E-Voting Report Finds Problems with Modern Elections

JonRob writes "The Open Rights Group has released a report on challenges faced by voting technology. Using the May 2007 Scottish/English elections as a testbed, researchers have collated hundreds of observations into a verdict on voting in the digital age. 'The report provides a comprehensive look at elections that used e-counting or e-voting technologies. As a result of the report's findings ORG cannot express confidence in the results for the areas we observed. This is not a declaration we take lightly but, despite having had accredited observers on location, having interviewed local authorities and having filed Freedom of Information requests, ORG is still not able to verify if votes were counted accurately and as voters intended.' The report is available online in pdf format for download."

Comments

whats wrong with paper tickets anyway?

[timmarhy]

give me one problem with paper ballots? seriously you nerds, this is a solution in search of a problem.

Re:whats wrong with paper tickets anyway?

[Amoeba]

For something that is supposed to be a cornerstone of our country, you'd think that the money, time, and other issues you list would be minor problems when compared to the overall purpose and goal of voting and the importance of integrity of accurate count and auditing. As an aside, why is election day *not* a national holiday? A serious WTF?

Of all the issues you list (and I'm sure others could come up with additional problems) not a single one of them is an issue around the ability to tally the numbers with accuracy.

Re:whats wrong with paper tickets anyway?

[Original Replica]

accuracy (not to mention time) for e voting is a huge win. Chad is merely the most famous example, but any paper system is fundamentally inaccurate above a certain size election. Sometimes people forget this, but Florida was an excellent example that, with paper, there is really no meaningful way to define the "true" result.

Wait a second. They can't even get a machine to punch a clear hole in a piece of paper and you want them to impliment a more complex system? Hanging chads aren't "stupid voters" they are faulty machines. A paper system is highly accurate way to arrive at a true result. You count them all. sure it might take a while, but it will take less than the four years it takes to wait for your next chance to get it right. The Florida election was an excellent example that there are alot of people will to "misplace" votes and that will only be easier when there is no physical human-eye-readable trail.

Re:whats wrong with paper tickets anyway?

[Smidge204]

Chads

Use a pencil or stamp, not physical holes. No chads!

Long history of people cheating them (While the current system sucks, a combo of electtronic + paper if properly done, can double our chances of catching fraud)

Keyword IF. Given that electronic systems have been demonstrated to be laughably easy to tamper with, may as well just use all paper and be done with it. You can also serialize the paper ballots using UV reactive ink, barcodes or RFID tags to be sure none are missing when they're counted. Anything that is reasonably impossible for someone to read would work, so they can't associate a particular person with a particular ballot. (Before you ask, you don't have to hand out the ballots in consecutive order, either.)

Takes too long to count.

Paper ballots can still be machine counted. Use those "bingo card" markers (but in black) and you won't have any problems with half-filled circles or fills that aren't dark enough.

Takes up a lot of space.

I hear the latest electronic systems hold away into your shirt pocket when you're done with them. They're also indestructible and can't possibly be damaged if handled roughly or exposed to less than perfect storage conditions for any length of time.

Costs a lot more money.

Those electronic kiosks are also free for life, never need maintenance or replacement, specially trained handlers and tighter security.

If someone is removed from the ballot, we have to reprint, which may not happen in time

OR you can post flyers and signs at the voting places, and have the attendant (who checks if you're registered to vote and would presumably hand you the ballots) strike off the name with a sharpie.

Delivery must be assured with enough to all, which means a lot of waste

District FOO has QUXX registered voters. Send them 1.10*QUXX ballots. Have someone sign off that they received the alloted amount. And, as we all know from previous elections, there are ALWAYS enough machines to adequately serve everyone who shows up.

Hell, done properly with barcodes, you could even print ballots ON DEMAND. Each district gets to print some limited number of "emergency ballots" should they run out.

Blind people have issues

The electronic machines have special LCD screens that can telepathically project the choices into a voter's brain, too. Those touchscreens? High-res active tactile feedback so the blind guy knows exactly which virtual button he's putting his finger on.

People that don't read english have issues

How'd they manage to register in the first place? I mean, it's not like you can have one set of printed instructions posted somewhere, instead of reprinting them on each and every ballot, right? (I would hope we wouldn't need to translate the candidate's names, too... "George W. Arbusto" would probably be MORE confusing.)

Ballot design for large number of possible candidates - people seriously want to be the guy on the top of the list, it gives a small, but real boost to their numbers

If the ballots are serialized (see above) and/or machine readable data is supplied (Datamatrix 2D barcode, RFID chip) then the names on the printed ballot can be randomized. Need more space? We could even use MULTIPLE A4 sized cards. If they're RFID'd and/or barcoded then we can make sure we have a full set from each voter. I doubt we'll ever get that many candidates on one ticket, though.

Oh wait, you just wanted ONE issue. Hm. Hard too choose just one.

Yeah, especially when they're all closer to excuses than actual issues.
=Smidge=

Why I don't have a PDA

[EmbeddedJanitor]

For many purposes it is very hard to beat dead trees and pencils. Just because something can be computerised does not mean it should be.

The major reason that the unwashed masses don't really care about paper vs electronic ballots is that they really don't care about politics and voting. If this was to do with something important to most people (eg. What is on TV tonight) then you'd get people interested.

Electronic Voting Is a Bad Idea

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Well, it's more than a bad idea. E-Voting is probably the biggest threat to democracy since the second world war. I'm not exaggerating here. It's the apathy within we should be afraid of.

But I digress. Let's roll out an analogy here.

Let's say the government contracted out the counting out of paper ballots to private companies. Let's say again that these companies took your paper ballots into a huge warehouse with blacked out windows and wouldn't tell or show anyone how they were counting the ballots. They simply emerged hours or days later and announced the result. Would you be satisfied with this? Would you accept the result?

Let's soften the blow. Supposed the company allowed government inspector into the warehouse to supervise the counting. Would that make you feel more confident in the result?

Now, what is the difference between the warehouse, and the current systems of E-Voting. What is the difference between the warehouse and [b]any[/b] system of E-Voting, present or future? Why accept a computerized count if you wouldn't accept the warehouse. (Of course many people would accept the warehouse, but I digress...)

You know what the depressing thing is. Most people want E-Voting. Not because they think it's cheaper. Not because they think it's more reliable. It's because they think it's cool.

Is it really so hard?

[laron]

- Vote with a computer interface
- the computer stores your vote
- you get a receipt how you voted
- you check and fold the receipt and drop it into a sealed box.

After the election ends, the computer spits out the results.

In randomly selected polling places, the paper receipts get counted manually. If there are major differences, more polling stations will be selected for a manual count.

Add "open source" and you've got it

[TheAxeMaster]

Seriously, that's all they need to do. Print a small paper receipt and drop that into a box and the county clerks could even count them all manually, but at their liesure. We'd have an electronic tabulation immediately, no staying up till midnight waiting for results, people working late, etc. Open source the code for peer review and its a solidly secure, reliable system. Who exactly isn't getting this? Oh...the people in charge who are techno idiots. Right...