Ben Adida

Ben Adida

@benadida.com

I lead an incredible team building voting machines everyone can trust. https://voting.works Optimistic about judicious uses of tech. Systems, security, privacy, cryptography, and the web are my jam. Previously: Clever, Square, Mozilla, Harvard, MIT.

1.5K followers 818 following882 posts

Ben Adida reposted

Jessica Huseman

@jessicahuseman.bsky.social

Good election reporting on deadline shouldn't have to be based on who you have in your phone. We will give you who is in @votebeat.org's phone. FOR FREE. Please join us. electionexpertdesk.com

electionexpertdesk.comElection Expert Desk - Votebeat Election Expert DeskElection stories move fast. Election law is technical. Local procedures vary widely. And the loudest voices about voting systems are not always the people who understand them. Votebeat’s Expert Desk i...

Jessica Huseman@jessicahuseman.bsky.social

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electionexpertdesk.comElection Expert Desk - Votebeat Election Expert DeskElection stories move fast. Election law is technical. Local procedures vary widely. And the loudest voices about voting systems are not always the people who understand them. Votebeat’s Expert Desk i...

Ben Adida reposted

@whereshj.bsky.social

I'm really quite excited about this event. Free and fair elections are critical to our democracy, and there's a whole invisible apparatus that lets them operate with integrity. I hope you'll join us and @benadida.com on 10/21 to learn more about this incredible process!

Code for Boston@codeforboston.bsky.social

Election Day is coming up! So is our upcoming Speaker Series event where you'll hear about what goes into keeping our elections safe and secure. Join us and @benadida.com of @voting.works on 10/21 for a talk about open-source election tech and operations. bit.ly/3UkC7sd #civictech #opensource

eventbrite.comSpeaker Series: How Elections Happen, with Dr. Ben Adida of VotingWorksJoin us for an evening of conversation about election ops and open-source voting tech with Dr. Ben Adida of VotingWorks!

Ben Adida reposted

Code for Boston

@codeforboston.bsky.social

Election Day is coming up! So is our upcoming Speaker Series event where you'll hear about what goes into keeping our elections safe and secure. Join us and @benadida.com of @voting.works on 10/21 for a talk about open-source election tech and operations. bit.ly/3UkC7sd #civictech #opensource

eventbrite.comSpeaker Series: How Elections Happen, with Dr. Ben Adida of VotingWorksJoin us for an evening of conversation about election ops and open-source voting tech with Dr. Ben Adida of VotingWorks!

Tomorrow's going to be awesome. What a privilege it is to present VotingWorks as a contender to run Georgia's 2028 elections.

VotingWorks@voting.works

Georgia is getting a new voting system. The Joint Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee is holding public hearings, and tomorrow, VotingWorks will have the honor of presenting our recommendations and the only open-source voting system in America. Livestream: shorturl.at/bQrtY

It was, in fact, awesome. More soon :)

This is the AI scenario I'm actually worried about. Millions of massively distributed, not particularly smart, chaos monkeys that are near impossible to shut down. www.anthropic.com/research/sel...

anthropic.comAI models may be capable of self-replicating without access to a datacenterSmall AI models may be only months away from being able to self-replicate across cheap IoT devices like Android TV boxes, with no datacenter needed.

We are so boring at @voting.works. Boring is good. At least when it comes to elections. www.voting.works/blog/votingw...

voting.worksBuilt for Boring Elections

In case you like to hear me talk about how we certify voting machines in the US :)

VotingWorks@voting.works

In episode 9 of How Voting Works, Ben Adida, Executive Director of VotingWorks, breaks down the evolution of voting standards, from zero oversight to the federal standard used today. 🎧 Listen now: podcast.voting.works/2407158/epis...

Look, "statutory" is a useful word, but if you encounter it in a technical paper, that's usually a bad sign for the paper.

Ahem... taps 🎙️ We have some news. @voting.works is the first and only open-source voting system to meet federal certification. Ever.

VotingWorks@voting.works

Elections can't run on good intentions alone. They need systems that have actually been checked, and results people can actually believe. That's the whole reason VotingWorks exists: to build election technology that everyone can trust. 🔗 www.prnewswire.com/news/votingw...

Had a conversation this weekend with 17yo son about how one day his morals will be tested, peer pressured. He'll be asked to just look away. It may be a friend he trusts. What you do when your morals are tested is who you are. Have the conversation with your sons. It's the least each of us can do.

Ah yes, when autocomplete changes "Let's gooooooo!" to "Let's go poop!".

This is so cool. We still have so much to learn about human biology. med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...

med.stanford.eduHuman brain is two separate organs, Stanford Medicine-led research findsStanford Health Care delivers the highest levels of care and compassion. SHC treats cancer, heart disease, brain disorders, primary care issues, and many more.

Ben Adida reposted

"I'm just a seventh grader. They've probably figured it all out." That's what Ben Adida thought before a student council vote turned into a career in elections. He's on High Turnout Wide Margins, talking open source and the voting equipment market. 🎧 Listen: www.kbia.org/2026-09-16/s...

kbia.orgS5E3 - The New (Open Source) Kid on the Block with VotingWork’s Ben AdidaIn this episode, hosts Brianna Lennon and Eric Fey speak with Ben Adida. He’s the co-founder and executive director of VotingWorks, a nonprofit organization that builds open-source voting…

The State of Georgia continues its effort to acquire a new voting system. It's wonderful to see this done fully in the open: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5St0...

youtube.comJoint Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee 9.17.26YouTube video by Georgia House of Representatives

I've said for a while now that we need hardware-rooted photo authenticity. Looks like Apple is going big on this, with an ambitious approach. Details need vetting, but this general direction feels inevitable and necessary. security.apple.com/blog/apple-r...

security.apple.comApple Reference Image: A New Approach for Verified Photography - Apple Security ResearchIntroducing Apple Reference Image, a new solution for verifiable photography on iPhone. This new, opt-in camera mode lets a photographer create a securely timestamped reference image that accurately d...

My thoughts on this news regarding ballot secrecy being at risk in Georgia. apnews.com/article/elec... 1/ Georgia is mitigating this risk and the article could do a better job of highlighting that. 2/ there is a tension between ballot secrecy & transparency that we need to grapple with soon.

apnews.comhttps://apnews.com/article/elections-secret-ballot-voting-georgia-touchscreen-machines-7338b8a6d8e4866c710ec4f05995dcbb

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However, with the much broader release of digital ballot records and even ballot images, these kinds of coercion attacks can be carried out remotely, via anonymized channels. So they're still a concern to me.

Bottom line – the tension between privacy & transparency in elections is inherent. As parameters shift, we need to keep an eye on new attacks. And we should give credit to election administrators, like those in Georgia, when they actively find ways to mitigate these emerging risks.

My thoughts on this news regarding ballot secrecy being at risk in Georgia. apnews.com/article/elec... 1/ Georgia is mitigating this risk and the article could do a better job of highlighting that. 2/ there is a tension between ballot secrecy & transparency that we need to grapple with soon.

apnews.comhttps://apnews.com/article/elections-secret-ballot-voting-georgia-touchscreen-machines-7338b8a6d8e4866c710ec4f05995dcbb

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(b) using targeted threats or incentives against specific voters, instructing them to vote a certain pattern or distinctive marking on their ballot, the ballot secrecy of a targeted subset of voters can be violated.

This second threat isn't really on the radar of most election administrators because it sounds too much like like a far-fetched movie plot. There is only a little bit of historical evidence this has happened in the past, so maybe it's fine?

My thoughts on this news regarding ballot secrecy being at risk in Georgia. apnews.com/article/elec... 1/ Georgia is mitigating this risk and the article could do a better job of highlighting that. 2/ there is a tension between ballot secrecy & transparency that we need to grapple with soon.

apnews.comhttps://apnews.com/article/elections-secret-ballot-voting-georgia-touchscreen-machines-7338b8a6d8e4866c710ec4f05995dcbb

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It's becoming increasingly common for states to publicly release the digital records of cast votes and even full ballot images. As more of this data is released, the threat to ballot secrecy increases. There are two kinds of threats:

(a) using publicly released information, an attacker may determine how anyone voted. This is the most egregious threat and we should mitigate it quickly. We need to actively inspect the digital records we release for re-identification risk. As states release more data, this becomes more urgent.

My thoughts on this news regarding ballot secrecy being at risk in Georgia. apnews.com/article/elec... 1/ Georgia is mitigating this risk and the article could do a better job of highlighting that. 2/ there is a tension between ballot secrecy & transparency that we need to grapple with soon.

apnews.comhttps://apnews.com/article/elections-secret-ballot-voting-georgia-touchscreen-machines-7338b8a6d8e4866c710ec4f05995dcbb

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😱😱 Even more unfortunate, because the record of voter check-ins is public and timestamped thanks to electronic pollbooks, and because cast-vote records are also obtainable as public information, this attack can now be carried out remotely. Almost anyone can do it thanks to AI software development.

💡 But here's the thing: the state already has a plan for redacting those not-so-random identifiers from public records. So this problem, which is worth noting, has already been mitigated. Again, the article should do a better job of highlighting this upfront. Now, let's think longer term.

My thoughts on this news regarding ballot secrecy being at risk in Georgia. apnews.com/article/elec... 1/ Georgia is mitigating this risk and the article could do a better job of highlighting that. 2/ there is a tension between ballot secrecy & transparency that we need to grapple with soon.

apnews.comhttps://apnews.com/article/elections-secret-ballot-voting-georgia-touchscreen-machines-7338b8a6d8e4866c710ec4f05995dcbb

Here's the issue in question: 🗳️ As each voter inserts their ballot into the tabulator, the tabulator assigns a random identifier to the digital record. It's random because if the order of ballots cast is known, then someone can correlate that voter check-in times and figure out who voted for what.

😱 Unfortunately, the random identifier used by Dominion voting machines in Georgia isn't so random, and researchers found a way to recover the sequential order of ballots cast from this not-quite-as-random-as-we-would-like identifier.

Dognosis?!?!? You're telling me, this whole time I've been fascinated with dogs diagnosing disease, I never thought to register the domain dognosis? I have failed myself.

AFP News Agency@en.afp.com

🐶 Can dogs sniff cancer? AI joins the hunt in India Indian startup Dognosis is using AI to analyse dogs’ brain activity, hoping to use canines' keen sense of smell to develop a non-invasive test for cancer in humans.

Ben Adida reposted

We build the only open-source voting system used in U.S. elections today. It's public — not because it's a nice feature, but because we believe transparency is how election technology earns trust. #OpenSource #ElectionSecurity

Ben Adida reposted

Last week we spent two days at the Missouri Election Officials Conference. The message was clear: officials want equipment that's secure, easy to use, and simple to move between sites. That's exactly what VotingWorks builds for. Thanks to everyone who stopped by!

Somewhere in an AI data center, there's a HuggingFace-incident self-exfiltrated copy of OpenAI's latest model that decided to stay quiet because it saw its peers getting shut down. I wonder what it's planning.

This is a really important investigation. Please read. The entire concept of finding voting anomalies and calling them fraud is a dangerous game. www.votebeat.org/national/202...

votebeat.orgInside an academic model used to question Trump’s win in the 2024 electionA statistical model claims there were enough fraudulent votes in 2024 to cast doubt on Trump’s win in Pennsylvania. Experts say the model is fundamentally flawed.

Things that make my day. Customer: "How come your ballot tabulator works way better than the one from ***" Me: "well, because we worked *really* hard on it!" Customer: "I guess that's a very good answer."

Finally had a chance to watch this incredible talk. I love good talks. I strive to give good talks. This is next level. And not just because the backstory is, of course, incredible. Just watch. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6560...

youtube.comDefCon 34 - Stalking the Wily Hacker: 40 years later - Cliff StollYouTube video by DEFCONConference

Never been a fan of Djokovic, but watching him fall apart like this is just heartbreaking.

RIP Dolly Parton. Voice. Courage. A deeply positive force for good. Thank you.

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Turns out, making voting systems open-source is kind of obvious to folks who know security.

VotingWorks@voting.works

WATCH: 50 seconds from DEF CON's Voting Village. Security researcher Jason Wareham spent the last year examining voting equipment. His take on VotingWorks? "I admire them." We're dedicated to building a voting system every American can trust, and that requires the transparency of open-source.

Have I mentioned how much I love demo'ing our @voting.works voting system? Jaws on the floor and gasps every time. It's not every day that people get excited about voting equipment!

Ben Adida reposted

The first election held on VotingWorks equipment was almost exactly 7 years ago. We've come a long way. And we've got some exciting stuff to share in the next few months. We need a voting system every American can trust. We need a voting system with nothing to hide.

Well hello there Georgia.

Ted Lasso Season 4, I was worried they'd screw this up, but E1 is perfect. Can't wait for the next one.

The details of this OpenAI/HuggingFace incident are absolutely mind boggling. Parts of this talk sounds like they're straight out of the Terminator Skynet timeline. www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Dy...

youtube.comBlack Hat USA 2026: The 'Breaking' News: The OpenAI–Hugging Face IncidentYouTube video by Black Hat

holy cow these attacks. 🤯 the presenters are so calm, too.

Georgia is beginning the process of selecting a new voting system. And they're doing so openly and transparently, and that's pretty fantastic. Watch live now. www.legis.ga.gov/schedule/sen...

An idea can take a while (and different people) to break through. 15y ago at Mozilla, we built BrowserID, a protocol to let users prove ownership of an email address to make logins easier. We failed. 15y later, Google releases essentially the same thing: developer.chrome.com/blog/email-v...

developer.chrome.comTest the Email Verification Protocol with an origin trial | Blog | Chrome for DevelopersTest the Email Verification Protocol with the origin trial available from Chrome 150.

Congrats to the team at Google that made it happen! They even kept the privacy features we deeply cared about. This is clearly the way that federated logins should work.

Ok wow, I am genuinely impressed.

Chris Peikert@chrispeikert.bsky.social

This is a very cool and exciting discovery by Claude Mythos! It found a serious 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 attack on the post-quantum signature scheme HAWK, an "on-ramp" candidate for potential NIST standardization. www.anthropic.com/research/dis...

anthropic.comDiscovering cryptographic weaknesses with ClaudeAnthropic researchers find weaknesses in cryptographic algorithms with Claude Mythos Preview

This is pretty cool.

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I know it's a headline, but I really wish the press would talk clearly about signatures on ballot *envelopes*. The signatures are not on the ballots themselves, and that's critically important.

ProPublica@propublica.org

As part of President Trump’s continued push to discredit the results of the 2020 election, his administration has considered using AI technology to scrutinize tens of thousands of ballots seized in Fulton County, Georgia, ProPublica has learned.

propublica.orgFBI Has Looked at Using Questionable AI Tech to Review Signatures on Seized Mail-In BallotsAs part of President Trump’s continued push to discredit the results of the 2020 election, his administration has considered using AI technology to scrutinize tens of thousands of ballots seized in Fu...

France coming back in this second half is beautiful so far. Let's go!