What's The Future Of Voting In The U.S.?
Like a convention for the "smartest kids in the room," election officials, security experts, technology vendors and advocates discussed technologies for voting and voter registration. Upshot? Convenience is important, security is non-negotiable and—for voting—the Internet is not your friend.
February 26, 2013 (originally published on Storify)
The National Institute of Standards in Technology (much better known as NIST) hosted a Future of Voting Symposium. Diversity of thought (read: controversy), whip-sharp challenge and humor were in the house (as always when election folks get together).
#FOV13 Wagner was on my PhD committee... I can tell you "let me push you on that.." means very. hard. question.
— Joseph Lorenzo Hall (@JoeBeOne) February 26, 2013
Open to Q&A now... Appreciate people's passions but while they're entitled to her own opinions, shes not entitled to her own facts. #FOV13
— OSET Institute (@OSET) February 26, 2013
A discussion about online services for voters highlighted stark differences in what's available from place to place in the U.S.
The state providing a link to every Co is a nice dream, but loads of counties in the south and midwest don't have sites at all. #fov13
— Dana Chisnell (@danachis) February 26, 2013
The comments about online voter services reminded us: even the best county web site won't do its voters much good unless they have reliable access to the Internet. The need for universal Internet access starts long before kids are eligible to vote, and affects every area of life.
Op-Ed: Equal Internet Access Is a K-12 Must-Have | Media Democracy Fund
MDF Director Helen Brunner has written an op-ed about the necessity of Internet access for education. The piece was originally published ...
It was fascinating to see voting machine and services vendor Hart InterCivic pique the group's interest. During the 2012 presidential campaign, investors in Hart InterCivic appeared uncomfortably close to candidate Mitt Romney (their equipment was deployed in pivotal jurisdictions including areas of Ohio). At the time, we heard directly from credible, progressive election protection advocates that this confluence was extremely unlikely to affect the election, and that Ohio's secretary of state was responsive, transparent and effective in addressing concerns. Today, election integrity experts greeted Hart's presentation with a mixture of hope and skepticism.
Hart calls for open ended vulnerability testing of voting systems?! #great! #butnotholdingmybreath #evoting #FOV13
— Susan Greenhalgh (@SEGreenhalgh) February 26, 2013
OK, so Hart/Intercivic is the 1st vendor I've ever heard who has my tail in a slow wag; maybe someone gets it on the commercial side #FOV13
— OSET Institute (@OSET) February 26, 2013
The Everyone Counts (E1C) election system didn't fare so well, and we did some background reading to find out why.
E1C just said its system doesn't use THE Internet. Just the other interwebs. #igiveup #thruthelookingglass #Downtherabbithole #FOV13
— Susan Greenhalgh (@SEGreenhalgh) February 26, 2013
Internet Voting - Not as Easy as You Think | Verified Voting
Recently the Huffington Post published an article about Hawaii's recent Internet and phone-based elections (" America's Newest State Hold...
Which reminded us of the students who hacked (legally, invited to try) into a Washington, D.C. pilot test of Internet voting. It didn't take long, and all they needed was pizza and a PC. This video is as scary as it is entertaining: the students set up their University of Michigan fight song to play when voters finished marking their ballots in a kiosk. Although election officials had been watching for digital intrusions, they didn't discover they'd been hacked until voters commented on the music.
Prof. J. Alex Halderman Tells Us Why Internet-Based Voting Is a Bad Idea (Video)
On March 2, 2012, Timothy wrote about University of Michigan Professor J. Alex Halderman and his contention that there is no way to have ...
—written by Keneta Anderson for Quixote Foundation