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Evoting in India, Maryland

Posted by michael on from the vote-as-often-as-you-want-we'll-make-more dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "EVMs are back in the news again. The BBC is reporting on the use of over a million Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in India for Parliamentary elections in April. With a billion people and an electorate of 668 million, it is by far the largest democratic election exercise in the world. A picture of an EVM is provided." And Kierthos writes "An article on Yahoo! News mentions that Maryland's voting terminals will be wrapped in tamper proof tape, which 'just protects that malicious code physically', according to computer scientist Avi Rubin. Also mentioned are California's ongoing system of e-voting, as well as a point on whether Diebold should be banned in California after using uncertified software in last October's election."

10 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. hmm by ghettoboy22 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If the "tamper proof" tape is what I think it is, that would only show if someone broke the seal. If this happens, does that mean all votes on that machine are thrown out as unreliable? That sure creates the possibility of someone, not liking how pre-election polls are showing their favored candidate, intentionally breaking the seal to throw a wrench as it were into the election. I must be missing something there.....

    As far as the overall debate on e-voting, I like how they do it here in Alaska. It's the old "fill in the bubble" tests like you used to take in school. You fill in the bubble on the ballot, which the ballot itself is very well laid out, then when you're done you feed the ballot into an electronic counter which keeps a tally there on the spot. When the polls close, an election worker connects the machine to a phone line, the machine then dials out and reports the results for that precinct. Results are all in w/in ~2-3 hours of the polls closing, and there is defiantly a paper trail that can be followed, if need be.

    1. Re:hmm by Monkelectric · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually they did things LIKE that in florida -- in counties with electronic voting machines. In black neigborhoods (democratic) voting machines were configured to accept an invalid ballot and throw it away without telling the voter. In republican districts, the machines notified the voter and allowed them to correct their mistakes.

      --

      Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley

  2. Not even close to how it is in Brazil... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Everybody talks about electronic vote - just look at Brazil. I'm 30 years old, have been voting for 12, and have never voted on paper. They've been doing this for a long long time there, and did so in the last presidential election 2 years ago.

    This is how we vote in Brazil (google translate from portuguese):

    http://www.tre-mg.gov.br/eleicoes/simulacao_de_vot acao_na_urna_ele.htm

  3. Decertified in Wisconsin by bmasel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Somehow, none of the articles ever mention that the Wisconsin State Elections Board decertified unverifiable touchscreen systems after I convinced them a year ago. Too far ahead of the curve, I guess.

    The Executive Director's report

    --
    Ben Masel: 51,282 votes for US Senate in the Wisconsin Democratic Primary
  4. Voting in India by andy1307 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Each party has a symbol e.g. Elephant, Lotus, wheel etc. If you want to vote for the ruling BJP, you press the button next to the Lotus. That's how they have electronic voting even with the illiteracy problem.

  5. Technical specifications for Indian EVM by shamir_k · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The specs for the Indian EVM. This is definitely going to be the most widely deployed and used e-voting machine in the history of mankind. Seems pretty secure, except for the lack of a paper trail. But with 600 million eligible voters, I guess the lack of a paper trail means a lot of forests have been saved. Besides most attacks against the election system tend to be pretty unsophisticated , ie, boot-capturing and voter initimidation.

    Looks like this machine will definitely go a long way in ensuring the fairness of Indian elections. Maybe I'll even vote next time.

    --
    more about me
  6. This doesn't solve the real problem: by phoenix321 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Gerrymandering? (More on this via google)

  7. Voting machines in Maryland by jfengel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was in a Maryland high school the other day, and there was a pile of black containers labeled "Diebold" addressed to the voting board, sitting unattended in the cafeteria.

    Each case was held closed by a wire lockout, available only to those elite groups who receive electrical supply catalogs.

    I of course chose not to mess with them. Any come-from-behind victory I make on Tuesday will be purely coincidental.

  8. Re:Why is the vote of the illerterate that importa by rsidd · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Face it, if the illerterate masses are not read up on the issues they are voting on. How can they even know what they are voting on?

    It's a parliamentary system. Voters don't vote for the George W. Bush equivalent. They vote for their local Member of Parliament, who could be a member of a political party (usually is), or an independent. They usually do that vote based on how that MP's been performing (he/she's supposed to take care of that constituency) and they know that very well. And at the end of the day, the party with a majority support in the lower house of parliament gets to govern. It works.

  9. Landmark proposal by MHleads · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Election Commission of India is proposing Vote for nobody in this election.

    Any idea how many democracies in the world give this option to the voters?