issue?  Why is this important issue ignored?  The last question is probably the easiest, most people just do not understand how elections and voting works.  Voting has been made to be as easy as possible with a simple process of signing your name, waiting in line, getting in the booth, casting your vote, and then walking out.  Voter rolls are the lists of eligible citizens who are allowed to vote.  In any election it is important that those who are ineligible – illegal aliens, some inmates, the dead and the mentally incapacitated – do not vote.  In recent years cries of voter fraud have been loud, but often are quickly quieted, before ever reaching the public conversation.  When every vote is equal to every other vote made, having each vote cast by eligible members of society is vital.

What Role Does Security Play this Election?

Now a harder issue: why is the security of these rolls an important election topic?  David Maman, CTO and Founder of GreenSQL tries to answer some of these tougher questions.  “As an information security specialist and database security researcher, I wonder where my vote goes, in what database is it maintained, and of course, how secure it is,” pointing out that last year the databases of major international companies were hacked.  If security is a real threat – which according to Maman it is – then the implications of an unsecure, hackable database that are the centerpieces of the American election system are both large and frightening.

Doug Gross of CNN also approaches this issue in an article entitled, “How Secure is Your Vote?” looking at the election as a whole.  Gross writes, “In an era when shadowy hackers can snatch secret government files and humble big businesses with seeming ease, it’s an unavoidable question as Election Day approaches: When we go to the polls, could our very votes be at risk?”  And yet, he concludes that while there are reasons to be concerned and even though there is still work that needs to be done, our system of voting is better now than it was even four years ago.

While verifying voter rolls, and ensuring the databases are protected seem like vital parts of the election process, in fact the clearing of voter rolls is a highly controversial and oftentimes a partisan event.  Earlier this year there was national outrage led by Democrats when Florida attempted to remove ineligible citizens from the voter rolls.  The ensuring outrage by the President and other national Democrats led to Florida election officials using a federal database to check the list of 182,000 voters who they believed were not citizens.

Why the Outrage Over Voter Databases?

So why the outrage of removing those who are not supposed to vote?  It all begins at the top, the Department of Homeland Security did not want to release any access to its records of who is legal to vote and who is not.  Florida was not the only state to encounter this problem, Colorado did as well, and the political world was stunned when DHS reversed course.

“Homeland Security had been stonewalling such requests from state officials for more than a year.  But analysts note that the about-face came as just as public opinion was starting to turn against the administration, especially in the key swing states of Florida and Colorado.”

A pollster from Denver sums it up perfectly, “An argument between individual rights and ballot security is usually going to be won by the side that wants ballot security.”The ramifications of tomorrow’s election cannot be understated.  Our country is terribly divided, and with the mobilizing of both sides ready to pounce and fight any questionable vote, and draw out the tallying of votes if need be will likely result in an even deeper divided nation than the one we currently reside in.  Regardless of who wins the election, they are going to have a very important task on their hands – bring the nation back together to work towards the brighter future we all deserve and desire.