E-voting gets closer in 2012

Voters in many states will have an easier time casting their ballots in 2012, as elections officials are now allowing some people to vote via email or iPad devices. They're also using technology to help count ballots faster and keep track of ballot boxes.

These new voting technologies will save time and money and perhaps allow more people to take part in the elections process. But some experts worry that security flaws still haven't been fixed and that federal elections are still decades away from going fully online.

Despite the concerns, some states are embracing e-voting as a way to counter low voter turnout.

Oregon, for example, allowed disabled people to vote with iPads during a special election in November 2011 and will continue allowing that in 2012.

Oregon is also one of 11 states that currently or will soon let residents register to vote online as long as they have a valid state driver's license or ID card, according to Politico. All other states require voter registration in person or by mail.

West Virginia officials ran a pilot program in 2010 that allowed military and overseas voters to return their ballots online, said Jim Glance, spokesman for the West Virginia Secretary of State's Office. The program won't continue in 2012, however, because legislators failed to renew it.

In Long Beach, Calif., city officials are putting radio frequency identification (RFID) chips on ballot boxes to track their movements after polls close. The chips are used by big-box retailers to track inventory through their supply chain.

Other states are installing new high-speed scanners to help count paper ballots more quickly.

While some states and localities are taking baby steps to embrace new voting technology, it's not likely that online voting will come to the masses anytime soon, experts say.

Then we have Americans Elect 2012, where any registered voter can become an online delegate, determine the platform , and pick a third party ticket where the President and Vice-President must be from a different party or be an independent.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Military ballots at risk in New York's special election

New York is holding a special election on November 3, 2009, to fill a vacant U.S. House seat. It is very likely that a substantial number of overseas military will not be able to have their vote counted in this election. A spokesperson for the Overseas Vote Foundation predicts that the federal government will soon sue New York again over this issue.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has recommended mailing absentee ballots to military voters at least 45 days before they are due. The Military Postal Service Agency recommended at least 60 days.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., alarmed by studies that showed 41 percent of military and overseas voters in Upstate New York (a total of 8,226 voters) did not have their ballots counted in 2008, proposed a reform bill in May.

Schumer’s bipartisan bill mandates that states send ballots out to military and absentee voters at least 45 days before the election. The legislation has passed the Senate, and awaits approval in the House.

Conklin, of the New York Board of Elections, said the state had no choice but to follow its own election laws after former Rep. John McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, resigned to become President Obama’s secretary of the Army on Sept. 21.

Voters’ rights advocates say potentially thousands of military voters from Upstate New York could be disenfranchised in what early polls indicate will be a tight, three-way race to pick the region’s next member of Congress due to the delay in mailing ballots and the time it will take to return them.

Use the above link to read the entire article.

Michael H. Drucker
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E-Voting not Secure

This post is from Blogged by Brad Friedman on 3/27/2009.

U.S. EAC Finally Releases Complete Transcript of Stunning Cybersecurity Expert Testimony

"I follow the vote. And wherever the vote becomes an electron and touches a computer, that's an opportunity for a malicious actor potentially to...make bad things happen," CIA cybersecurity expert Steven Stigall explained, in stunning testimony, to a U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) field hearing held one month ago in Orlando.

Use the above link to read the entire post. There are many links on the post about recent E-voting problems.

Michael H. Drucker
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