[ale] hack challenge for electronic [v]oting system

[Jonathan Rickman]

On Saturday 23 August 2003 21:17, Jeff Hubbs wrote:

> This sums up my objection to the current state of the art regarding
> electronic voting.  It has become a "black box" that has become much
> more opaque than any election mechanism that has come before.  How can
> we, as technologists, take seriously any election governance body that
> purports to certify election results compiled in this manner??  They
> know little if anything more than we do - or the voters do - about the
> machines.

If it makes you feel any better, I am totally against any electronic voting 
mechanism that does not provide a permanent audit trail in the form of a 
paper ballot that can be verified by anyone with an elementary education, 
I.E. Joe Sixpack. I was one of the first 100  to endorse 
(http://verify.stanford.edu/EVOTE/technologists.html) the Resolution on 
Electronic Voting (http://www.verifiedvoting.org/resolution.asp) and I have 
followed this issue very closely since these machines began to be deployed 
throughout the country. I take the issue very seriously and I agree that 
while there may not be a vast conspiracy to rig elections today, there will 
certainly be one in the future. To assume otherwise is naive. Politicians 
will be politicians. However, it is also naive to assume that these 
machines are just going to magically go away. The cat's out of the bag, it 
just needs to be de-clawed and house trained before it makes a mess of 
things. Comprehensive system accreditation by third parties at the 
distribution point, post-delivery, and prior to use is a means to achieve 
that. The question that remains is, how do you decide who the third party 
will be? There are many questions that remain regarding policy and process 
that I am not capable of providing answers for. I am just trying to address 
the technical issues which, while significant, are definitely not 
insurmountable.  

-- 
Jonathan Rickman
X Corps Security
http://www.xcorps.net


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