Scientists: No Credible Evidence of Computer Fraud in the 2020 Election Outcome

The presence of security weaknesses in election infrastructure does not by itself tell us that any election has actually been compromised. Technical, physical, and procedural safeguards complicate the task of maliciously exploiting election systems, as does monitoring of likely adversaries by law enforcement and the intelligence community. Altering an election outcome involves more than simply the existence of a technical vulnerability.

We are aware of alarming assertions being made that the 2020 election was “rigged” by exploiting technical vulnerabilities. However, in every case of which we are aware, these claims either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent. To our collective knowledge, no credible evidence has been put forth that supports a conclusion that the 2020 election outcome in any state has been altered through technical compromise.

That said, it is imperative that the US continue working to bolster the security of elections against sophisticated adversaries. At a minimum, all states should employ election security practices and mechanisms recommended by experts to increase assurance in election outcomes, such as post-election risk-limiting audits.

If you are looking for a good place to start learning the facts about election security, we recommend the recent National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) study, “Securing the Vote”, which is available for free download at https://doi.org/10.17226/25120.

Signed,

(Affiliations are for identification purposes only; listed alphabetically by surname.)

1. Tony Adams, Independent Security Researcher

2. Andrew W. Appel, Professor of Computer Science, Princeton University

3. Arlene Ash, Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School

4. Steven M. Bellovin, Percy K. and Vida L.W. Hudson Professor of Computer Science;

affiliate faculty, Columbia Law, Columbia University

5. Matt Blaze, McDevitt Chair of Computer Science and Law, Georgetown University

6. Duncan Buell, NCR Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of

South Carolina

7. Michael D. Byrne, Professor of Psychological Sciences and Computer Science, Rice

University

8. Jack Cable, Independent Security Researcher

9. Jeremy Clark, NSERC/Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton/Catallaxy Industrial Research

Chair in Blockchain Technologies, Concordia Institute for Information Systems

Engineering

10. Sandy Clark, Independent Security Researcher

11. Stephen Checkoway, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Oberlin College

12. Richard DeMillo, Chair, School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and Warren Professor of

Computing, Georgia Tech

13. David L. Dill, Donald E. Knuth Professor, Emeritus, in the School of Engineering,

Stanford University

14. Zakir Durumeric, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University

15. Aleksander Essex, Associate Professor of Software Engineering, Western University,

Canada

16. David Evans, Professor of Computer Science, University of Virginia

17. Ariel J. Feldman, Software Engineer

18. Edward W. Felten, Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs,

Princeton University

19. Bryan Ford, Professor of Computer and Communication Sciences, Swiss Federal

Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)

20. Joshua M. Franklin, Independent Security Researcher

21. Juan E. Gilbert, Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Professor & Chair, University of

Florida

22. J. Alex Halderman, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of

Michigan

23. Joseph Lorenzo Hall, SVP Strong Internet, Internet Society

24. Harri Hursti, co-founder Nordic Innovation Labs and Election Integrity Foundation

25. Neil Jenkins, Chief Analytic Officer, Cyber Threat Alliance

26. David Jefferson, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (retired)

27. Douglas W. Jones, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Iowa

28. Joseph Kiniry, Principal Scientist, Galois, CEO and Chief Scientist, Free & Fair

29. Philip Kortum, Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences, Rice University

30. Carl E. Landwehr, Visiting Professor, University of Michigan

31. Maggie MacAlpine, co-founder Nordic Innovation Labs and Election Integrity Foundation

32. Bruce McConnell, former Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity, Department of

Homeland Security, (currently) President, EastWest Institute

33. Patrick McDaniel, Weiss Professor of Information and Communications Technology,

Penn State University

34. Walter Mebane, Professor of Political Science and of Statistics, University of Michigan

35. Eric Mill, Chrome Security PM, Google

36. David Mussington, Professor of the Practice, School of Public Policy, University of

Maryland College Park

37. Peter G. Neumann, Chief Scientist, SRI International Computer Science Lab

38. Lyell Read, Researcher at SSH Lab, Oregon State University

39. Ronald L. Rivest, Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

40. Aviel D. Rubin, Professor of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University

41. Bruce Schneier, Fellow and Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School

42. Alexander A. Schwarzmann, Dean of Computer and Cyber Sciences, Augusta University

43. Hovav Shacham, Professor of Computer Science, The University of Texas at Austin

44. Micah Sherr, Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor, Georgetown University

45. Barbara Simons, IBM Research (retired)

46. Kevin Skoglund, Chief Technologist, Citizens for Better Elections

47. Michael A. Specter, EECS PhD Candidate, MIT

48. Alex Stamos, Director, Stanford Internet Observatory

49. Philip B. Stark, Professor of Statistics and Associate Dean of Mathematical and Physical

Sciences, University of California, Berkeley

50. Jacob Stauffer, Director of Operations, Coherent CYBER

51. Camille Stewart, Cyber Fellow, Harvard Belfer Center

52. Rachel Tobac, Hacker, CEO of SocialProof Security

53. Giovanni Vigna, Professor, Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara

54. Poorvi L. Vora, Professor of Computer Science, The George Washington University

55. Dan S. Wallach, Professor, Departments of Computer Science and Electrical &

Computer Engineering, Rice Scholar, Baker Institute of Public Policy, Rice University

56. Tarah Wheeler, Cyber Fellow, Harvard Belfer Center

57. Eric Wustrow, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical, Computer & Energy

Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder

58. Ka-Ping Yee, Review Team Member, California Secretary of State’s Top-to-Bottom

Review of Voting Systems

59. Daniel M. Zimmerman, Principal Researcher, Galois and Principled Computer Scientist,

Free & Fair