World’s first online elections
Here in America, we have a hard time getting our rudimentary electronic voting machines to work. But over in the former Soviet republic of Estonia—which is about the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined and boasts a per capita GDP of under $20,000—they've held the world's first online elections. Internet polling, which ended on Wednesday, drew ...
Here in America, we have a hard time getting our rudimentary electronic voting machines to work. But over in the former Soviet republic of Estonia—which is about the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined and boasts a per capita GDP of under $20,000—they've held the world's first online elections. Internet polling, which ended on Wednesday, drew about 30,000 voters, or 3.5 percent of the registered pool. Those votes will be added to the ballots cast this Sunday, Estonia's official election day. A handful of other countries have tested similar technology, including Britain, France, and the Netherlands. But, for the most part, the idea of online voting still scares the majority of nations, especially America. John Borland over at Wired explains:
Here in America, we have a hard time getting our rudimentary electronic voting machines to work. But over in the former Soviet republic of Estonia—which is about the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined and boasts a per capita GDP of under $20,000—they've held the world's first online elections. Internet polling, which ended on Wednesday, drew about 30,000 voters, or 3.5 percent of the registered pool. Those votes will be added to the ballots cast this Sunday, Estonia's official election day. A handful of other countries have tested similar technology, including Britain, France, and the Netherlands. But, for the most part, the idea of online voting still scares the majority of nations, especially America. John Borland over at Wired explains:
Critics worry that voting systems using ordinary Windows PCs and the open internet could be hacked by unscrupulous outsiders, or subverted by insiders.
A high-profile United States Defense Department system called SERVE, or Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, aimed at allowing overseas military personnel to vote was canceled after a 2004 review by computer security experts said it presented an easy target for hackers."
Between electronic voting machines that cause multi-hour delays at polling stations and hanging chads on our paper ballots, we probably ought to concentrate on making sure we can get every American's vote counted before attempting to reinvent the wheel.
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