1. E-voting Bringing the voting process to the technology age

2. Overview • Using technology to aid in the voting process • Can be using electronic machines in polling places, or Internet based • There are several positives and negatives

3. First things first.. Basketball

5. Time for a skit.

6. Some positives • Philosophically speaking, e-voting is an amazing opportunity to help achieve a true democracy • In the past, democracy was almost every person voting for almost every issue • Distance made this impossible • E-voting can help to achieve a similar turnout

7. Quicker Times • No more long lines to vote • If voting can be done on a computer, it can be done quicker and easier, and within the comfort of your own home

8. More accessible • Because it can be done from any computer, voting easier • People with disabilities can vote much easier • Overseas citizens and servicemen will have an easier time as well

9. More constraints on interface • Some people cannot follow simple instructions • Computer can be made to accept only one type of input (whether radio button, etc.) • No more underlining instead of circling, or hanging chads

10. Less human error • In terms of not following directions • Also, in terms of counting the votes • Computerization is faster, more efficient, and, if implemented correctly, less prone to normal errors Are there any problems to evoting?

11. Problems with evoting • Computers can lose data • People can make computers lose or change data, result: voter fraud • Depending on the system, no “paper trail” • Possible loss of voter privacy • Digital divide– discriminates against those who do not have Internet access

12. Hack an election? • Man of the Year

13. How can you hack an election? • If they are on-site digital voting machines, pretty easily • One Minute Hack • One way around this is to put no tampering tape on machines • All someone has to do then is cut the tape, and all those votes are discounted

14. Hacking Internet voting • Lots of ways • Once the information is sent, it is probably safe (using Internet encryption) • Problem: You can change information BEFORE it is sent.

15. Virus • Hacker puts malicious code onto person’s pc • Intercepts information before it is sent out • If hacker is smart, can change the vote to whomever he wants, or make it not vote • Vote confirmation would solve this problem • Privacy vs. Security (we’ll talk later)

16. Rogue agent • Hacking gets better as the publicity gets better (for the most part) • Election would be HUGE publicity • “sitting duck” • One rogue programmer may be able to implant a virus – they could work for any of many companies • Winzip, adobe acrobat, etc. • Slightly unlikely, but possible

17. DDOS attack • DDOS: Distributed Denial of Service • Election servers attacked, forced to go down • Large number of people wouldn’t vote in the election • Happened in Canada, had to extend • Remember registering for classes?

18. Phishing • People are stupid • Someone could send out an email “reminding” people to vote or register, and giving them a link to a fake site • After getting all of their voting information, the hacker would have multiple votes at his/her disposal

19. Selling of votes • A smaller problem, but one that is similar to basketball tickets • Someone doesn’t care enough about election, so gives their vote to someone else • End up with one person having multiple votes • Too easy to vote

20. Digital divide • By making voting online, you are making it easier for only one segment of society to vote • Since you are not making it easier for others to vote, their vote would effectively be diminished

21. So what would it take to make e-voting plausible? • Confirmation that the person voting is who they say they are • Confirmation of each person’s vote • The system needs to know the person is correct, and the person needs to know the vote is correct

22. Problem: Privacy vs. Security • In order to confirm a vote, the voting system must store, somehow, who voted for whom. • This goes against our System – you don’t need to say who voted for who. • By keeping this information, it brings up the question: What’s more important, privacy or security of votes? Thoughts?

23. Summary • E voting is a good idea • It allows more people to vote, bringing us closer to democracy • If it was safe, it would be a great supplement to normal voting • There are still many issues that need to be resolved