Text 24084, 81 rader
Skriven 2008-11-24 22:46:13 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
  Kommentar till text 24061 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Re: Majorities
======================
RB>WD> Actually ... most of our voting is done electronically...
 
RB> So _that's_ why there's such a problem getting a government in place...
RB> forget recounts, forget checks of voters - nothing possible.
 
Why need a recount? A "1" is a "1" and a "0" is a "0" ...
 
The votes itself are recorded on a credit-card sized card with magnetic strip.
 
You get one when presenting yourself to the polling-station. In the booth is a
PC with no peripherals except a screen, an integrated card-reader/writer and a
lightpen. There are no connection points for anything ... keyboard, mouse, USB
... nothing.
 
You put the card in the internal reader/writer and the voting-process begins.
 
With the lightpen you navigate from menu to menu pointing to the people you
would like to vote for. At the end of the session you get a screen with your
preferences and you are asked to confirm. Then the card comes out again with
the vote on it.
 
You leave the voting-booth and enter your card in a reader which is observed by
4 or 5 sworn witnesses. The vote is counted but not displayed, the card remains
in the machine.
 
At the end of the day a report gets printed. That report gets transfered to the
Ministry of Internal Affairs, votes are added-up and 3 hrs after close of the
polling-stations we have final results. Most of the time is being used by
courriers getting to Brussels.
 
This isn't rocket-science Bob.
 
Ever since this system is in place not a single recount had to be performed.
 
Yes, recounts are possible because the magnetic cards are retained. But what
would be the result of a recount? No chance for "pregnant chads" or counters
having to guess voter intent. A "1" is a "1" and a "0" is still a "0".
 
RB> The winner is determined by Nedap - or by the Belgian equivalent of the
RB> Chaos Computer Club.
 
That's a hoax and a fairytale.
 
I will repeat that more than 10 years ago I volunteered the dial-up numbers of
the telephone-company's internal modem-banks and dared anyone to prove that
hackers could dial-in and gain access.
 
Attempts were made and nobody even got past the modem negotiation protocol.
Once you're outside the overwhelmingly documented vulnarabilities of UNIX and
Windows plus related protocols, computer-hackers are blind.
 
Overhere the voting software actually is the OS in ROM. The computer is
powered-up and will only run that programme. There is no way to quickly hook-up
a peripheral and toy with it, there is no wireless connection and anyone
staying in-there longer that 2-3 minutes will raise suspicion anyway.
 
In all the years it has been used there hasn't been a single case of fraud,
neither have there been complaints, neither have there been recounts requested.
 
The only issue has to do with elderly people who cannot understand the
procedure. For them paper-voting is available but it is hardly ever requested.
During the last election in my town of Mortsel with some 10.000 eligible voters
not a single paper ballot was entered.
 
I know people need to make fun of Belgians and the language issues and consider
us dumb ... but electronic voting has worked here for quite some time. This is
not a banana-republic.
 
So it didn't work in the Netherlands ... well, they're real smart there ... so
smart they got someone like Balkenende elected which got them involved in Iraq
with no vote of confidence to dislodge him.
 
I prefer our own rather innocent squibling about language politics. So far
nobody has died from it ... it's only boring, not lethal.
 
Take care,
 
\%/@rd

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 * Origin: Many Glacier -o=O=o- Preserve - Protect - Conserve (2:292/854)