Cloud Computing and Politics: The Future of Voting Services and Security

Since the discovery of the 2016 Russian cyberattacks on election systems in all 50 states, concerns have mounted over whether the U.S. can protect its elections from future tampering. Systems that manage key components of elections such as voter registration databases and voting machines are at risk.

To deal with outdated election systems and questionable security, many states and counties have turned to cloud computing. Not only have an increasing number of election administrators gone in this direction, many political organizations have also turned to cloud computing.

In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, some also wonder if cloud computing could accommodate alternatives to in-person voting during disease outbreaks, both for citizens and for members of Congress needing to cast votes. If these cybersecurity and public health trends continue, the relationship between cloud computing and politics will likely grow—and cybersecurity experts will play a vital role in finding innovative solutions to the current risks.

An Introduction to Cloud Computing

The use of cloud computing services has grown considerably in recent years. In fact, a 2019 study of cloud usage found that 94 percent of businesses use cloud computing. An increasing number of election officials are also adopting cloud computing to help manage their work. Why this shift toward cloud computing? To answer, it’s useful to understand what cloud computing is and what benefits it offers.

Cloud computing delivers hardware and software over the internet. That means users have access to storage, networks, servers, databases, and analytics via the internet or another network. With it, organizations do not need on-site data centers with servers managed by IT experts because the computing happens remotely. Applications and software programs are run from the cloud rather than on a local server or computer.

This method of computing has many advantages in terms of efficiency, convenience, and security. Following are some specific reasons many organizations choose to use cloud computing services:

• Cost: With cloud computing, organizations don’t need to buy and maintain equipment. Instead they have access to well-maintained remote equipment.
• Security: Cloud computing services offer many options to ensure data security. In addition to baseline security such as authentication, encryption, and access control, organizations can add other security options as well.
• Scalability: Cloud computing allows companies to easily scale their services up or down based on their needs. In this way, they do not need to make additional investments in equipment, but they still get the bandwidth, computing power, and storage they require.
• Access: Cloud computing allows users to access their data through any device of their choice and regardless of their location. If a computer or device gets damaged, data is not lost because it is stored in the cloud.
• Storage: Users can easily store, retrieve, process, and recover their resources in the cloud.
• Control: Cloud computing gives users complete visibility of their data and allows them to control who sees what.

Cloud Computing for Voter Services

What are cloud computing’s applications for voter services? While most voting machines are not connected to any cloud, cloud computing can run county election websites, store ballot data and voter registration rolls, deliver live results on election nights, and manage overseas voting for military personnel.

Additionally, a number of state governments have considered using cloud-computing to help manage voting during public health crises like COVID-19. However, some industry experts advise using caution before rushing to create online voting websites or apps because these leave no paper trail, which could undermine voters’ confidence in results.

Cloud computing and politics go hand in hand for a reason. Just as cloud computing offers useful tools that benefit businesses, it can also offer election administrators valuable services:

• Increased Bandwidth: Traffic to websites providing voting information and election results surges on and around election days. Unlike on-site servers which may not have the capacities to handle the traffic spikes, cloud computing can autoscale bandwidths to adjust for the increased traffic so websites stay up and running.
• Cost-Effective Data Storage: Storage in the cloud can cost political organizations less than traditional data storage systems, often due to economies of scale, which allows cloud computing providers to offer cheaper prices because they are providing the service on such a large scale.
• Securing Sensitive Information: Cloud computing can securely store voter registration and ballot data, achieving security standards that locally managed systems cannot. That is because they often have more up-to-date and robust security tools and conduct more frequent security audits.

Examples of Cloud Computing in Elections

Cybersecurity companies like Amazon Web Services and McAfee have moved into the sphere of cloud computing and politics. They deliver services to a number of political organizations in addition to election administrators. The shift has brought notable benefits:

The National Democratic Institute

The National Democratic Institute (NDI), an organization that focuses on strengthening fair and democratic elections around the world, moved their operations to the cloud to help account for limited resources and staff. This move delivered a more flexible IT infrastructure that allowed them to more easily install and maintain applications, as well as to scale up and down services as needed. In the process, they reduced costs by 90 percent and improved security.

The Rebublican National Committee

The Republican National Committee (RNC), an organization that promotes the Republican party in U.S. elections, migrated their database to the cloud, improving security and cutting costs in the process. The RNC needed cloud services that could pull together election results, statistics on voter registration, census data, and voter opinions for analysis and make the information available to republican candidates. Cloud computing created a storage warehouse that kept data accessible and allowed the RNC to gain valuable insights about American voters.

The League of Women Voters

The League of Women Voters (LWV), which works to use advocacy and education to improve government systems and affect public policy, moved to cloud computing to host their website. They needed a cost-effective hosting solution that could handle half a million visitors on election days and then seamlessly scale down afterward. Cloud computing allows the LWV to keep their site up and running at high speed despite huge surges in traffic and to save time in their preparations.

The Democratic National Committee

The Democratic National Committee (DNC), which works with local, state, and federal Democratic candidates, switched to cloud computing to host its website and gather, store, and deliver voter data to other political organizations. Cloud computing reduced the time the DNC spends getting content to users and eliminated many of the network challenges they encountered before using cloud computing. Additionally, cloud computing reduced spending on physical technologies, allowing the DNC to channel the savings into their primary goal, helping Democratic candidates win.

From a security perspective, cloud services offer important advantages. Cloud computing aligns with cybersecurity and data protection best practices, such as multifactor authentication and continuous updating of security measures. Additionally, cloud computing must meet security standards set by the Federal Risk Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). This government program ensures high standards when it comes to security assessments, authorization, and ongoing monitoring of cloud services.

Learn More About Careers in Cloud Computing

The rapid expansion of technological innovations offers exciting opportunities to IT and cybersecurity professionals in the realm of cloud computing and politics and elsewhere. Discover more about an array of cutting-edge topics in cloud computing and cybersecurity through Tulane University’s School of Professional Advancement.

Recommended Readings
AI and Cybersecurity: How New Tech Is Impacting the Industry
Cybersecurity Skills Gap: Key Needs for Tomorrow’s Workforce
Three Major Benefits of a Career in IT

Sources
Amazon Web Services, AWS Case Study: National Democratic Institute (NDI)
Amazon Web Services, Democratic National Committee Case Study
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Amazon Web Services, “Election Day: Examples of How the Cloud Scales to Meet Election Demand”
Amazon Web Services, The League of Women Voters Case Study
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McAfee, “COVID-19 & Voting: When Paper Is the Safest Election Technology”
Microsoft, What Is Cloud Computing? A Beginner’s Guide
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Symantec, “What States Are Getting Right – and Wrong – About Election Security”
TechCrunch, “Why Congress Isn’t Working Remotely Due to COVID-19”
Vox, “An 11-Year-Old Hacked a Replica of Florida’s Voting System in 10 Minutes”