[LINK] Fwd: vip-l: The Age - article: 'Victoria puts blind faith in electronic voting'
Jan Whitaker
jwhit at melbpc.org.au
Tue Nov 14 13:59:10 AEDT 2006
[no link provided, sorry] Note comment that expanding to the general
public is "not government policy". Anyone want to bet on when it will be?
>
>THE AGE
>
>Victoria puts blind faith in electronic voting
>By LIA TIMSON
>
>November 14, 2006
>
>Victoria is about to enter the age of electronic voting at a time
>when controversy rages in the United States over whether such
>machines make democracy itself "hackable".
>
>Vision-impaired Victorians begin voting this week on new e-voting
>terminals designed for privacy and security, ahead of the state
>election on November 25.
>
>The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) claims its machines cannot be hacked.
>
>But there were widespread reports of e-voting irregularities in the
>US after last week's mid-term elections. Voters across the nation
>described a phenomenon called "vote flipping", in which votes
>intended for one candidate were recorded for another.
>
>E-voting advocates blamed user error but others suggested touch
>screens used for e-voting may have been badly calibrated.
>
>The recent HBO documentary Hacking Democracy raised fears of
>undetectable e-voting fraud, but most reports from last week were of
>faulty machines.
>
>In Salt Lake City, Utah, and Indianapolis, Indiana, some machines
>did not boot up. In Florida some machines shut down. In New Jersey
>some voters claimed the machines highlighted a Democrat candidate by
>default. Denver and Pennsylvania also reported problems with their
>machines, resulting in long delays and voter queues.
>
>Tekla Perry, editor of IEEE Spectrum magazine, saw problems with
>e-voting even in the heart of Silicon Valley in California, where
>five out of the seven machines at her polling place failed to work.
>
>But the VEC says its e-voting trial, the forerunner to a bigger
>trial at the next federal election, has undergone exhaustive testing
>before the event.
>
>"The system is standalone, it's not like in the US where it is
>networked, so it can't be hacked," says Sue Lang, VEC communications
>manager. "The worst thing that can happen is that you'll have a loss
>of confidence in the election. That's (our) main concern."
>
>Privacy and security concerns were raised by political parties and
>election officials when the legislation allowing the e-voting trial
>was passed. But all these concerns have been addressed, Ms Lang
>says. "(We) have had an independent software auditor confirm it does
>what it's meant to do," she says. "If this works successfully the
>obvious question will be if it's applicable for wider application."
>
>Special Minister of State Gary Nairn announced in August a federal
>trial of e-voting for the vision-impaired at the next federal
>election. There will also be an online ballot for Australian Defence
>Force personnel stationed overseas using the ADF's intranet.
>
>If successful, these trials will be extended in 2010, possibly to
>include Australians living in Antarctica. But a spokeswoman for Mr
>Nairn says the federal trials are not a precursor to general
>nationwide e-voting, because "it is not government policy".
>
>Since 2001, able and disabled voters have had their votes tabulated
>electronically in the ACT. In 2004, 28,169 electronic votes were
>recorded at 12 pre-poll and polling day centres, representing 13.4
>per cent of the ballot. The system used barcodes, and terminals were
>networked using eVACS software, a secure LAN and remote servers.
>
>A review of those elections by the ACT Electoral Commission gave the
>system the thumbs up. "While there were some concerns publicly
>raised about the need for a paper audit trail of electronic votes,
>the Commission is satisfied that the use of open source software,
>the independent audit of the software code, and the security built
>into the system, including its physical security, ensured that the
>system was transparent and reliable," the report said.
>
>The VEC's e-voting system was set up in response to submissions for
>electoral reform by Vision Australia and Blind Citizens Australia.
>Private electronic terminals allow voters to cast their preferences
>unassisted using read-aloud software, headphones and a modified
>numerical keypad. A large print touch screen for people with partial
>vision, and human help, are also at hand.
>
>The Victorian system, designed by Hewlett-Packard and Spain's Scytl
>Secure Electronic Voting, is different to the US machines as it does
>not tabulate voting preferences electronically. It records votes and
>later prints out the corresponding ballot papers, leaving an
>auditable paper trail.
>
>Voters have their names marked off the roll in the traditional way
>and receive a smart-card containing their electorate details. They
>insert the card into a card-reader attached to the voting terminal
>that sits behind a number-sealed plastic box and follow the
>instructions. Once a vote is cast, the card is locked and cannot be used again.
>
>Disability groups convinced the Victorian Government of the need for
>the e-vote, arguing it provides the ballot secrecy afforded to able voters.
>
>Historically, blind and sight-impaired voters have needed a helper
>to record their preferences.
>
>Chris Gribbin, e-voting project manager at the VEC, says voting
>preferences will be recorded on a hard disk and a removable back-up
>USB key inside each terminal. When polling closes, the encrypted
>data will be burnt on to CD and transported to the central VEC
>office for printing. Regional centres will transmit the data via private ADSL.
>
>At the VEC the data will be decrypted by two officials using
>individual key cards and passwords. Votes will then be printed on to
>paper ballots and returned to their electorate centres to be counted by hand.
>
>Australia has lagged behind the rest of the world in adopting
>electronic ballots. A report produced by the Victorian and
>Australian Electoral Commissions in 2001 said the Australian
>preferential voting system does not readily lend itself to the use
>of the technology deployed in the US.
>
>It argued that proportional representation would complicate
>electronic elections requiring voters to rank all candidates
>according to preference.
>
>It also argued "there is no evidence to suggest that there is any
>political or community support for change".
>
>But Tony Clark, manager of strategic projects at Vision Australia,
>says vision-impaired voters have reported feeling empowered for the
>first time. If e-voting is good for vision-impaired people, he says,
>it's good for everybody.
>
>"It's got great potential," Mr Clark says. "We just need the
>political will. Political parties are used to counting pieces of
>paper. (They leave) a real trail that people can follow. They are
>also used to capturing people by giving them how-to-vote cards.
>
>"They can still do that (with electronic voting kiosks) but they
>haven't got their head around it yet," he says.
>
>The VEC's Mr Gribbin says different jurisdictions have had different
>motivations for introducing electronic elections.
>
>"For us is was the vision-impaired. In Brazil it was for the
>illiterate population, in other countries such as India it was (to
>eliminate) fraud, in the ACT it was to count (votes) faster," Mr Gribbin says.
>
>The 2002 Australian Electoral Commission report says: "Australia has
>always been a leader in electoral democracy. Australians need to be
>aware that other jurisdictions are now taking the lead on the e-voting issue."
>
>
>Link:
><http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/victoria-puts-blind-faith-in-electronic-voting/2006/11/13/1163266481851.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1>http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/victoria-puts-blind-faith-in-electronic-voting/2006/11/13/1163266481851.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
>
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Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
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'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed,
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