Towson University: TU Election Security Expert Will Present To NATO

Press release from Towson University:

Cody Boteler

October 11, 2021

Natalie Scala will use research done at TU as case study

Research at Towson University makes an impact, even at the international level. Associate
professor Natalie Scala, who is also director of the graduate program in supply chain
management in the College of Business & Economics, will present findings from her
election security research in a keynote address during NATO’s upcoming Operations Research and Analysis
Conference.

Read more: Anne Arundel County, a TU partner, recognized by federal government for
election work.

The conference is virtual this year, so Scala won’t have to travel to deliver her
keynote on Monday, Oct. 18.

"I'm going to be speaking about systemic threats, which are the interplay between
cyber, physical and insider risks, with U.S. election security as a case study," Scala
says. "This is my first keynore address in my career, so I am humbled by the invite."

She and Josh Dehlinger, a professor in the Department of Computer & Information Sciences,
have conducted research on protecting elections from physical threats and insider
risks for more than four years.

Scala says they have had more than a dozen students help them with research and make
real-world contributions, and that some are authors on papers the group has published.

Dehlinger, the co-principal investigator, is in a different field of study and college
than Scala. The interdisciplinary nature of the research only makes it stronger, she
says.

Their findings indicate a few ways to protect elections. Broadly speaking, Scala says,
external adversaries are not incentivized to target in-person or mail-in ballots.
The risk of voter fraud, she says, is also "very, very low."

The bigger risks, she says, come from insiders, like a postal employee who doesn’t
know how to handle an absentee ballot properly or a voter not knowing how to fill
out their absentee ballot correctly, making it invalid.

So, she says, educating those involved in elections is key.

"We mitigate risk by preventing these mistakes or having [workers] understand the
severity of these issues. I'm honored to be able to share what we’ve done with the
international audience,” Scala says. “Election security, and issues of securing democracy
in general are, I think, are of interest to NATO countries beyond the U.S."

This press release was produced by Towson University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.