I study the impact of technology for a living, and I’m a former programmer. I happily bank online, and use my smartphone to message friends and family. I support and trust encryption to protect ordinary people’s communication. I even believe computers will probably turn out to be safer drivers than too-easily distracted humans. I’m not averse to technological solutions.

In this case, though, we need to stick with methods that allow a paper trail that is verifiable after the election. No matter how you vote, there should be a tightly guarded paper record that can be used for audits, if not for the initial counting. This is not just because paper verification is more tamper-resistant than our insecure voting machines. Our elections need to be open to oversight without the need for voters to understand how encryption works. We can’t tell them to simply trust the experts, especially when people are deliberately sowing distrust.