Georgetown Law
Technology Review

In the weeks preceding the 2016 United States presidential election several images began making the rounds on Twitter. The graphics sought to “remind” Democrats that they could vote via text message. According to The Wall Street Journal, they were built to resemble genuine “get-out-the-vote material produced by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” Many included the “Paid for […]

From Reconstruction through the Civil Rights Era, voter intimidation typically took the form of flagrant, violent targeting of blacks and their political supporters. However, in recent decades, those attempting to suppress the vote have embraced more subtle, cynical, and creative methods. Increasingly, voters are being subjected to false information about voter requirements, aggressive questioning about […]

A consequence of our federalist system and tradition is that even though U.S. elections are organized around a national hierarchy, they are executed in a highly decentralized manner, with each state responsible for setting its own standards and procedures for registering voters, casting ballots, and counting votes. The federal government sets broad standards for such […]

There is no perfect, infallible way to count votes. All methods— including optical scan, touchscreen, and hand counting—are subject to errors, procedural lapses, and deliberate manipulation. Almost all U.S. jurisdictions count their votes using computer-based technology, such as touchscreens and optical-scan machines. Computer-based methods are subject to “hacking,” that is, the replacement of legitimate vote-counting […]

Internet voting is the return of voted ballots over the Internet, using a computer, a tablet, or a smart phone. The voted ballot may be transmitted via a web portal, as a PDF or other attachment, or as a fax. IF I CAN BANK ONLINE, WHY CAN’T I VOTE ONLINE? That is a question we […]

More than thirty election-security bills have been introduced in Congress, but most have been stalled in the Senate and no major legislation has been enacted. The bills would require states to make greater use of paper ballots and paper trails, adopt effective audit procedures, and strengthen federal cybersecurity support for state and local election authorities. […]

Finding a silver lining associated with Cambridge Analytica can be difficult. The notion of a private organization using licit and illicit means to undermine elections around the world for profit is hard to reconcile with liberal democratic values. A brief sampling of the myriad allegations against the U.K.-based data analytics firm include: sharing detailed information […]

Too often, combatting public safety and disinformation on the Internet is presented as a false choice between continuing to allow platforms free reign to set rules of the road for our digital media ecosystem and giving the government more control over the content flowing across the networks. Currently, the government in India is moving to […]

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) has provided broad immunity to Internet service providers since 1996. Today, Section 230’s protections are a ripe target for those concerned about the unanticipated power and reach of the small number of giants that have emerged to dominate the digital landscape. But for those specifically concerned about […]

According to conventional wisdom, legislative efforts to limit platform-based electoral manipulation—including especially laws that go beyond simply mandating additional disclosure about advertising expenditures—are most likely doomed to swift judicial invalidation for two reasons. First, although one might wonder whether the data-driven, algorithmic activities that enable and invite such manipulation ought to count as protected speech […]