Changing the Landscape: Voting Rights, Technology and Policy
Juan E. Gilbert
Clemson University
Thursday, April 17, 2014
11:00 a.m., 1000 SEO Building
Abstract: Heading link
Subsequent to the debacle of the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, it became abundantly clear that America?s archaic voting system was in dire need of a major overhaul. Consequently, Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines were purchased by several states. The use of these machines has not been without controversy with respect to security, trust and ease of use. Professors and security research teams have found several vulnerabilities in current voting technologies. In 2002, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was created to provide all citizens equal access to participate in the electoral process, regardless of ability. The Prime III voting system, http://www.PrimeVotingSystem.com , is a secure, multimodal electronic voting system that takes a universal design approach to address security, trust and ease of use. Dr. Gilbert and his research team were recently awarded a $4.5 million dollar grant from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to conduct research on accessible voting technologies. Dr. Gilbert’s research team has also conducted studies on the time it takes to vote in an effort to reduce voting lines on Election Day. In this keynote, Dr. Gilbert will discuss how his research in voting technologies is changing the way people vote in the U.S.A.
Bio: Heading link
Dr. Juan E. Gilbert is the Presidential Endowed Professor and Chair of the Human-Centered Computing Division in the School of Computing at Clemson University where he leads the Interaction and Information Lab. He is also a National Associate of the National Research Council of the National Academies, an ACM Distinguished Speaker and a Senior Member of the IEEE. Dr. Gilbert was recently named one of the 50 most important African-Americans in Technology.