Barbara Simon’s fight for paper ballots

CS alumna Barbara Simons (Ph.D. ’81) is the subject of an article in The Atlantic titled “The Computer Scientist Who Prefers Paper,” which explores her conviction that there is only one safe voting technology: paper ballots.  Simons, a pioneer at IBM Research, spent years trying to warn the public of problems with electronic voting systems–which she claimed were shoddy and hackable  She remained resolute, despite heavy criticism and a great deal of political pressure, until Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election became public and perceptions about her changed.  “Many of the leading opponents of paperless voting machines were, and still are, computer scientists, because we understand the vulnerability of voting equipment in a way most election officials don’t,” she said. “The problem with cybersecurity is that you have to protect against everything, but your opponent only has to find one vulnerability.”