Psephos

In 2021 our work scope and legislative agenda included expanding our elections mission to include voter rights and voting protection. Our work scope was expanded to included climate crisis mitigation and social justice, as approved by a unanimous decision of the Board of Psephos Inc. In 2021 NEDC continued to promote the mandating of a paper ballot trail for all electronic voting machines, to reduce the risk of manipulation or hacking and to provide transparency and the ability to audit. We specifically promoted getting federal funding to states for upgrades in cybersecurity and for cost-effective smart post-election risk limiting audits (RLAs) to scan for irregularities. NEDC promoted enhancing Federal oversight of elections technology vendors and ensuring that no voting systems are directly connected to the Internet, calling for the removal of all Internet connections from the tabulation systems. We also promote reliable cybersecurity-hardened registration systems and fairness in access to voter registration. Our legislative reform goals were congruent with the recommendations in the Report from Stanford authored by Matthew Masterson (and team), Former Chair of the EAC and a security expert at the Department of Homeland Security, httpspurlstanfordedumf969dh7882 These include:Fund elections consistently at the state, local, and federal level.Prepare state and local election officials to respond to mis- and disinformation in future elections.Educate the public about the trusted role of election officials.Encourage states to implement paper-based pre-certification audits.Reform the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and designate the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as the elections technical lead.Mandate reporting of election cyber incidents to CISA and the FBI.Establish minimum cybersecurity baselines for state and local election offices and election vendors.In 2021 we also fought against voter suppression and cultivating new alliances on voting rights with the business community. Businesses are becoming new important allies in the struggle for democracy and election security. For the business community, securing elections and strengthening democracy is more than a matter of principle its a necessary economic priority. In early 2021 we were part of a business coalition that provided PPE, masks, power bars and water to elections officials and for voters waiting on long lines in GA for the Senate Runoff elections.In 2021 during the Covid pandemic we supported a community agricultural program and food bank serving vulnerable families.