Microsoft announces ElectionGuard, an open source platform for securely handling voting data, available this summer with a pilot during the 2020 elections
When it comes to voting, we've come a long way from dropping pebbles into an amphora, but still not nearly far enough …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft is not new to election tech: back in 2016 both major US parties used a vote-tallying app built with Interknowlogy at the Iowa caucuses. ElectionGuard extends that footprint from tallying to verification itself — an open-source SDK for handling voting data that ships this summer, with a pilot planned during the 2020 elections.
What makes the announcement credible rather than vaporware is what follows in the related coverage: the software gets its first real-world run in a local vote in Fulton, WI within months, cryptographer Josh Benaloh leads the effort to let anyone check whether results are accurate, and by 2021 major vendor Hart InterCivic agrees to embed it in one of its systems.
First-order effects
- Election hardware vendors and local jurisdictions gain a free, open-source way to add result-verifiability without building cryptographic auditing themselves — Microsoft absorbs the R&D cost.
Second-order effects
- Incumbent election-tech vendors face a build-or-adopt decision on verifiability; Hart InterCivic's later choice to integrate ElectionGuard shows the cheaper path is adopting Microsoft's stack, concentrating influence over election software standards in Redmond.
Third-order effects
- If vendor adoption spreads, election trust shifts from proprietary black-box machines toward publicly auditable software — and Microsoft's civic-infrastructure role expands from tallying apps into adjacent integrity tools like its planned deepfake-authentication service for politicians.
The trend: Big tech is embedding itself in election infrastructure through open-source verification tooling, trading direct control of machines for standard-setting influence over how results are proven.