chrishansenhome

I have long advocated that paper and pencil voting be mandated in all elections, everywhere, because of the difficulties with most systems of electronic and Internet voting. As I am not influential, no one listens to me. However, in a recent security test, invited by the election board of Washington, DC, a seemingly secure system became so riddled with security holes that the "foul-mouthed, drunken Futurama robot Bender" was "elected" to the local school board in the test.

Make no mistake, voting over the Internet will come, someday. But until security is taken more seriously by those who are writing the software and constructing the machinery, such votes will be highly suspect, and susceptible to those who would like to control the outcome.

In this US Presidential election year, voting and voting mechanisms will come under great scrutiny. Electronic voting is all the rage; however, computer professionals (of which I am one) often mistrust the safety, security, and accuracy of the electronic voting process. This article in the New York Times magazine is must-reading for people who are going to be voting this year.

I just posted my primary ballot for California this morning (I voted for Hilary) and it is to be counted by optical scanning. No touch screens for me.

One of the advantages to being overseas permanently is that you get the thrill of voting long before November. I got my California absentee ballot last Saturday and have voted for: Kerry/Edwards, Barbara Boxer, and Nancy Pelosi (Overseas US voters get to vote from the last place they lived in the United States). I sent it in, but hope that the Royal Mail gets it right this time. California ballot envelopes have the voter's address on the back along with a lot of other bumpf, and the last two elections Royal Mail delivered the ballot right back to me, even though the stamps were on the other side.

This time I wrote a big "FROM:" on the back, and a big "TO:" on the front.

However, I expect that, yet again, Royal Mail will drop it back in my mailbox this week, giving me a lot of time to put it the envelope in another envelope without all the bumpf on it and remail it, losing all the postage I put on it in the beginning (for even though they can't deliver the post to the address on the same side as the stamps, they helpfully cancel the stamps before they turn the envelope over to drop it in my mailbox).