[Dean's World] Dave Price: Eternal Vigilance

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Dave Price:
Eternal Vigilance
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1162171982.shtml


   I would be remiss if I didn't mention [1]this, as it's important and
   something I've written about [2]before.

     The federal government is investigating the takeover last year of a
     leading American manufacturer of electronic voting systems by a
     small software company that has been linked to the leftist
     Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez.

   As a programmer, let me say this again: electronic voting, and
   especially electronic tabulation of votes, is a very bad idea. The
   whole purpose of information systems is to enable the easy
   manipulation of information. Reducing verifiability to easily
   manipulable bits and bytes is self-evidently absurd. At a minimum,
   there needs to be paper verification.
   I think there's even a fair argument for modifying the [3]secret
   ballot. For instance, a random 30-digit number could be assigned every
   ballot, and given to the voter on a tear-off slip; only you would have
   your number, and the results could be published on a local government
   website so that you could look up the votes for your number in the
   event you were concerned your ballot had been altered. No one else
   will know how you voted, since that number is the only thing tying you
   to a ballot. Living in Illinois, I can say with some confidence the
   various forms of [4]vote fraud probably justify it.

References

   1. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/washington/29ballot.html?ei=5065&en=e0c8ab46eb7f870b&ex=1162789200&adxnnl=1&partner=MYWAY&adxnnlx=1162123697-fGdgFeTtCKTTCxcnenqAsQ
   2. http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1143959964.shtml
   3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_ballot
   4. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/B400FAC3338F7D0C86257215002217D1?OpenDocument