Are Election Hacking Fears Driving Voters To The Polls?

If people fear that the American electoral infrastructure could be hacked, will they withhold their votes in November? Not according to research commissioned by HackerOne ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Election hacking concerns could in fact drive more Americans to vote in the upcoming presidential election. 

Given potential concerns about election hacking, HackerOne survey findings showed nearly half of Americans (45%) were more likely to vote in the 2018 primary elections. Only about 1 in 10 (12%) say they were less likely to do so. Among registered voters, 50% were more likely to vote based on the results.

Election hacking fears are warranted, with 12 Russian agents charged for hacking the DNC during the 2016 election, untested voter registration sites, and 5 states relying on computers without paper ballots as backups. Yet, potential concerns are actually driving people to the polls, not deterring them, something HackerOne co-founder and CTO Alex Rice says might counterbalance the threat.

“Our democracy is under attack,” he continues. “We now have concrete evidence of criminal hacking and foreign interference influencing U.S. elections. The revelation of this threat has galvanized Americans into getting involved: 45% of Americans are now MORE likely to vote. This engagement will provide some counterbalance to the threat but it's not enough. We must demand additional transparency and action from election officials to safeguard the integrity of this essential institution.” 

Are you more likely to vote given potential concerns about election hacking? Are you curious to learn more about how the elections industry is engaging hackers to hack for good? Tune in during HackerOne’s annual Security@ (virtual!) conference on October 20th. Learn from industry leaders on how coordinated vulnerability disclosure has helped shape the elections industry’s efforts to protect the 2020 election and beyond.

Survey Methodology: 
This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of HackerOne from September 21-25, 2018 among 2,007 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, among whom 1,727 are registered voters. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.