Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Linux-Based E-Voting In Brazil

Posted by kdawson on from the watch-and-learn-grasshopper dept.

John Sokol writes "I just heard from a good friend and Linux kernel hacker in Brazil that they have just finished their municipal election with 128 million people using Linux to vote. They voted nationwide for something like 5,000 city mayors. Voting is mandatory in Brazil. The embedded computer they are using once ran VirtuOS (a variant of MS-DOS); it now has its own locally developed, Linux-based distro. These are much nicer, smaller, and cheaper than the systems being deployed here in the US. Here is a Java-required site with a simulated Brazilian voting system. It's very cool; they even show you a picture of the candidate you voted for."

3 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. Re:When will we have web based voting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, in Estonia, there has been web-based elections a year ago. The national ID card has PKI certificates in it and this cryptographically makes it safe. There's more information on the net, ie
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting_in_Estonia

  2. Re:Great! by agoliveira · · Score: 5, Informative

    Now where is the link to the source code and how can I verify that it is the code that was really running on the machines?

    As a matter of fact, contrary to what Wikipedia says, the source code *is* available. The Ministério PÃblico (something like the public prosecutor in US), the OAB - Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil, an organ that congregates all lawyers in the country and any of the political parties can have access not only to the source code but to the compilation, digital signing and installation process. They also can run simulations and test the system for security and fraud and request any ballot to be audited. The whole software and data is also available for 2 years after the election. During the election days, representatives of any party can stay at any polling station to be sure that the election is not being rigged in this point. Personally, I think our system is quite secure and would require a major conspiracy involving basically everyone.

    --
    Scientia est Potentia
  3. Re:Science Fiction! by nekokoneko · · Score: 5, Informative
    What the hell? Citation direly needed! I AM a Brazilian (you insensitive clod). And I can tell you the election is one of the few things I can say work pretty well here in Brazil. Just throwing a bunch of horror stories around seems to work pretty well on our non-informed moderators, though.

    Totally different from the rest of the world.

    Actually, it's pretty similar to the rest of the world. Voters are mostly uninformed on the issues and uninterested in getting informed.