Schedule & Reading List Fall 2026
The schedule and readings are subject to change. Please check back frequently.
Part 1. The Election Cybersecurity Landscape
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Friday, Sep. 4
HALDERMAN
Week 1: Cybersecurity Threats to U.S. Elections
Introductions and overview of the course The security mindset Is U.S. election infrastructure secure? What happened during the 2016 and 2020 elections? How has the election security landscape changed since 2016? How can we, as a class, help? |
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Friday, Sep. 11
HALDERMAN
Week 2: Voting as a Security Problem
Election security requirements and trade-offs Evolution of voting technology and election fraud The rise of electronic voting Security investigations in 2016 and 2020 ● NASEM, Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy (2018), Chapters 1–7
● Halderman, The Antrim County 2020 Election Incident: An Independent Forensic Investigation (2022)
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Friday, Sep. 18
HALDERMAN
Week 3: Computers at the Polls
Vulnerabilities in U.S. voting machines Electronic voting around the world Architecture and election security Diebold DRE demonstration ● Calandrino et al., Source Code Review of the Diebold Voting System (2007)
● Wolchok et al., Security Analysis of India’s Electronic Voting Machines (2010)
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Friday, Sep. 25
HALDERMAN
Week 4: Election Procedures and Threats
Voter registration and authentication Tabulation and reporting Physical controls Logic and accuracy testing Parallel testing Post-election audits ● Appel, Security Seals on Voting Machines: A Case Study (2011)
● Walker et al., Logic and Accuracy Testing: A Fifty-State Review (2022)
HW1: Thinking like an Election Official available
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Friday, Oct. 2
HALDERMAN
Week 5: Ballot Marking Devices
BMD usability BMD security risks Future prospects ● Bernhard et al., Can Voters Detect Malicious Manipulation of Ballot Marking Devices? (2020)
● Halderman and Springall, Security Analysis of Georgia’s ImageCast X Ballot Marking Devices (2021)
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Friday, Oct. 9
HALDERMAN
Week 6: Risk-Limiting Audits
Requirements and goals for an RLA RLA technologies: ballot and batch, comparison and polling ● Appel and Stark, Evidence-Based Elections (2020)
● Stark, When Audits and Recounts Distract from Election Integrity (2024)
HW1: Thinking like an Election Official due 6 p.m.
HW2: Risk-Limiting Audits available
Project topics available
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Friday, Oct. 16
No class
Project preferences due at 6 p.m.
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Friday, Oct. 23
CRIMMINS
Week 7: Privacy, Usability, and Accessibility
Ballot secrecy risks and attacks Accessibility and usability guidelines Emerging assistive technologies ● Crimmins et al., DVSorder: Ballot Randomization Flaws Threaten Voter Privacy (2024)
● Center for Civic Design, Field Guides to Ensuring Voter Intent, Volumes 1–10
HW2: Risk-Limiting Audits due 6 p.m.
HW3: Flawed Ballot Randomization available
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Part 2. Election Security and Public Policy
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Friday, Oct. 30
HALDERMAN
Week 8: Contemporary Threats to Elections
Information warfare Insider attacks Disinformation Threat modeling for elections ● SSCI Russia Report, Report on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election (2020), Volumes 1 and 2
● Skoglund, Declaration re Coffee County (2022)
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Friday, Nov. 6
HALDERMAN
Week 9: What happened on Election Day? / Federal and State Policy
Federalism and Election Policy HAVA, the EAC and VVSG 2.0 Survey of state practices Elections in Michigan, recent changes ● U.S. EAC, Voluntary Voting System Guidelines VVSG 2.0 (2021)
● Michigan Election Security Advisory Commission, Report and Recommendations (2020)
HW3: Flawed Ballot Randomization due 6 p.m.
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Part 3. Future Prospects for Securing Elections
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Friday, Nov. 13
HALDERMAN
Week 10: Internet Voting
Vote-by-mail and UOCAVA settings RAVBM systems Challenges for online voting Case studies: D.C., Estonia, Australia Blockchain? ● Wolchok et al., Attacking the Washington, D.C. Internet Voting System (2012)
● Specter et al., Security Analysis of Voatz (2020)
● Specter and Halderman, Security Analysis of the Democracy Live Online Voting System (2021)
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Friday, Nov. 20
HALDERMAN
Week 11: Elections and Local Government
● (No readings for today. Please use the time to make progress on your projects.)
Project checkpoint due at 6 p.m.
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Friday, Nov. 27
Thanksgiving Break
No class |
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Friday, Dec. 4
HALDERMAN
Week 12: End-to-end Verification
Cryptographic approaches to securing elections Protocols and properties Open problems and challenges ● Benaloh et al., End-to-End Verifiability (2014)
● Dzieduszycka-Suinat et al., The Future of Voting: End-to-End Verifiable Internet Voting (2015)
● Berkeley Center for Security in Politics Working Group, Statement on Developing Standards for Internet Ballot Return (2022)
● Bernhard et al., Public Evidence from Secret Ballots (2017)
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Friday, Dec. 11
HALDERMAN
Week 13: Project Presentations
Each group will present their project in class Dec. 14 — Project final reports due at 6 p.m.
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