Canceled – 2020 Socrates Chicago Salon
As a precaution related to the global outbreak of COVID-19 this event has been postponed. Our priority is the health and wellbeing of our speakers, participants, attendees, and staff.
Election Interference, Infrastructure and (Mis)information
This Salon will include a Friday evening panel and a Saturday Seminar.
Elections are often regarded as a reflection of the strength and qualities of a country’s democracy. The 2016 election revealed deep flaws in the U.S. voting process. As a result of overt foreign interference, election security has become a national security concern in the 2020 election cycle. In response to these concerns, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other federal government agencies are working to ensure the security of the critical infrastructure that underpins fair and open voting. Eroding confidence in the voting process directly undermines confidence in American democracy and what that means globally for the future of democratic states. How can the federal agencies work with the state and local election entities to reestablish confidence in the voting process? Did the last election cycle create a crisis in confidence that the American public can recover from? How do misinformation campaigns and other electoral interference efforts undermine democracies and what can the US do to ensure an election fitting one of the world’s oldest democracies? In this seminar we will have a wide-ranging discussion about election security, democracy, and how we can re-establish confidence in our voting process.
Moderated by, Lawrence Norden, the director of the Election Reform Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Friday Evening Reception
From substantial misinformation campaigns and the spread of false narratives to vulnerabilities in voting infrastructure, election interference is yet again emerging as a defining feature of the 2020 elections – threatening fundamental political freedoms. Going into 2020, how vulnerable is existing US election infrastructure to hackers and other malevolent cyber operations? In partnership with Aspen Socrates, the Council hosts an expert panel to consider the origin and scale of threats to the 2020 election and America’s preparedness in an increasingly critical year.
The panel discussion will include Noah Praetz, Election Cybersecurity Consultant; Former Director of Elections, Cook County, Illinois, Young Mie Kim, Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Lawrence Norden, who will also moderate the Saturday seminar. The panel will be followed by a networking reception.
If you are unable to attend the seminar, please consider joining us for our opening panel and reception on Friday, March 20 from 4 to 6 pm.
Reception tickets are Members $10, Nonmembers $30 and attire is business casual. Please purchase tickets here,
For more information, please contact socrates@aspeninstitute.org