votingcomputers

<originally a Webwereld column>

Last month the VVD and D66 political parties (the Dutch equivalent of the Conservatives and LibDems in the UK) again proposed that the Netherlands should re-adopt electronic voting. Earlier this year the Dutch Association of Mayors also called for their reintroduction (don't you just love it when non-elected officials comment on and interfere with the electoral process :-). While the use of voting computers in the Netherlands has been banned for over four years, even for water board elections, there remains a fundamental misunderstanding of the basic problem with electronic voting.

While the many clumsy security problems (video) or the absence of the source code of the software (in the case of Nedap and SDU voting computers), are excellent talking points for the media and political agenda, these issues are not the core of the problem. And although the voting computer dossier at the Ministry of Home Affairs is now labelled with a bright fluorescent sticker: 'radioactive, do not touch!", there is still a risk that local authorities or suppliers will continue to feel that voting by computer is best "if we can just iron out a few little bugs”.

The real objections are more fundamental and have little to do with security bugs or open source code. They are the fundamental principles underpinning our democracy, and are threatened by the use of voting computers. In the many discussions on mailing lists and web forums it seems that people have lost sight of these principles.

Municipal election night in the Netherlands and I was twittering back and forth about votingcomputers with another CTO while zipping along on a German ICE highspeed train. Felt very modern. Below a short conversation with someone who shares my love for Pieter Bruegel paintings.

rtolido: Voting day in the Netherlands. Back to red pencil thanks to the privacy mob. Computers are scary and unsafe blabla. [link2tweet]

rtolido: In India, even in the most rural areas without electricity, voting machines are already used for 6 years. 'Innovative' NL sticks to pencil. [link2tweet]

ArjenKamphuis: @rtolido In the Netherlands the proces of voting can be understood and monitored by *any* citizen #votingcomputers #ruleoflaw [link2tweet]

While the use of voting computers in the Netherlands has been banned for over half a year, even for water board elections, there remains a fundamental misunderstanding of the essence of the problem with voting machines.

While the many clumsy security problems (video) or the absence of the source code of the software (in the case of Nedap and SDU voting computers), are an excellent opportunity to develop the topic through the media and in the political agenda, these issues are not core of the problem. And although the voting computer dossier at the Ministry of Home Affairs is now labelled with a bright fluorescent sticker: 'radioactive, do not touch!", there is still a risk that local authorities or suppliers continue to feel that voting by computer is best "if we can just iron out a few little bugs”.

Diebold votingcomputers leak critical info, messing up the whole charade around the 2008 US Presidential election. What is the world coming to if one cannot trust the Overlords to keep a simple secret?