 Don't go postal over mail-in voting a look into voting by mail with yours truly be a silo First of all who am I I am a 13 year old girl in two years ago I was the youngest speaker at hope and a lot has happened since then I spoke three times at Defcon I spoke in the roots asylum the biohacking village and the voting village I also gave a talk on election security in Romania at Defcamp Spreading the word about election security worldwide My election hacking from the roots asylum was highlighted at a congressional hearing on election security And I'm the founder and CEO of girls hack Our motto is teaching girls skills of hacking so that they can change the future I provide online and physical lessons to any girl who wants to start her journey in cyber security Speaking of my startups I also started secure open vote I am building my own end-to-end election system this year at Defcon I have my reporting system running in the voting village so you can try to change the vote count So let's jump in Due to COVID-19 this year's 2020 election is going to be one of the hardest in history More people than ever are switching to mail in voting instead of voting in person To give you an idea of how many people voted in the 2016 elections by mail 25% voted by mail So let's clarify how voting by mail works dispel some rumors and go over the pros and cons With a quote from a high-level politician There is no way Zero that mail-in ballots will be anything less than Substantially fraudulent mail boxes will be robbed Ballots will be forged and even illegally printed out and fraudulently signed Whoa, there is a lot to unpack there First of all, he said that mail boxes will be robbed First of all, this is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in jail In a quarter of a million dollars in fines Stealing mail from someone's house to get their ballot would be difficult You would have to know when the ballot was mailed out and everyone is home these days anyway The postal mail boxes are emptied daily So unless you are going to go out in broad daylight pick the lock to a mailbox And steal a bunch of mail-in ballots pretty sure mail boxes are safe If you did manage to get away with it It is likely that the few ballots that you got will not tip the election In may 2020 a big donor to the trump campaign was appointed as postmaster general Since then people have noticed that the mail has slowed significantly Mail and packages have been returned He has shut down the mail sorting machines forcing mail to be sorted by hand Taking the postal service back to the 1950s Even one of my girls who hack Soldering kits has come back to me. See five percent of all system Your best bet is to drop your votes are kept at secure locations such as police stations or municipal buildings The boxes are empty daily and have security cameras on them Additional security features such as unique keyed locks or tamper evidence seals are also used I know what you're thinking, but be a in your other election talk You said tamper evidence seals can be undetectably opened and manipulated Okay, you do that go to the police station with your lock picks and your acetone and open the ballot box Let me know how that works out for you The penalty for mail ballot fraud is up to five years in prison And ten thousand dollars in fines for each act of fraud That is in addition to state penalties If the postal system and the ballot boxes Still scare you you can always drop off your ballot off by hand to the county clerks or election board office You may be saying that people are just going to print out their own ballots But the ballots themselves are very difficult to forge They use many security features including special papers with UV sensitive markings and water marks You can't just run to staples and buy this stuff If you have ever held a piece of fake money, you know how it feels different than the real thing When the election officials are opening the ballots the one that bob printed out on his inkjet At home will definitely stick out Some ballots use color shift ink or magnetic printing ink This ink is extremely difficult to source and is delivered by armored truck It's also worth noting that you need an actual printing press to use these in Bob won't just be loading that into his inkjet Many ballots have micro printed unique security codes or bar codes This prevents duplicates and allows voters to track their ballot as it travels through the system Another thing that this high official said is they will forge signatures But the voter signature is verified with their past signatures Some states provide extra training for their election workers to spot forgeries If an inconsistency is found it is reported to the state prosecutor's office But you can vote twice once by mail and once in person. That's a big cup of nope Mail-in ballots are due before the election This gives election officials time to check the voter off the roll as Voted if the voter goes and tries to vote in person the state prosecutor's office is notified Occasionally people have received two ballots in the mail with their name on it No, this does not mean you can vote twice, but how does this happen? Okay, how many of you have ever merged two databases? Well, the computer sees these two names as unique Marge Bouvier the name she used when she first registered to vote at age 18 And Marge Bouvier Simpson the name she took after she got married to the handsome Homer Simpson And what is in the dmv system? Well, when this state merged The dmv database with the voter registration database Marge showed up twice The good news is humans check these names and signatures on the ballot to catch these kinds of errors If you ever receive two ballots simply call the election office and they can correct the error Now that we've debunked some myths, let's talk about how voting by mail works Every state is in charge of its own elections. So it differs slightly from state to state Some states allow you to vote by mail without a specific reason Others require a valid reason to vote by mail A few do not consider COVID to be a valid reason But this is changing day by day. So check vote.org to see what your state is doing The first step is to register to vote 39 states and the district of columbia allow their citizens to register online Every state has a printable registration form. So you can print it out and either mail it in or deliver it in person Make sure that you register by the deadline If it is getting close bring that registration forum to the clerks office or election office in person If you have not registered to vote do it after this talk. I'm serious It takes only two minutes literally two minutes And it's very important because every vote I made this really big so you can take a screenshot go to register dot vote dot org to register Vote dot org has tons of great voter resources Including checking if you are registered how to get a mail-in ballot election reminders Make sure you're eligible to vote by mail Currently five states have an all mail-in ballot election 28 states and the district of columbia have a no excuse absentee voting Which means you can just vote by mail without having to give a specific reason In 17 states you need a valid reason. This differs from state to state Some reasons include old age being affirmed or out of state To see if you are eligible to vote by mail go to vote.org For your state and see if you are eligible Here is a map and again things are constantly changing So check online at vote.org to see where your state fits in you have to request an absentee ballot If you have not done this do it now After my talk go and request your absentee ballot This will give them time to add you on the list and mail out your ballot Guess what you can do this app? Vote.org Receive your ballot sit down and fill it out Right away. Don't put it in a pile of bills and junk mail. You are ignoring Sit down and just fill it out One of the great things with mail-in ballots is you can research the candidates Get your oscent on and find out what each candidate is all about Who knows perhaps that school board member actually owns a chocolate factory This is a valid reason for many to vote by mail and should be considered valid by all states If a voter is immune compromised or lives with someone who is not allowing them to vote by mail Is a form of voter suppression Also brings the risk of covid to the election Workers many of which are elderly retirees Putting their lives in danger just so you can vote in person The poll workers also have to clean the machines between each vote Slowing the process and lengthening the poll lines Also forces people to go to extremes to protect themselves This lady had to wear a trash bag Now that's one fashion statement that should never be made In many states processing of mail-in ballots can begin as soon as they are received Other states do this anywhere from one month to the day of the election By permitting election officials to do a lot of the work ahead of time The counting process on election day will be quicker It's important to note that if ballots are counted ahead of time Their results are not released before election day Regardless of how they are counted. This is a great opportunity to perform a risk limiting audit And every state should do this You have everything you need handmarked paper ballots and people to count them But mail-in voting has tons of fraud Between 2000 and 2014 over a billion mail-in ballots were cast And a professor at Laos school of law Found only 31 cases of fraud There are many benefits to mail-in voting Voter turnout is 10 higher and it does not seem to be one party or another It reduces some voter suppression like poll intimidation Or people who have to travel a great distance to vote and have no transportation Or people who have to work on election day Which should be a national holiday, by the way It also protects from attacks by foreign actors Kind of hard to hack a piece of paper, isn't it, Putin? One of the biggest benefits is it speeds up the election process No long lines at polls or people not being able to vote Because of crashing e-poll books or slow election machines The two most important things are It's a handmarked paper ballot and it allows for better informed voting No more just randomly picking school board members Remember this guy? The high-ranking government official from earlier voted by mail in 2017, 18, and 20 I guess the system is good enough for him So why shouldn't it be good enough for us? And remember get involved become a poll worker See how the system works firsthand and give those older tirees a break Especially during COVID You could actually save a life by becoming a poll worker Don't want to go outside and see people? I don't blame you Not a problem You can lend your cyber security knowledge and skills to those who need it most by becoming a cyber surge volunteer This can be done by remote can do this by contacting this email or going to this site Most important thing you can do is vote Register to vote at vote.org and be counted Thank you for listening to my talk and don't forget to vote bsab for president in 2044 This message paid for by bsi lab for president 2044