Thursday, August 02, 2007
Voting security
Today's Guardian reports on the Electoral Commission's scepticism about the security of electronic voting following pilots in Rushmoor, Sheffield, Shrewsbury and Atcham, South Buckinghamshire and Swindon this May.
They have recommended that the government should halt pilots of telephone and internet voting until they are more secure:
Broadly, the trials were a success, it says, but there were problems including accessibility, public understanding of the process and technical problems, especially in Swindon, where many voters could not be connected properly.
They have recommended that the government should halt pilots of telephone and internet voting until they are more secure:
Broadly, the trials were a success, it says, but there were problems including accessibility, public understanding of the process and technical problems, especially in Swindon, where many voters could not be connected properly.
The commission says that no further e-voting should be commissioned until the government introduces "a comprehensive electoral modernisation strategy, outlining how transparency, public trust and cost effectiveness can be achieved".
Personally, I am in favour of widening accessibility for voters but not at the cost of the secrecy or security of the ballot. The most fundamental reform that needs to be made is proportional voting so that the outcome reflects the way people vote and there is at least a chance that voters might believe that they can change things.
