Press Releases

The Jerusalem Post, Metro: Making a statement for democracy

By Sarah Hershenson, 3/10/2016 [See original article in The Jerusalem Post, Metro - subscribers only]
Editor: Erica Schachne; Subeditors: Daniel Halberman, Yakir Feldman, Menashe Koren; Graphics: Nechame Rosenstein

The importance – and ease – of casting your ballot in American federal elections from overseas.

"Ballots are stronger than bullets” was a phrase used by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the US, several times in speeches. Even though he led his country through the Civil War, a period of turbulence and bloodshed, he never lost sight of the democratic ideal.

This November, 151 years later, American citizens of the US will go to the polls to elect a new president and use the power of their ballots to make a statement for democracy.

Consensus Reached on Recommendations Toward the Future of Internet Voting

 U.S. Vote Foundation Releases New System Requirements, Specifications, Architecture and
Cryptographic Foundations for End-to-End Verifiable Internet Voting 

July 10, 2015 – Today’s release of The Future of Voting: End-to-End Verifiable Internet Voting Specification and Feasibility Assessment Study by U.S. Vote Foundation establishes a new reference for the security, usability and transparency requirements essential to the U.S. in any consideration of Internet voting for public elections. The announcement was made at the Annual Summer Conference of the National Association of Secretaries of State, hosted this year in Portland, Maine.

Developed by a team of the nation’s leading experts in election integrity, election administration, high-assurance systems engineering, and cryptography, the report starts from the premise that public elections in the U.S. are a matter of national security. The authors assert that Internet voting systems must be transparent and designed to run in a manner that embraces the constructs of end-to-end verifiability – a property missing from existing Internet voting systems.

An end-to-end verifiable (E2E-V) voting system allows voters to 1) check that the system recorded their votes correctly; 2) check that the system included their votes in the final tally; 3) count the recorded votes and double-check the announced outcome of the election.  An Internet voting system that is end-to-end verifiable is an E2E-VIV system. The new set of system specifications that could eventually lead to a model E2E-VIV system includes an ideal cryptographic foundation, security, audit, and usability considerations, as well as technical approaches to the system architecture.

U.S. Vote Foundation Announces Mark Ritchie as New Board Member


May 27, 2015, WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Vote Foundation (US Vote) is pleased to announce that Mark Ritchie, former Secretary of State for the state of Minnesota, has joined the organization’s Executive Board. US Vote is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)3 organization, which develops and provides domestic, overseas and military voters with public access to innovative voter information, registration and vote-by-mail ballot request services.

“My first priority as a member of the US Vote Executive Board will be to make sure that US Vote has the resources it needs to support their development vision and their mission to make it easy for every citizen to be an active voter,” added Ritchie. As Secretary of State, Ritchie was a strong advocate for overseas and military voters.

2014 Post Election Survey Results Released - New Interactive Online Format

Highlights Reveal Ongoing Challenges in Overseas Voting

WASHINGTON D.C. – February 5, 2015 – Overseas Vote Foundation and U.S. Vote Foundation have released their 2014 Post-Election Survey results in a new online format. This interactive presentation allows users to compare Overseas Vote Foundation Post–Election Survey data across states.

[See the 2014 Post Election Survey Results]

U.S. Vote Foundation and FactCheck.org Collaborate to Provide Voters with Nonpartisan Political News

Flagship “My Voter Account” Application Offers Voters News from Award-Winning Fact-Checking Site

OCTOBER 9, 2014 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Vote Foundation (US Vote) and the nonpartisan site FactCheck.org have developed an alliance through which FactCheck.org will provide relevant, timely and accurate political information to voters who create an individual “My Voter Account” on the US Vote website. [View Video]

The project, supported by the Democracy Fund, was created to make it easy for voters to find unbiased, fact-checked news from within their private Voter Accounts. Voters can sort the news by topic, location or time frame. Once logged into their personal Voter Accounts, readers can access valuable information that may affect their voting choices.

Advocates Announce New "Can-I-Vote-Absentee" Widget

U.S. and Overseas Vote Foundation, Verified Voting, Rock the Vote and Common Cause unveil online tool to help military, overseas, college and others securely vote absentee

October 1, 2014 - Washington, DC— Although there’s more than a month until Election Day, for a large and growing population in the United States, early and absentee voting has already begun. Today, voting advocates, including Verified Voting, the U.S. and Overseas Vote Foundation, Rock the Vote and Common Cause launched a new online tool designed to help overseas, military, college and other potential absentee voters to secure, fill out, and mail back their ballots for the November mid-term election.

“Absentee voting in midterm elections is on the rise, which shouldn’t be surprising: Americans lead busy, complex lives,” said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, President and CEO of the U.S. and Overseas Vote Foundation and creator of the “Can I Vote Absentee?” widget. “Millions of voters, including overseas and military voters, working parents, professionals who travel or can’t leave work, students, the disabled and the elderly need alternatives to the traditional method of going to a polling place to cast a ballot. Our new online widget can help voting organizations get the word out.”

U.S. Vote Foundation and Overseas Vote Foundation Launch Election Official Directory Application Programming Interface

New API to Support Election Services Developers with Comprehensive Address and Contact Data for Every Local Election Jurisdiction

WASHINGTON, D.C – July 24, 2014 - U.S. Vote Foundation (US Vote) and Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) today announced the Election Official Directory Application Programming Interface (EOD API), which allows any voter or election services organization to utilize the data in this comprehensive election jurisdiction database in their own application or on their own website.

The Election Official Directory (EOD) is a highly successful and proven directory application that OVF / US Vote pioneered ten years ago to facilitate overseas and military voter registration and absentee ballot request processing, which is carried out at the local election office level.

iVoteIsrael Debuts New Suite of Overseas Voter Services

Americans in Israel Initiate Aggressive Outreach Program to Register Voters for 2014 Midterm Congressional Elections

JULY 3, 2014, WASHINGTON, D.C. - iVoteIsrael is investing in the latest cutting edge voter services technology in order to assist American voters in Israel to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming midterm congressional elections.

“The connection that voting creates between American citizens in Israel and their native country is unparalleled. As we celebrate America's Independence Day in Israel, there is no greater right we as Americans in Israel cherish than the right to vote,” stated Matt Solomon, National Director, iVoteIsrael.

“Given the razor thin margins that have decided the victor in numerous elections, we believe that iVoteIsrael’s outreach to Americans in Israel can impact the outcome in certain midterm election contests,” continued Solomon.

Volunteer for the Voter Help Desk!

US Vote Foundation is seeking qualified volunteers to help staff our Voter Help Desk. Ideal candidates will have an interest in helping absentee and military voters participate in federal elections.

If you have a strong interest in voting and elections coupled with skills in technical and creative writing and customer support/service, you will excel in this role and gain invaluable experience. Candidates with experience studying or practicing political science, law, civics, and government are particularly well-suited.

U.S. Vote Foundation Gains Major New Services Website is First to Offer All Services to All Voters

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 30, 2014 - U.S. Vote Foundation (US Vote) will debut a dramatically upgraded www.usvotefoundation.org website today at their Eighth Annual Voting and Elections Summit 2014. The site brings together the extensive resources of U.S. Vote Foundation and Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) for voters of all types. The newly designed home page brings forward the voter-centric attitude of the new site.