Can Emmy Voting Be Hacked? Yes, Says Nathan Fielder

By Debra Birnbaum

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – While the security of our political elections is being debated, Nathan Fielder — the star of Comedy Central’s “” says the Emmy voting system is vulnerable to being hacked, too.

In an innovative take on an FYC pitch — and very much in the vein of his show — Fielder has unveiled a video exploring how the system could be manipulated (and yes, potentially deprive him of an Emmy for Variety sketch series, where he’s competing against stalwart “Saturday Night Live”).

Fielder says when he started researching the security of the online Emmy voting system, he was surprised by what he found. “What I uncovered is shocking to say the least — and really shocking to say the most,” he says.

He interviewed Carsten Schurmann, an election security expert and a faculty member at the IT University of Copenhagen, who says the system is vulnerable to being hacked — and demonstrated for Fielder just how it could be done. In the video, Schurmann walked Fielder step-by-step through how a hacker could easily bypass the system’s two-factor authentication.

“It is extremely unlikely that you can have 100% trust in the outcome of the vote,” concludes Schurmann.

Watch the video below.