Teaching about the risks of electronic voting technology

In these interesting times computer scientists are increasingly called upon to help concerned citizens understand the risks involved in the current generation of electronic voting machines. These risks and the concurrent escalation of legal challenges to the election system in the United States have shaken the confidence of many Americans that a fair and accurate election is even possible. As computer science educators we have an opportunity to add breadth and depth to our curriculum by using these issues to show how existing concepts can be applied to new problems, and how new problems extend our field. In this paper we identify some of the main problems with e-voting machines and vote-counting technology and suggest ways that discussions of the risks and the attendant societal and ethical issues might be incorporated into the computer science curriculum.