Open Source’s Role in Strengthening Elections
As U.S. election day approaches, developers may wonder whether open source software can meaningfully improve how democracy functions. The answer is yes, though the domain is genuinely difficult. Election software must satisfy a demanding set of requirements — accessibility, affordability, auditability, certification, scale, security, and the secret ballot — and researchers actively debate the best technical approaches. Public adoption of new systems is understandably slow.
That said, computer science has already produced critical improvements. A consensus that paper ballots are necessary, and the development of risk-limiting audits to verify election outcomes, both emerged from the research community. Open source is now extending that innovation further, with organizations like VotingWorks publishing election systems that leverage the same collaborative development model that has driven progress in countless other fields.
Projects and Partnerships Worth Knowing
VotingWorks maintains its code publicly on GitHub, including Arlo, a tool for conducting post-election risk-limiting audits. Its projects rely on the usual open source dependencies, plus at least one notable election-specific component: Microsoft’s ElectionGuard, which uses homomorphic encryption to keep votes secret and secure regardless of the underlying electronic system.
The OSET Institute has advocated for and built open source election technology since 2006. Its TrustTheVote Project publishes code on GitHub, including Rocky, an online voter registration service.
DARPA also announced funding last year for an open source secure voting system, with work visible in the Free & Fair organization on GitHub. The ecosystem is notably collaborative: Free & Fair has contributed to ElectionGuard and lists both VotingWorks and OSET as partners.
Where Developers Can Contribute
Beyond core voting systems, a range of civic open data and engagement projects welcome involvement:
- Open data repositories covering U.S. election results and polling locations
- The backend for VoteAmerica
- Code supporting the Voting Information Project, available at the VotingInfoProject GitHub
While this overview focuses on the U.S. because of its upcoming national election, similar opportunities exist internationally. GitHub, for example, has partnered with the Times of India and IBM on the Lost Votes Tech Solutions Challenge.
Developers seeking more project ideas or connections with fellow civic technologists can also join a local civic technology group.
