Dr. Edward W. Felten

“Auditing E-Voting: How to Make Computerized Voting Safe”

Tuesday, November 17, 4:00 PM

Packard Lab room 466

Reception prior to talk in Packard Lobby

Abstract: The recent move to computerized voting has raised important questions about the security and reliability of electronic voting. Many existing systems are deeply flawed, but it is now clear that computers can be used safely in voting, if appropriate safeguards are built in to the election procedures. This talk will focus on one such safeguard, post-election audits, which verify that electronic ballots are consistent with voter-verified paper records. Though the general concept is straightforward -- manually verify a sufficiently large random sample of ballots -- finding a practical, efficient approach is challenging, requiring ideas from computer science and public policy. Such problems, at the intersection of computing and policy, are increasingly common and are the focus of Princeton's new Center for Information Technology Policy.

Bio: Edward W. Felten received the Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington in 1993 and the B.S. in Physics, with Honors, from the California Institute of Technology in 1985.

Dr. Felten’s research interests include computer security and privacy, and public policy issues relating to information technology. Specific topics include software security, Internet security, electronic voting, cybersecurity policy, technology for government transparency, network neutrality and Internet policy.