There's an Internet Voting Trojan Horse in a law intended to help Military Voters.
Three states have already taken the bait: Alabama, Colorado, and Massachusetts. Additionally Franklin County, Washington officials wish to have full blown internet voting IF the state will lift the requirement for paper ballots. Experts say that internet voting is not safe and also would put our military vote at risk.
If internet voting takes root and spreads, the consequences are far worse than paperless electronic voting. Internet voting is about to get its nose in the tent. If that happens, it likely will be thanks to the Move Act, a law intended to help military voters.
The Move Act, or Military and Overseas Voters Empowerment Act (S. 1415) was added to the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 1390) the Federal MOVE Act has sent a message - internet voting is ok, lets start by experimenting with the military vote.The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) will oversee the program. FVAP sent a letter to all 50 states election offices with a 2010 legislative agenda that recommends states adopt internet voting pilot programs for military.
Alabama: State may be on fast track to pass military voting bill (military internet voting) The Alabama military voting bill, House Bill 30, hasbeen pre-filed by Rep. Jimmy Martin, D-Clanton, for the legislative session that begins in January. He sponsored the bill last year as wellThis week, we see that Colorado has passed legislation to allow internet voting pilots for military, and the pilots will be partially funded by "private" parties. Will these private parties be identified? Could any of these private parties have a conflict of interest?...
Colorado: Colorado ranks high in its effort to count military ballots 11/06/2009... In June, Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law House Bill 1205, an overseas election reform measure introduced by Rep. Marsha Looper, R- Calhan, and endorsed by Colorado Secretary of State Bernie Buescher....The legislation also approves a pilot program to allow overseas military personnel to vote via the Internet. The program, which is being studied, will be funded by grants and private contributions.Massachusetts Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth hopes to have their troops voting over the internet this December, 2008.
Massachusetts: Expanded bonus for combat vets gets an OK (push for internet voting this year)No additional state funding is needed to provide the bonuses this year, according to David Falcone, spokesman for Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth....Mr. Falcone said depending on how quickly the state can set up a secure Internet voting system, Massachusetts service members may be able to vote over the Internet as soon as the Dec. 8 primaries for the special U.S. Senate election.
Franklin County Washington: Online voting makes progress in Franklin County
Oct 9, 2009. Diana Garza Killian, Franklin County elections administrator, sits near a computer monitor showing a sample screen for an online voting pilot project they will use for the first time in November. Voters will mark ballots electronically, print them out and then submit them in the traditional manner. Officials say it’s a first step toward online voting."Lenhart hopes the project will show lawmakers that online voting is the wave of the future, and that they'll change the law that requires paper ballots."
Still want to try Internet Voting? Think *twice *about it:
Hackers cracked military systems and cut mains power
10th November 2009...Retired Admiral Mike McConnell, who oversaw organisations including the CIA and NSA, told the CBS News programme 60 Minutes that not only do attackers have the capability to bring down the US power grid but that the country is not prepared for such an attack....This time last year, an attacker was able to access US military computer systems that were directly involved in war operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. This access allowed the perpetrator to spy and potential control systems. They were, in the words of Lewis, "part of the American military command."
RELEASE OF RESEARCH REPORT ON "CHINESE CYBER WARFARE & ESPIONAGE"
Oct 22, 2009: The Commission has approved for public release a contracted report entitled: Capability of the People's Republic of China to Conduct Cyber Warfare and Computer Network Exploitation.The government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is a decade into a sweeping military modernization program that has transformed its ability to fight high tech wars.
Security expert: no way to secure Internet voting WBBM Newsradio 780 CHICAGO (WBBM) -- An Internet security expert says there's no way Internet voting can reliably replace paper ballots to ease the expense of election day.John Hopkins University computer science professor Avi Rubin spoke one day after Lake County, Ind., sat out a transit referendum because county commissioners didn't have a spare half million dollars to fund the election....The ultimate problem, he says, is one of authentication: there's just no guaranteed way to tell who is who at either end of the voting connection.Rubin says banking transactions are fine on the Internet because there's a back-office trail that can always be followed. But he says there's no secure way to ensure whether the person casting or counting a private ballot, is who they claim to be.6. VerifiedVoting.org : Computer Technologists' statement on internet voting
Finnish Internet voting election thrown out by court
In this election, which is referred to in the article as an "e-voting" election but was actually an Internet voting election, 2% of all ballots (232 ballots) were simply lost, unrecoverably, by the voting system. A lower court had accepted the loss of 2% of the ballots as an acceptable error, even though the lost ballots would almost certainly have affected who won and who lost municipal seats since they are frequently decided by 1 or 2 votes.
About us: The North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting is a grassroots non-partisan organization fighting for clean and verified elections. We study and research the issue of voting to ensure the dignity and integrity of the intention of each voting citizen. The NC Voter Verified Coalition has consistently fought for increasing access, participation and ensuring the voter franchise. Contact Joyce McCloy, Director, N.C. Coalition for Verifiable Voting - ph 336-794-1240
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