The View from the Meadow
Observations of the Passing Scene
Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre
A Secure Online Voting System for America
The travesties of the 2000 election exposed the many faults in the archaic voting systems employed throughout the multitude of voting precincts in America. These disparate systems are rife with flaws that make them not only difficult for many voters use, but make the system wide open to voter fraud. What is needed is a modern system that is easy to use, highly accurate, extremely secure and based on technologies that are not only current but will be usable for decades to come.
Online voting is an excellent technological answer to this problem, but the system must be standardized, Web-based, secure beyond today’s technologies and not based on any proprietary hardware or software. It must be a universal voting system for the United States with no city, county or state using non-compatible technology.
Online voting systems will enable computer users to vote from their homes or offices, as well as official polling places. Any easy-to-use I/O device, such as a mouse or touchscreen, may be sufficient for input, but the software should be easy to use even for non-computer users and as simple as pushing a pin in a box. Perhaps easier, since so many people seem to have trouble with that system.
The largest threat of an online voting system is the danger of technological election fraud… the manipulation of the data. The answer to election fraud is simple and not dependent on the development of new security technologies. It can be accomplished by providing public access to an online database containing the results of every vote cast.
A database that is kept from the public invites corruption, but election results cannot be altered if the voters are able to validate their own votes online. Read-only access to the system will be based on a unique registration number assigned to each voter and printed on their voters handbook. Changes cannot be made after the initial vote.
Voters should be encouraged to look up their vote and make sure it is recorded correctly. If there is any discrepancy it should be reported immediately. Any changes to the vote will be immediately obvious and result in an instantaneous nationwide outcry from the public.
The voter should receive a printout of their voting record, whether they are voting at a precinct or using their home computer, and keep it for their records. Each voter’s electronic ballot should be instantly transmitted to several large processing centers at multiple locations for instant tabulation and comparison of the results to avoid fraud.
The database will further serve the public by providing access to up-to-the-minute voting results both in the media and online throughout the day. This could generate interest in the voting process and encourage last-minute voters to make the effort to participate in an election.
Access to the voting system must be available to the non-computing public. This could involve the expense of providing computer systems for each polling place, but a better and more economical solution is to utilize public libraries, school computer labs, senior citizen centers and other available local facilities.The standardization of this system is of extreme importance and no city, county or state should go ahead and adopt a new voting system until nation-wide agreement on the format is finalized. The long-term consequences of early investment in any sort of voting system that might prove incompatible with the national system will render it obsolete in the near future and prove to be a waste of tax payers’ money.
The choice of a new voting system is of particular importance as recent reports indicate some of the top voting machine companies, including Populex and Diebold, have Republican ties, especially with the Bush administration. Diebold is reportedly making large financial contributions to Bush and, at the same time, helping the administration to form its campaign strategies.
Diebold’s system is reportedly able to track election results as they come in and includes the technology to alter election results. Public access to such a database would nullify any attempts to steal an election.
For more information check the Web: http://www.democracynow.org
IRAQ
Postwar Casualties
Surpass War Toll
131 Americans have died in Iraq since Bush declared an end to combat operations on May 1st, 2003
114 Americans died in the war
245 Americans have given their lives to this questionable cause!
The Joke of the Day