Despite the concerns of computer technologists, legislatures in three states are considering military voting via internet, fax, and email. In 2004 the Department of Defense expressed concerns with the security of voting via internet or email, and that all three methods, internet, email, or fax put in question the secret ballot.
Risking voting integrity and the secret ballot for our troops, disenfranchises us all.
Computer Technologists’ Statement On Internet Voting
The internet has the potential to transform democracy in many ways, but permitting it to be used for public elections without assurance that the results are verifiably accurate is an extraordinary and unnecessary risk to democracy.
Excellent testimony in WA covering DoD etc: <Ellen Theisen> <John Gideon>
Even though reports from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), and dozens of computer security experts strongly and unanimously warn of insurmountable threats to the privacy and security of ballots cast over the Internet, the Washington State legislature is proposing â and fast-tracking a bill to allow Internet voting for its military and overseas voters (S.B.5522 and its identical companion H.B.1624).
Even though the U.S. Department of Defense cancelled its Internet voting project (SERVE) in 2004 citing security concerns, and even though the DoD has still been unable to establish the secure and private Internet voting demonstration project that Congress mandated in 2002, the Washington State legislature is seriously considering a bill that would authorize the Washington Secretary of State to create an Internet voting scheme and declare it secure and private – without any oversight or review by the legislature or the people.
BradBlog: Military and Overseas Voters as Internet Voting Guinea Pigs
Update: Ignoring Science In WA, OpEdNews Article By Ellen Theisen <read>
Clearly our SoS office has done no research into the matter. In fact, Mr. Handy said as much. They don’t want to waste time researching it if the legislature doesn’t authorize using it. So they are pushing it, telling the legislature it can be made secure and private, without any evidence or research to back them up, and even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Some in the legislature appear to be trusting their word, ignorant of the fact that the SoS has done no research. And many of them are not trusting us who have done research.
