Pentagon Cancels Internet Voting System

Ben B writes "The Pentagon won't use an Internet voting system for overseas U.S. citizens this fall because of concerns about its security, an official said Thursday. The official, who requested anonymity, said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz made the decision to scrap the system because Pentagon officials were not certain they could 'assure the legitimacy of votes that would be cast.' Computer security experts who last month reviewed the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, or SERVE, had urged the Pentagon to scrap the system, saying it was too vulnerable."

Comments

Re:YAAAAAAAYYYY

[rock_climbing_guy]

Unless of course, the Democrats are afraid you'll elect the candidate and have your vote thrown out because the military mail didn't postmark it the same way the civil mail does.

Gee, Thanks. Not.

[Detritus]

Instead of a modern electronic system, overseas voters are going to be stuck with the haphazard and flawed, manual system based upon absentee ballots. That's like saying the motor-car is just too dangerous, here's a nice horse instead.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Re:Pentagon??!

[demachina]

There are probably several potential answers, take your pick based on your political leanings and naivete:

- A lot of absentee military ballots were at the center of the controversy in Florida in 2000 so someone in the DOD probably decided we needed to make sure the military could reliably vote.

- The U.S. military has its troops scattered farther afield than they've probably been since World War II at least. The administration probably wants to make sure all the troops vote, perhaps assuming they will go Republican though I wouldn't count on that with the apparently dismal morale in Iraq and Afghanistan.

- My personal opinion is the Republican's who control the DOD looked ahead at 2004 and anticipated another very close Presidential election. Their heads have become very bent for several reasons and they decided they might want a little insurance to insure their relection, and a pool of a 100,000 electronic votes fit the bill perfectly. The reasons the Repiblican heads are bent:

A. The shock of 9/11
B. They are drunk on the power they've gained in controlling the White House and both houses in Congress for the first time in nearly forever and they don't want to give it up. A lot of rich establishment types getting rich thanks to their largesse also want them to stay in power.
C. They've convinced themselves they are the only ones capable of running America and effectively the world. To put it another way they've convinced themselves the Democrats are incompetent and dangerous and must be kept out of power by any means necessary. Democrats are pretty incompetent but I would lean towards Democrats as slightly less dengerous at the moment at least.
D. Generals started dropping truly scary lines suggesting its God's will Bush is President in these trying times. You KNOW you have to be very afraid of people who claim divine right to power.

Its truly wonderful if this project is really scrapped but you have to be very afraid that, like Total Information Awareness, they are just scrapping it because it became so visible and it will be replaced with something just as dangerous but below the radar.

As a footnote, today on CNN I heard something verified I've suspected since I heard Kerry was a Yale grad. It appears Kerry, like George Bush the first and George Bush the second, is a member of Skull and Bones. The somewhat secretive fraternity at Yale who recruits a small number of Yale undergrads each year and grooms them for positions of power and wealth in the establishment. It is, I believe, the first time in history we will have two member of Skull and Bones running against each other for President. The establishment has assured themselves they will retain their strangle hold on power and wealth, no matter what happens. I'm not sure Skull and Bones rates its sometimes scary reputation as a secret society but it is most definitely very effective at using the power and wealth of its older members to elevate its younger members to lofty heights they don't deserve due to merit. It is a major reason the Bush family has acheived something resembling an aristocratic dynasty. It sure isn't because they are smart.