Rice U. expert on voting machines to testify in Austin about election security

EXPERT ALERT

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu 

Rice U. expert on voting machines to testify in Austin about election security

HOUSTON — (Feb. 16, 2018) — Dan Wallach, Rice University professor of computer science and of electrical and computer engineering, will testify before the Texas Senate Select Committee on Election Security at a hearing about recent election irregularities in Texas, a review of voting security protocols and the responsibilities and duties of members of the Electoral College.

The hearing will take place at 10 a.m. CST Thursday, Feb. 22, in E1.012 (Hearing Room), Texas State Capitol, Austin.

Specifically, the hearing will examine the use of electronic voting machines and paper ballots, voting fraud and “disenfranchisement occurring inside nursing homes and assisted living facilities, outside interference and manipulation of elections, and the voting requirements of presidential electors.” The committee’s charge is to make recommendations to “safeguard the integrity of elections, ensure the confidentiality and security of voting records and ensure the will of the people is reflected through their ballot and carried out through their presidential electors.”

Wallach, who is also a scholar at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is widely regarded as an expert on voting machine security. He will provide remarks and then take questions from the committee.

Who:  Dan Wallach, Rice University professor of computer science and of electrical and computer engineering and a scholar at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

What: Testimony on voting security before the Texas Senate Select Committee on Election Security.

When: 10 a.m. CST Thursday, Feb. 22.

Where: E1.012 (Hearing Room), Texas State Capitol, Austin.

State Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, chairs the Select Committee on Election Security.

Wallach’s research includes computer security topics, ranging from web browsers, servers and networks to electronic voting technologies and smartphones. Prior to joining the Rice faculty, Wallach earned his Ph.D. at Princeton University and a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California-Berkeley.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Wallach while he is in Austin, contact David Ruth, director of national media relations at Rice, at 713-348-6327 or david@rice.edu.

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Image for download:
http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/09/Wallach-Rayburn2-2fq1ncx.jpg
Caption: Dan Wallach
Credit: David Ruth/Rice University

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Follow Dan Wallach on Twitter @danwallach.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,970 undergraduates and 2,934 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for happiest students by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.