Matt Blaze
@mattblaze.org
Scientist, safecracker, etc. McDevitt Professor of Computer Science and Law at Georgetown. So-called expert on election security and a few other things. Slow photographer. RF nerd. Occasionally blogs at https://mattblaze.org/blog
Reposted by Matt Blaze
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Reposted by Matt Blaze
As an academic, I have actually published a few things here and there.
November 9, 2025 at 5:56 PM
As an academic, I have actually published a few things here and there.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
I get where you're coming from, but I think there's value in experts engaging with people. I've certainly benefited from interacting with and reading experts in other fields on social media.
November 9, 2025 at 5:54 PM
I get where you're coming from, but I think there's value in experts engaging with people. I've certainly benefited from interacting with and reading experts in other fields on social media.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
If I may, it’s not worth fighting in the muck with people. There’s always another to come along after and rehash the same ole fight.
A published article is worth 10,000 fights in the weeds.
A published article is worth 10,000 fights in the weeds.
November 9, 2025 at 5:48 PM
If I may, it’s not worth fighting in the muck with people. There’s always another to come along after and rehash the same ole fight.
A published article is worth 10,000 fights in the weeds.
A published article is worth 10,000 fights in the weeds.
Oddly enough, weeks of being insulted and browbeaten by anonymous strangers here about the actual subject I work on in my day job has NOT led me to reconsider my position.
November 9, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Oddly enough, weeks of being insulted and browbeaten by anonymous strangers here about the actual subject I work on in my day job has NOT led me to reconsider my position.
Subway's bread is notoriously squishy and pliable. Any fear of injury would disappear the moment you saw the wrapper. Throwing a Subway sandwich is like shooting with a nerf gun.
Now if it were a more substantial bread - say a bagel - prosecutors might have had a more viable case.
Now if it were a more substantial bread - say a bagel - prosecutors might have had a more viable case.
Sandwich verdict wasn’t jury nullification. It was failure to prove the required “reasonable fear of physical injury” in a case where the agent was wearing A BULLETPROOF VEST. The only crime was the waste of resources on this case. My thoughts in @MSNBCDaily.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
Opinion | The sandwich thrower was wrong. But Jeanine Pirro was, too.
To establish a forcible assault, jurors were required to find that Dunn caused “reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm.” That allegation was laughable.
www.msnbc.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Subway's bread is notoriously squishy and pliable. Any fear of injury would disappear the moment you saw the wrapper. Throwing a Subway sandwich is like shooting with a nerf gun.
Now if it were a more substantial bread - say a bagel - prosecutors might have had a more viable case.
Now if it were a more substantial bread - say a bagel - prosecutors might have had a more viable case.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
i loved being a poll worker! met amazing people, learned a lot, served the community. i didn’t love chairing a polling place in 2016, but that mostly had to do with an injury i had and the outcome of the election.
To be clear, when I suggest that people sign up to be election pollworkers, I'm not trying to be flippant. I'm dead serious. It's a vital civic service where you help your neighbors vote. And you learn an absolute *ton* about how elections actually work, as well as meet the officials who run them.
November 9, 2025 at 12:17 AM
i loved being a poll worker! met amazing people, learned a lot, served the community. i didn’t love chairing a polling place in 2016, but that mostly had to do with an injury i had and the outcome of the election.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
Strong seconded. It’s easy, it’s simple, and it will absolutely challenge at least one long held assumption you have about how politics works on the retail level. And no matter where you are, I assure you they’re desperate for competent adults to pitch in.
To be clear, when I suggest that people sign up to be election pollworkers, I'm not trying to be flippant. I'm dead serious. It's a vital civic service where you help your neighbors vote. And you learn an absolute *ton* about how elections actually work, as well as meet the officials who run them.
November 9, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Strong seconded. It’s easy, it’s simple, and it will absolutely challenge at least one long held assumption you have about how politics works on the retail level. And no matter where you are, I assure you they’re desperate for competent adults to pitch in.
To be clear, when I suggest that people sign up to be election pollworkers, I'm not trying to be flippant. I'm dead serious. It's a vital civic service where you help your neighbors vote. And you learn an absolute *ton* about how elections actually work, as well as meet the officials who run them.
November 8, 2025 at 11:05 PM
To be clear, when I suggest that people sign up to be election pollworkers, I'm not trying to be flippant. I'm dead serious. It's a vital civic service where you help your neighbors vote. And you learn an absolute *ton* about how elections actually work, as well as meet the officials who run them.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
To clarify, do you believe you're entitled to cross examine everyone on social media to interrogate their beliefs on any topic of interest to you, or just me?
In any event, I have already pointed you to where you can find answers to your questions about my work on election security.
In any event, I have already pointed you to where you can find answers to your questions about my work on election security.
November 8, 2025 at 9:37 PM
To clarify, do you believe you're entitled to cross examine everyone on social media to interrogate their beliefs on any topic of interest to you, or just me?
In any event, I have already pointed you to where you can find answers to your questions about my work on election security.
In any event, I have already pointed you to where you can find answers to your questions about my work on election security.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
If you're curious about my opinions about election security, there's an ample public record on the subject, and, if you don't wish do dig further, you can read my posts here simply by clicking on my profile.
November 8, 2025 at 9:26 PM
If you're curious about my opinions about election security, there's an ample public record on the subject, and, if you don't wish do dig further, you can read my posts here simply by clicking on my profile.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
This makes it frustrating to have a productive discussion about election security. There's no simple narrative. Yes, there are security vulnerabilities in some election systems, and that's genuinely bad. But no, there's no evidence any US elections have been stolen or rigged this way (so far).
October 30, 2025 at 7:47 PM
This makes it frustrating to have a productive discussion about election security. There's no simple narrative. Yes, there are security vulnerabilities in some election systems, and that's genuinely bad. But no, there's no evidence any US elections have been stolen or rigged this way (so far).
Reposted by Matt Blaze
Just to be clear, I don't claim that our elections are free of fraud. But I have seen no credible evidence whatsoever that any US election outcome has been altered by technical vulnerabilities. Could that happen? Possibly, and that's concerning. But there's simply no evidence that it actually has.
October 30, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Just to be clear, I don't claim that our elections are free of fraud. But I have seen no credible evidence whatsoever that any US election outcome has been altered by technical vulnerabilities. Could that happen? Possibly, and that's concerning. But there's simply no evidence that it actually has.
Or, to put it as politely as my upbringing taught me is warranted here, fuck of with your "just asking questions" bullshit.
I said what I said. I apologize if you found my words unclear, but I don't have better ones available.
November 8, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Or, to put it as politely as my upbringing taught me is warranted here, fuck of with your "just asking questions" bullshit.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
Thank you, Debra Bowen, Dave Wagner, the DefCon crew, and others who've helped for making this happen.
(And of course no thanks to the GOP voter registration and other official voting suppression efforts where the REAL fraud happens.
But stuffing ballot boxes is pretty much obsolete.)
(And of course no thanks to the GOP voter registration and other official voting suppression efforts where the REAL fraud happens.
But stuffing ballot boxes is pretty much obsolete.)
November 8, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Thank you, Debra Bowen, Dave Wagner, the DefCon crew, and others who've helped for making this happen.
(And of course no thanks to the GOP voter registration and other official voting suppression efforts where the REAL fraud happens.
But stuffing ballot boxes is pretty much obsolete.)
(And of course no thanks to the GOP voter registration and other official voting suppression efforts where the REAL fraud happens.
But stuffing ballot boxes is pretty much obsolete.)
Reposted by Matt Blaze
This is not a problem exclusive to the right. Disgruntled Harris supporters are claiming that the 2024 election was hacked, trotting out exactly the same bogus "evidence" Trump was making in 2020.
Fortunately, and to her great credit, Harris has not amplified any of this nonsense.
Fortunately, and to her great credit, Harris has not amplified any of this nonsense.
November 8, 2025 at 6:41 PM
This is not a problem exclusive to the right. Disgruntled Harris supporters are claiming that the 2024 election was hacked, trotting out exactly the same bogus "evidence" Trump was making in 2020.
Fortunately, and to her great credit, Harris has not amplified any of this nonsense.
Fortunately, and to her great credit, Harris has not amplified any of this nonsense.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
This assumption that election results for high stakes federal offices are simply reported and never scrutinized is just WEIRD. It suggest a complete lack of familiarity with the process.
Serious suggestion: Become a pollworker. You'll learn a ton about how elections work, and help people vote, too.
Serious suggestion: Become a pollworker. You'll learn a ton about how elections work, and help people vote, too.
November 8, 2025 at 6:22 PM
This assumption that election results for high stakes federal offices are simply reported and never scrutinized is just WEIRD. It suggest a complete lack of familiarity with the process.
Serious suggestion: Become a pollworker. You'll learn a ton about how elections work, and help people vote, too.
Serious suggestion: Become a pollworker. You'll learn a ton about how elections work, and help people vote, too.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
It's also worth noting that the procedures and tech that secure elections have improved *dramatically* over the last decade. In particular, inherently risky "DRE"-type machines have all but disappeared almost everywhere, and efficient and rigorous post-election audit methods have been developed.
November 8, 2025 at 6:15 PM
It's also worth noting that the procedures and tech that secure elections have improved *dramatically* over the last decade. In particular, inherently risky "DRE"-type machines have all but disappeared almost everywhere, and efficient and rigorous post-election audit methods have been developed.
You’re right - I’m probably not a very nice person. I suppose I must seem like a real jerk!
But that doesn’t change the fact that there’s simply no credible evidence that the 2024 (or 2020 or 2016) presidential election was hacked.
But that doesn’t change the fact that there’s simply no credible evidence that the 2024 (or 2020 or 2016) presidential election was hacked.
November 8, 2025 at 6:05 PM
You’re right - I’m probably not a very nice person. I suppose I must seem like a real jerk!
But that doesn’t change the fact that there’s simply no credible evidence that the 2024 (or 2020 or 2016) presidential election was hacked.
But that doesn’t change the fact that there’s simply no credible evidence that the 2024 (or 2020 or 2016) presidential election was hacked.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
Are the procedures and safeguards perfect? No, and there are many ways we should improve them. But it’s wildly wrong to claim that “no one is checking” election tallies or that there are no safeguards in place or scrutiny applied.
November 8, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Are the procedures and safeguards perfect? No, and there are many ways we should improve them. But it’s wildly wrong to claim that “no one is checking” election tallies or that there are no safeguards in place or scrutiny applied.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
Then you probably know that recounts (and post election risk limiting audits) are routinely done almost everywhere.
While these procedures could (and should) certainly be improved, it’s simply wrong to claim they aren’t done.
While these procedures could (and should) certainly be improved, it’s simply wrong to claim they aren’t done.
November 8, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Then you probably know that recounts (and post election risk limiting audits) are routinely done almost everywhere.
While these procedures could (and should) certainly be improved, it’s simply wrong to claim they aren’t done.
While these procedures could (and should) certainly be improved, it’s simply wrong to claim they aren’t done.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
Elections for federal offices, with their enormously high stakes, are among the most closely scrutinized civic activities in the US. In addition to the election procedures governed by state laws, candidates and parties have extensive election protection operations examining polls and tallies.
November 8, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Elections for federal offices, with their enormously high stakes, are among the most closely scrutinized civic activities in the US. In addition to the election procedures governed by state laws, candidates and parties have extensive election protection operations examining polls and tallies.
Reposted by Matt Blaze
I suggest you start by investigating how ballots are tallied and results recorded and reported, and the various safeguards associated with these processes. A great way to learn about this first hand is to sign up to become a poll worker in your local jurisdiction.
November 8, 2025 at 3:36 PM
I suggest you start by investigating how ballots are tallied and results recorded and reported, and the various safeguards associated with these processes. A great way to learn about this first hand is to sign up to become a poll worker in your local jurisdiction.
Not that anyone here needs to hear this, but for the record, in a democracy "people voted differently from the way I expected or hoped" does not constitute evidence of fraud, no matter how many pretty charts and graphs of "voting patterns" you make.
November 7, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Not that anyone here needs to hear this, but for the record, in a democracy "people voted differently from the way I expected or hoped" does not constitute evidence of fraud, no matter how many pretty charts and graphs of "voting patterns" you make.