Securing Digital Democracy

Feedback — Week 5 Quiz

How is a post-election audit different from a full manual recount?

Your Answer		Score	Explanation
Post-election audits may only check a sample of ballots rather than all the ballots	Correct	1.00
Total		1.00 / 1.00

Machine assisted audits…

Your Answer		Score	Explanation
Compromise ballot secrecy for increased integrity	Incorrect	0.00	Actually, because the ballots can be shuffled before having serial numbers printed on them, it does not violate ballot secrecy any more than traditional ballots would
Total		0.00 / 1.00

How does open-ended testing differ from conformance testing?

Which of the following are usability problems that could affect the outcome of an election?

(Check all that apply.)

Your Answer		Score	Explanation
Banner Blindness	Correct	0.20	See 7.1 for an explanation and example of banner blindness
Chain voting	Correct	0.20
Complex ballot layouts	Correct	0.20	Voters may be confused and vote incorrectly
Miscalibrated DRE displays	Correct	0.20	Could cause voters to accidentally vote for the wrong candidate
Voter coercion	Incorrect	0.00
Total		0.80 / 1.00

Which of the following would be considered best practices for a ballot design?

Voter registration can help…

(Check all that apply.)

Your Answer		Score	Explanation
prevent chain voting	Correct	0.33	Voters can still participate in chain voting with registration
prevent ineligible people from voting	Correct	0.33	Nonresidents, people who are underage, and others who are not lawfully allowed to vote can be excluded from the registration lists before the election
prevent voters from voting multiple times	Correct	0.33	Voters’ names can be «crossed off» the list after they vote
Total		1.00 / 1.00

What are some advantages of requiring voters to provide a photo identification (drivers license, passport) in order to vote?

Which of the following features do some DRE and optical scan voting machines have in common with personal computers?

Check all that apply.

Your Answer		Score	Explanation
Upgradeable software	Correct	0.25	DREs often allow new software to be loaded on the system, through memory cards, or internal interfaces such as JTAG.

Who could tamper with a mechanical lever machine?

Your Answer		Score	Explanation
All of the above	Correct	1.00
Total		1.00 / 1.00

Question Explanation
Mechanical lever machines are potentially vulnerable to manipulation by many parties.

Poll workers could insert pencil lead into the machine’s gears to jam them, or start the counters at non-zero positions.