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A video circulating on social networks simulates the operation of an electronic ballot box. In the recording, a programmable board called Arduino is used to demonstrate how it would be possible to manipulate a voting process. The post is followed by a caption assuming this is the way electronic voting machines are rigged. Throughnews verification project, Facebook users requested that this material be analyzed. See below the verification work of the I forget:
“See how fraud works on electronic voting machines”
Video title posted on Facebook that, as of 4 pm on November 18, had been shared 3,000 times
FALSE
The information analyzed by To forget it’s false. It is a video taken from its original context, which does not show the assembly of an electronic ballot box with its real components. The original recording was published on the youtube channel “Playing with Ideas“, From the computer scientist Flávio Guimarães. In it, the presenter simulates how it would be possible to manipulate the outcome of an election if the ballot boxes used the Arduino processor – a electronic prototyping platform. The components used in the simulation are not the same as those used officially.
notices me, the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) explained that the actual electronic ballot boxes are not constituted in the same way as the one presented in the publication and, therefore, are not subject to this type of fraud. The TSE reinforces that the video “presents in a didactic way a way of making an urn using a simple kit, as is the case with Arduino processor boards.”
By phone, Guimarães also reports that the content was strictly educational and that it was taken out of context. The idea, according to him, is that people can use technological devices and understand their flaws. “My goal was to explore the technology, showing that it is fragile,” he says. “But I didn’t like playing a song that ended up being used for other purposes. It is not my focus. I don’t deal with political issues ”, he concludes.
This position is explicit in the video itself. In it, the presenter reinforces that the procedure was carried out to show possible flaws in the technology, but he does not mean that it would be possible to defraud an election with the method used by him. According to Flávio, the channel focuses on teaching technology to lay people. After the video was tampered with without his permission to spread misinformation, he took the content off the air.
Differences
On a note, the TSE explains that the true electronic ballot box is not “as simple and unprotected as the one shown in the video.” The Court lists a number of differences between the real and the simulated device. The main one is that the source codes of the software used at the polls are open for consultation for six months during the elections. Public safety tests are also carried out, in which participants can expose vulnerabilities that alter the result of the vote, before the electoral period.
Also, the actual urn cannot be cloned. The computer uses an encryption that identifies the equipment as belonging to the Electoral Justice. This identity is conferred in the preparation of the ballot boxes before voting and, later, in the totalization of the votes. The computer keyboard is also encrypted and has its own microcontroller.
Also, like a computer, surveys have software installed to start and load the operating system. “However, unlike ordinary computers, the electronic ballot box has a chain of trust initiated by the computer from the cryptographic perimeter, which verifies the authenticity and integrity of each of the components of this chain,” says the TSE.
Also, the Arduino platform, used in the simulation, is not part of the real electronic ballot box. “The ballot box uses a base plate developed to order, following the TSE specifications. The surveys use Intel Atom processors (different from Arduino), they do not have a network interface (Arduino has) and they have security hardware (Arduino does not have), among other features ”, he explained.
There are also exclusive profiles that can access the ballot box, used by manufacturers, developers, and testers. Only the official profile can be run during an election.
Safe processes
In addition to having a different operating structure, the ballot box used in elections goes through a process of “preparation” before being used. Once ready, it issues the “zero”, a document that certifies that all the data included in the preparation are correct and that the vote is not counted. “While voting is taking place, votes are recorded in a data structure called the Digital Voting Record (RDV). With each vote that is added to this data structure, the votes are encoded and encoded, which prevents anyone from interrupting and retrieving confidential information, ”says the TSE.
Once the voting is finished, the RDV is registered and the team issues the Ballot Box (BU), which functions as a report containing the votes of each candidate. The BU is posted on the door of each voting station for consultation and a digital version is sent. available for consultation on the web.
For an urn to be considered, the team must be “valid”. This means that it must have an identity recognized by the TSE, as a digital signature of the result. The RDV and BU must contain this signature to be validated.
Audit and inspection
According to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the electronic ballot box also has features that allow auditing of your systems. One is the systems integrity verification, held immediately before the official vote. In it, the drawn ballot boxes emit a digital summary report so that the files installed on the equipment can be consulted. If software such as the one used in Flávio’s video, for example, had been installed on the device, it would be identified in this verification.
There is also a procedure called Audit of the operation of the electronic ballot boxes, known as “parallel voting.” In it, the ballot boxes are drawn at random and subjected to a “mock voting”. The participants then fill out the votes at the polls and on a ballot. The results are then compared. If there is any kind of fraud in electronic accounting, the difference will be obvious. This process is monitored by the Federal Court of Accounts, by the parties and by a company hired by tender.
This information was also verified by the The facts.
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Edited by: Boy Marés
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