As the 2020 presidential election approaches, fears about the security of our democracy are heightening, particularly as COVID-19 forces us to adapt our voting practices. Many states are expanding access to mail-in voting, prompting cries of fraud from the Trump administration. But maybe it’s traditional voting machines that we should really be worried about, instead of mailed-in paper ballots, says J. Alex Halderman.

Halderman is a professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan whose research focuses on computer security and privacy, and throughout his career, he’s examined the intersection of politics and technology. That’s included extensive work on the security of voting technology used in the United States, and its susceptibility to cyberattacks.