Praise for Brave New Ballot
"All social progress begins with creative and committed voices passionately challenging the status quo. Avi Rubin possesses such a passionate voice and his message deserves to be heard. If the integrity of our sacred right of voting is less important than partisan politics, corporate interests, or bureaucratic systems, then shame on us for presenting ourselves as the global standard bearers of democracy. Dr. Rubin is our modern day Paul Revere of computer science attempting to warn us of potential enemies who may attack our electronic voting vulnerabilities. We ignore his warnings to our own peril."
—Dr. Deforest B. Soaries, Jr., Former Secretary of State of New Jersey and the first Chairman of the United States Election Assistance Commission
"Avi Rubin performs a true patriotic duty with this book. He shows that without voter-verified records, votes can be lost, election outcomes can come into doubt, and public cynicism in the political process surely grows. BRAVE NEW BALLOT is an interesting story of a talented computer scientist who found himself in an adventure because of his dogged effort to make America's voting technology consistent with her democracy."
—Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ)
"The fact that our computer systems are not secure has meant the
theft of million of American's identity information by criminals. As
BRAVE NEW BALLOT shows, the fact that our computerized voting
machines are also not secure from hacking means that Americans could
also have their elections stolen...and not even know it."
—Richard A. Clarke, National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counterterrorism for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence under President Reagan, and #1 New York Times bestselling author.
"Rubin, professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins, tells the fascinating story of how he set off a media storm in the summer of 2003 when he and two graduate students revealed that the Diebold electronic voting technology in use in 37 states was riddled with errors and problems. A self-described 'computer-geek,' Rubin was publicly accused of undermining democracy by officials he describes as desperate to save face after investing state money in the machines. He also became the object of an e-voting industry campaign to smear his work, especially after it was revealed that he had connections to a voting software company. Refreshingly, he describes this potential conflict of interest with considerable candor. Rubin's account of his mounting frustration as governmental and industrial spin doctors continued to champion electronic voting in the face of its manifold problems, and turned electronic voting into a partisan issue, is a sympathetic one. Despite the inability of his critics to understand it, his explanation of the technological issues at the heart of electronic voting is clear, and his argument that votes need to be verifiable in order for the democratic process to be meaningful is so reasonable that it sounds almost revolutionary."
—Publishers Weekly review
..."Our democracy, Mr. Rubin writes, has been unable to protect 'the only process that could ensure its survival.' Equally ominous is a dilemma unresolved in Brave New Ballot: How can issues that require technical expertise be addressed in a democracy? Very few Americans can weigh the merits of Mr. Rubin's claims about the defects in electronic voting machines. The only way to understand the risk, he suggests, 'is to ask the people who have the expertise and experience.' Even if the experts agree-and they do not-such deference seems dangerous and undemocratic. After all, as Mr. Rubin also recognizes, "No American should have to trust someone else, someone with obscure expertise regarding the integrity of the system.'"
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—New York Observer review
"EFF's longtime friend and sometimes client Avi Rubin has written a terrific book about his adventures in e-voting. I admit that I'm not a particularly objective reviewer, since both EFF and I personally were deeply involved in the events in the book and Avi treats us both as heros. But Brave New Ballot is a great read (or gift) for anyone looking for an enjoyable, easy way to get up to speed on this critical issue. By focusing on his experiences as a computer scientist turned reluctant activist, Rubin brings to life the sometimes dry science of computer security and voting machine technology. Brave New Ballot is a story told in Rubin's own voice and from his own eyes, not a distanced academic analysis or historical account. Rubin tells of how electronic voting went from an academic curiosity to nearly an obsession and a full-time job for him. Once he realized the serious problems with the voting systems being sold in the wake of the 'butterfly ballot' debacle in 2000, he took action to protect our elections. He is an honest storyteller, not shirking from describing his errors as well as his triumphs. Bravo, Avi. I hope your work spurs others, scientists or not, to get involved in this critical area."
—Cindy Cohn, Legal Director and General Counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation review
"In an important new book, Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting, Avi Rubin writes 'too often in American life, when it comes to divisive issues, the facts can be less important than the weight of public opinion'. That basically sums up Rubin's [book] in this fascinating story of his frustrations in dealing with government and corporate officials in his quest to show that e-voting was not as secure as it was originally made out to be.
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BNB is a timely and important book as it details the very real defects on which these e-voting systems are built on (and Windows is only one of them). The ITAA made claims such that the only vulnerability within e-voting is that of a rogue programmer conspiring to steal public office. Such politicking only serves to confuse the issue for a public that is inherently trustful of these voting machines. Yet if these e-voting machines were built to the same stringencies and regulations that the aviation and pharmaceutical industry faces, they would never make it within a mile of a voting booth. Brave New Ballot is to e-voting what Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is to the global environmental movement. It is a vitally important book that details the problem of e-voting and what can be done in the future to make certain that it can one day be carried out in a secure manner. Of course, the image of an embedded crypto key or plaintext password in an e-voting system does not convey the same impact on the public as that of a thalidomide baby. Pictures of thalidomide babies caused heads to roll at the FDA, and one should hope the that the publication of Brave New Ballot will awaken the public from their slumber on the topic of electronic voting, and encourage the Election Assistance Commission to immediately ban electronic voting until it can be secured."
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BNB is a timely and important book as it details the very real defects on which these e-voting systems are built on (and Windows is only one of them). The ITAA made claims such that the only vulnerability within e-voting is that of a rogue programmer conspiring to steal public office. Such politicking only serves to confuse the issue for a public that is inherently trustful of these voting machines. Yet if these e-voting machines were built to the same stringencies and regulations that the aviation and pharmaceutical industry faces, they would never make it within a mile of a voting booth. Brave New Ballot is to e-voting what Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is to the global environmental movement. It is a vitally important book that details the problem of e-voting and what can be done in the future to make certain that it can one day be carried out in a secure manner. Of course, the image of an embedded crypto key or plaintext password in an e-voting system does not convey the same impact on the public as that of a thalidomide baby. Pictures of thalidomide babies caused heads to roll at the FDA, and one should hope the that the publication of Brave New Ballot will awaken the public from their slumber on the topic of electronic voting, and encourage the Election Assistance Commission to immediately ban electronic voting until it can be secured."
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—Ben Rothke, Slashdot review
..."[Rubin's] pleasantly self-deprecating tone works out when he lays out the tech details, too -- if you or someone you know doesn't know their DRE (direct recording electronic) voting machines from their optical scanners, or isn't clear on what programmers are looking at when they dig into source code, the going is easy here. He does work up a bit of mockery for some of Diebold's more egregious problems, but it feels both honest and non-personal. His lack of venom for ancient adversaries is, in fact, a smart choice. This book could have been a diatribe, and it's not. Likewise, he sensibly keeps his reach equal to his grasp; you won't get a full picture of the e-voting landscape here, but it's a terrifically detailed guide to one of the swamps. You're apt to like Rubin after reading Brave New Ballot, and you'll trust both his tech acumen and his brave, grave conviction that e-voting security matters more than almost any issue currently affecting the democratic process."
—Computerworld review
..."Brave New Ballot, released this fall, comes as the vast majority of the American public will use electronic voting machines in next month's midterm elections -- many for the first time. And primaries this year in Maryland and other states have shown that electronic voting can cause election chaos. The book begins with Rubin's revelatory report three years ago on the computer code that ran a popular voting machine made by Diebold Election Systems. The report, which said the machines were designed sloppily and open to tampering, propelled Rubin and the topic of electronic voting into national news. From there, Rubin tells how a 'reluctant activist' became a 'crusader' against electronic voting, weaving his argument about why the machines are so problematic into the story."
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—Washington Post review