Online Voting In 2004 To Require Windows

letxa2000 writes "According to this article at CBS, a trial Internet voting system will be made available to 100,000 voters in 2004--particularly military and overseas U.S. citizens. As an American living overseas I think this is a step in the right direction. But the article also says 'Voters using SERVE can register to vote and cast their ballots from any computer using Microsoft Windows with Internet access.' Why the Windows requirement? Is that really going to make online voting secure?"

Comments

Why Windows? And why not Palladium?

[taped2thedesk]

From the SERVE web site at http://www.serveusa.gov/public/aca.aspx:

Do I need a special computer or software to use the SERVE system?
No. If your computer, or the public computer you are using, meets the minimum computer requirements, you will be able to use the UOCAVA Voting System (UVS). The minimum computer requirements are:

- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT or XP
- Internet Browser: either Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and above or Netscape Navigator 6.x and above

What browsers are compatible with SERVE?
For security reasons, SERVE is only compatible with browsers with SSL 3.0 capabilities, which are listed below:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and above
- Netscape Navigator 6.x and above

They make mention of the fact that Windows must be used for voting, but they don't explain the requirement. As far as I know, Mac OS, *nix, and Mozilla all support SSL3.0, so why arn't they included?

This is somewhat unrelated, but still an interesting comment on their page:

Does SERVE use Microsoft's Palladium software architecture?
No, the Palladium software is not sufficiently ubiquitous at this time for use in SERVE.

*Phew*...