By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-09-29 13:55:27 | Updated at 2024-09-30 07:32:54
18 hours ago
Venture capitalist Bradley Tusk has a novel - but extremely controversial - solution to America's stark political divisions.
He told the DailyMail.com that getting more people to vote would shake up the primary elections that at present put hardliners in office.
The way to achieve that, he says, is to allow voting on a device that nearly every US adult has in their pocket — a cell phone.
He's spent $10 million on building a secure app to let people do just that.
It would doubtless make voting more convenient — no more lines at polling stations or awkward rules for mail-in ballots. But the idea is hotly contested.
Bradley Tusk has spent $10 million building an app to make it possible to vote by cell phone
Lines at polling stations are a turn-off for many would-be voters, especially in primary races, says Tusk
Critics say the system could easily fail, that Russian and Chinese hackers could upend US elections, and that it would disproportionately drive turnout among Democratic voters and thus hurt the Republican Party.
But for Tusk, it's a do-or-die moment for the world's top democracy.
'American politics is wildly broken,' he told the DailyMail.com.
'The net result is that we can't solve real-world problems, whether it's mass shootings, immigration, affordable housing, climate, healthcare, or education.'
Tusk is not focused on big-name elections, such as the looming presidential face-off between Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and former President Donald Trump, a Republican.
Plenty of Americans will show up for that vote, he says.
He's interested in the earlier, primary races that decide which candidate represents the main parties in state and local elections.
Thanks to gerrymandered districts, the ultimate winner of these contests is often decided at the primary.
Currently, just 10-15 percent of voters turn out in primaries — and they tend to be either the most progressive of Democrats or the oldest and most conservative of Republicans.
They're often single-issue voters, who favor candidates with trenchant views, whether that be on defunding the police or unfettered gun ownership.
In the 2024 primaries that secured Trump and President Joe Biden their nominations, just one in 10 eligible voters took part, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Cell phone voting would make it easier for everyday voters to join in, and could raise turnout to as high as 40 percent, says Tusk.
Tusk laid out his plans for cell phone voting in his 299-page manifesto this week
New York City-based student Gabby Carlos, 19, wants to vote this year, but is registered far away in her native Texas
That would mean more centrist voters, and yield more pragmatic politicians who were open to compromise, he adds.
It's the 'only way to move things back to the middle and give politicians the reason to get things done again,' he said.
The biggest gains would be among Gen Zers, who are typically glued to their cell phones but seldom see inside a polling station.
Tusk's software, developed by his nonprofit Tusk Philanthropies, is on its way to being certified by the National Institute of Science and Technology, he says.
It will be free and open source to anyone who wants to use it, says his new manifesto, Vote With Your Phone: Why Mobile Voting Is Our Final Shot at Saving Democracy.
The app features end-to-end-verification, air gapping, multifactor authentication, and other safeguards.
Tusk draws from his experience in tech startups and politics — he was a spokesman for Senator Chuck Schumer and ran Mike Bloomberg's 2009 campaign for mayor of New York.
In the early 2010s, he helped run the successful bid to legalize Uber in the US, through the digital lobbying of politicians.
He aims for a comparable win for cell phone voting, which at first sounds like a no-brainer.
We already trade stocks, find romance and manage our bank accounts on phones — so why not also use them to pick a congressman?
The technology has already been deployed in seven U.S. states, where it helped military service members and people with disabilities cast ballots.
In those cases, turnout doubled, says Tusk. Those who took part said it was better than in-person or mail-in voting.
It's also working overseas. Estonians have voted online from their homes since 2005.
Jeremy Lugo, 21, a student in New York City, says he might not be able to get back to his family in Poughkeepsie to vote before the November election
Only about 10 percent of eligible voters turn out for primary elections, in which many office-holders are chosen
In 2023, for the first time, more Estonians voted electronically than cast paper votes.
Next year, the Baltic nation is set to allow cell phone voting.
But many experts firmly reject Tusk's plan, and their opinions carry a lot of weight.
Ronald Rivest, a cryptographer and computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the DailyMail.com simply that 'cell phone voting is not safe.'
In recent testimony to Congress, he likened online balloting to asking a 'kid to go play in traffic'.
Voting is a complicated process, especially in the US, where states and counties set their own rules about where and how voters can cast ballots.
It's also a unique task for software to try to solve, because you only get one chance to do it right.
A dodgy bank transaction can be reversed when fraud or some other problem is discovered.
But when it comes to voting, there's no going back.
A widespread manipulation of cell phone votes might not be uncovered until several weeks after polling day — and by then, the wrong candidate could have already been sworn in.
Rivest's latest research in the Journal of Cybersecurity warned that it would 'greatly increase the risk of undetectable, nation-scale election failures.'
Hackers from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran have already shown an interest in swaying American elections.
A single app processing mass voting data would be a desirable target for a US foe seeking to upend its democratic process.
Rivest also casts doubt on the upsides of cell phone voting.
He says it would do little to boost turnout, and would instead lead to more people being disenfranchised.
Critics of cell phone voting say paper ballots in polling stations are much more secure
Nearly every young adult in America has a cell phone that could be used as a means of voting
While nearly every young adult has a cell phone, only about three quarters of those ages 65 and above own a device.
The DailyMail.com spoke with some of the young voters who Tusk says could cast their first-ever ballots on a cell phone.
Gabby Carlos, 19, a New York City-based engineering student, has never voted.
She's registered in her native Texas, but says it was 'too difficult' to get a mail-in ballot this year because the 'deadlines are really early'.
'In like a perfect world, I think [phone voting] would be nice, but I think it would be an issue with, like, cybersecurity.'
Another New York City-based student, Jeremy Lugo, 21, aims to cast his first-ever ballot, but may not get back to his family upstate in Poughkeepsie for early, in-person voting before November.
Tusk's app 'would get a lot more people to vote,' says Lugo.
'But even if it is done right, it could be hacked.'
Tusk comes up against these concerns repeatedly.
He insists that his system is secure, but admits he's got his work cut out convincing election chiefs to approve it.
Republicans are increasingly wary of voting security, thanks to Trump rejecting his defeat in 2020 and alleging widespread fraud at voting terminals, mail-in ballots and other systems.
Tusk says he'll start small and build incrementally — cell-phone voting in municipal and school board elections next year, before rollouts at state-wide races and even congressional seats.
The stakes are too high to sit on our hands, he says.
'In 25 years, if we don't fix these problems, we might not even be one country anymore,' he told the DailyMail.com.
