Issues
Losing Democracy in Cyberspace
This op-ed appeared at Northjersey.com on April 3, 2011. Penny M. Venetis is a professor at Rutgers School of Law. She specializes in constitutional law, election law and human rights law. Voting computers, like heads of state, must be held accountable to the people they serve. It has been nothing short of astonishing that,... »
New York Times: The Asymmetrical Online War
This editorial appeared in the New York Times on April 3, 2011. In 1975, John Brunner wrote a science fiction novel, “The Shockwave Rider,” about a lone programmer who creates a computer worm that exposes a repressive regime’s secrets and ultimately undermines a tyrannical government. Life invariably seems to find a way to imitate... »
Disappointing Reversal on Transparency and Security for Washington Elections
A bill aimed at reducing restriction to voting for military and other overseas voters passed the Washington State Senate by a 47-1 vote on Friday. Senate Bill 5171 contains many provisions that will certainly make voting easier for Washington citizens living overseas including moving the primary election date two weeks earlier and meeting requirements... »
Give Us The Ballot
The following passage is excerpted from a speech that Dr. King delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom May 17, 1957 marking the third anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and eight years before the enactment of the Voting Rights Act. Three years ago the Supreme... »
Paper Ballots – New York Courts Don’t Get It
New York State’s highest Court has upheld lower Court decisions to stop any further counting of ballots and declare a winner in the 7th Senate District race. The decision is unfortunate on many levels, not the least of which is that it sets legal precedent in the State for how we verify election results... »
In D.C.’s Web Voting Test, the Hackers Were the Good Guys
Last month, the District conducted an Internet voting experiment that resulted in a team from the University of Michigan infiltrating election computers so completely that they were able to modify every ballot cast and all election outcomes without ever leaving their offices. They also retrieved the username and password for every eligible overseas voter... »
E-voting: How secure is it?
More than half of all states in the U.S. will allow some kind of internet voting this year. But security experts say it’s a mistake and puts the nation at risk. Posted at CSO.com. Read the entire article here. Election fraud and vote tampering is as old as government. Before the American Revolution, most... »
Washington Post: Flaws in D.C.’s online voting system should serve as a warning to all states
The District’s experiment with online voting got national headlines when a team of computer scientists infiltrated the system. Votes cast for registered candidates were switched to votes for evil science-fiction robots; the hackers left, as their calling card, the University of Michigan fight song. D.C. officials shouldn’t be embarrassed, because their willingness to have... »
Hacking the D.C. Internet Voting Pilot
This article was posted at Ed Felten’s “Freedom to Tinker” blog and is re-posted with permission. The District of Columbia is conducting a pilot project to allow overseas and military voters to download and return absentee ballots over the Internet. Before opening the system to real voters, D.C. has been holding a test period... »
Time Magazine: Will Online Voting Turn Into an Election Day Debacle?
A little more than 24 hours after online ballots started pouring into the Washington, D.C., Board of Elections and Ethics in late September, it became apparent that something was amiss. Washington’s newly elected U.S. Representative went by the name of Colossus. A villainous computer from science-fiction lore captured the city-council chairmanship. And 15 seconds... »
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