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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."
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This says a lot about technological advancements, when the richest and the biggest technological pioneer in the world cannot secure a simple client-to-server connection in order to tabulate simple votes.
We either need better technology or a new leadership. From the looks of it, I vote latter.
"..risk for election fraud.."
ha ha..lol...laughing my ass off.
election fraud...what would you call last presidential election...
You guys don't need internet based voting systems for your elections to be subject to fraud!
that troops overseas will vote for Kerry rather than W.
The projects home page states that it "will let eligible U.S. citizens vote from any Windows-based computer with Internet access" WHAT? Making it harder for linux users to vote?
The pentagon is pressing congress to pass a law stripping all dirty hippies and fags of their citizenship. The way they see it, they don't need to support linux (or Mac) because they are sure it will pass.
It's just a shame, though. This would have made it much easier for the Democrat operatives to block military absentee ballots than the way they did it in 2000.
Oh well, I guess they'll have to stick with the old-fashioned ways. Just so long as we keep those stupid jarheads, grunts, and squids from voting for Bush again.
This has NOTHING to do with security but more to do with resentment overseas of BUSH and his lies regarding Iraq. The administration knows for certain that the net result of votes cast overseas would be against Bush, so they come up with some bullshit excuse regarding security. It's clear to see especially when Paul Wolfowitz is involved.
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.
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"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."
That doesn't sound like the Bush administration I know. Whatever happened to: every vote from the armed services should count, even if it was sent after the election? Trying to block those votes was in their view "bureaucratic nitpicking" if I remember correctly.
This reminds me of a book reading I went to last year. It was the staff of The Onion reading various pieces from their collected works, followed by a Q&A.
During the Q&A, one participant asked, "Do you ever hear from the Bush administration about the articles you write making fun of them?" The response was "No, no, of couse not. They don't care us. They don't care about The Onion, they've got far more important things to ignore, like, you know, the popular vote, or the will of the people."
So it just seems... ironic, that anyone from the Bush administration would care about "the legitimacy of the votes that would be cast". It certainly wasn't their modus operandi in Florida.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
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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.
@de_machina