2009 Issues – Internet Voting
Bo Lipari, Verified Voting Researcher
As changes in technology affect all aspects of our lives, it is not surprising that the impact of technology should be examined in the context of voting. For years, technologists with the expertise to understand issues of security, the Internet and voting have warned about the challenges presented by Internet voting. Nonetheless,2009 saw growing interest in online ballot casting. In September of 2008, a statement by computer technologists warned:
“Election results must be verifiably accurate — that is, auditable with a permanent, voter-verified record that is independent of hardware or software. Several serious, potentially insurmountable, technical challenges must be met if elections conducted by transmitting votes over the internet are to be verifiable…
Internet voting should only be adopted after these technical challenges have been overcome, and after extensive and fully informed public discussion of the technical and non-technical issues has established that the people of the U.S. are comfortable embracing this radically new form of voting.“
Despite these warnings, Internet voting has made many inroads in 2009 and will be an issue of enormous importance in the year ahead for election integrity advocates.
The Needs of Military and Overseas Voters, and the MOVE Act
One of the biggest problems facing military and overseas voters is timely receipt of absentee ballots. Far too often it takes far too long for overseas voters to obtain ballots and other required election materials. These are real problems that can and must be solved, and 2009 saw efforts to improve ballot access for our men and women in uniform kick-started by the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, which passed in October as an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill.
The MOVE Act addresses many persistent problems facing overseas voters. It requires that states guarantee that absentee ballots are received at least 45 days prior to the election; bans rejection of ballots for overly burdensome requirements such as notarization; and allows military and overseas voters to obtain registration forms, ballots and other election materials electronically.
While the MOVE Act calls for electronic distribution of election materials, it does not authorize the electronic return of ballots either by email, or direct online voting. However, a provision of the bill authorizes one or more pilot programs to explore new technologies for military voters. As states experiment with electronic delivery of ballots, they are being encouraged to test Internet voting by vendors of online election software, who downplay the inherent risks.
The States
There has been both good and bad news from the states on this issue. On November 10, 2009 the Massachusetts legislature enacted a bill (H4310) which had last minute language intended to benefit military voters; but it took a good provision and unfortunately made it dangerous by allowing email voting – which many experts say is the most insecure method possible. The bill’s intention was to improve the voting process for overseas voters by allowing them to obtain a ballot online. Instead the bill opened up the Pandora’s box of electronic ballot casting. National and state organizations mobilized quickly and urged Governor Patrick to veto H4310 and ask for amendments, but the bill also dealt with a range of crucial veterans benefits, and the Governor signed the bill on Veterans Day (take action link here).
On the other hand, Minnesota, Ohio and Alabama are taking advantage of a new service offered by the Overseas Voting Foundation which provides them the ability to comply with MOVE Act requirements such as making registration and ballot requests online, but which does not allow any type of electronic ballot return. This approach is promising, as it provides states with a means to quickly and fully comply with the MOVE Act (which must be implemented by the November 2010 election), without experimenting with pilot solutions which may inappropriately throw online ballot return into the mix.
Dangers Ahead
On December 10, 2010 the Federal Communications Commission issued a request for public comments “…on how broadband can help to bring democratic processes—including elections, public hearings and town hall meetings—into the digital age…” Verified Voting, in submitted comments, answered the question – “With existing technology, is it possible to enable and ensure safe and secure voting online today?”, simply – “In a word, no.” As a recent report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) indicates, “…The security challenges associated with e-mail return of voted ballots are difficult to overcome using technology widely deployed today.” And “…Technology that is widely deployed today is not able to mitigate many of the threats to casting ballots via the web.”
The recent interest in online voting is incongruous in light of the ongoing discussions about electronic voting system security, in part because criteria and standards for the use of such systems have yet to be established. And for many years now, reassurance about the security of polling place e-voting systems has asserted that the systems are secure “because they are never connected to the Internet.” But if we acknowledge that voting systems connected to the Internet are inherently insecure, how is it that we can even consider online voting systems which have the Internet at their core?
