With his explemplary reputation as an authority on science and technology issues established through his oversight of Congress' transition to the internet age in the mid-90s, his advocacy of math and science education and research funding, and his promotion of improved voting system testing and certification procedures, Ehlers has demonstrated a clear understanding of computer security issues and the need to safeguard the integrity of elections.

The first physicist to be elected to Congress, Ehlers has used computers since 1957, when he was working on a Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. During his early years in physics research, Ehlers measured nuclear spins and magnetic moments in radioactive nuclei. Later he moved into atomic physics, studying electron-atom scattering and developing high-power nitrogen pump lasers. In 2001, he received the annual Public Service Award presented jointly by the American Astronomical Society, the American Mathematical Society and the American Physics Society. (In the photo to the left, Ehlers is shown with the other Physicist-Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) and two others at the presentation ceremony for the 2003 award.)

Fellow physicists Ehlers and Holt have joined on two occasions in writing "Dear Colleague" letters in support of science and mathematics funding. In 2003 together with Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL) they wrote to the House Appropriations Committee to call for increased funding for math and science education. Last year, Ehlers and Holt co-authored a letter supporting increased funding for the National Science Foundation. Hopefully they will be able to work together on the passage of Rep. Holt's Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act as well.

In the wake of the 2000 election, Rep. Ehlers introduced the Voting Technology Standards Act to amended the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act with the intention of set up a process to ensure that proper technical standards would be developed to improve voting technology and that a reliable system would be set up to test equipment against those standards. Many of the provisions of Ehlers' bill were incorporated into the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). In introducing his bill in 2001, Ehlers noted that "we need much more robust standards for security, because increasingly voting technologies rely on computers to tally and transmit elections results over computer networks, exposing our elections in entirely new ways to computer hackers - hackers who may have either mischievous or criminal intent."

In 2004, as Chair of the House Science Committee's Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards, Ehlers held a hearing entitled "Testing and Certification for Voting Equipment: How Can the Process Be Improved?". In his opening statements at the hearing Ehlers noted that, in spite of testing administered by Independent Testing Authorities, in each election there are incidents of voting machines that "fail to perform properly causing confusion in the polling places and concerns over the potential loss of votes." He went on to say that "these incidents have raised concerns about the reliability of the testing process, the credibility of the standards against which the machines are tested, and the laboratories that carry out the tests."

In an interview published early in his congressional tenure by the American Physical Association Ehlers was asked what he would like people to know about him. He answered, "Well, I'm a nice guy." He added, "So sometimes I feel like a misfit in Congress. There are other nice people there, don't misunderstand me, but it's a pretty tough place. It's a little hard for someone from the world of physics to get used to."