Making Democracy Harder to Hack
Dr. Scott Shackelford

April 3, 2017

With the Russian government hack of the Democratic National Convention email servers and related leaks, the drama of the 2016 U.S. presidential race highlights an important point: Nefarious hackers do not just pose a risk to vulnerable companies; cyber-attacks can potentially impact the trajectory of democracies. Yet, a consensus has been slow to emerge as to the desirability and feasibility of reclassifying elections voting machines, as critical infrastructure, due in part to the long history of local and state control of voting procedures. This Article takes on the debate—focusing on policy options beyond Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson’s decision to classify elections as critical infrastructure in January 2017—in the U.S., using the 2016 elections as a case study, but putting the issue in a global context, with in-depth case studies from South Africa, Estonia, Brazil, Germany, and India. Governance best practices are analyzed by reviewing these differing approaches to securing elections, including the extent to which trend lines are converging or diverging. This investigation will, in turn, help inform ongoing minilateral efforts at cybersecurity norm building in the critical infrastructure context, which are considered here for the first time in the literature through the lens of polycentric governance.

Dr. Scott Shackelford is an associate professor at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, where he teaches cybersecurity law and policy, sustainability, and international business law. He is a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Program on Science and International Affairs, and Director of the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance at the Indiana University. Dr. Shackelford is also an Affiliate Scholar with Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, and a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations. Professor Shackelford has written more than 100 books, articles, and essays for diverse outlets including the American Business Law Journal, University of Illinois Law Review, and the Wisconsin Law Review, which have been covered by National Public Radio, The Atlantic Wire, Politico, and Newsweek.

Making Democracy Harder to Hack

The Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) sponsored this seminar entitled "Making Democracy Harder to Hack" on April 3, 2017, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The seminar was presented by Dr. Scott Shackelford, Associate Professor at Indiana University.

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