Electronic voting needs a reliable audit trail
If I buy something online, I get an email acknowledging the order. I will get my goods in the post. My next Visa bill will show the online transaction.
If I electronically vote, I will get no confirmation email, no statement and no indication that the preferences I have selected are the ones that are saved.
In the first two electronic transactions, there is a clear audit trail. But if I electronically vote for Fine Gael and the machine saves Fianna Fáil, I have no indication something is wrong.
In the first two electronic transactions there are paper back-ups. But in the third there is no paper printout to indicate something wrong.
All I have is a Government promise my vote will be registered properly. A promise from a Government that promised 2,000 gardaí, full cooperation with the Laffoy Commission, that there were no planned cutbacks, secret or otherwise, and a permanent end to waiting lists within two years.
We are getting an electronic voting system that is being implemented by the minister responsible for elections who is also the director of elections for Ireland’s largest party.
We are getting an electronic counting system from a government that couldn’t predict how many people would seek compensation for religious ritual abuse, how many over-70s would qualify for a medical card, and how many overseas citizens would qualify for the pre-1953 special pension scheme.
After many horror stories about dodgy electronic voting systems, several US states, like California, now require that their electronic voting systems include voter verified paper printouts for back-up and audit purposes.
So why is this Government so resistant to providing paper printouts of the votes? Why they are so opposed to providing a back-up audit trail which would give peace of mind to voters?
It is a disgrace that this Government is quite prepared to waste millions of euro on useless consultants, but when it comes to our democracy they are tight-fisted.
As an IT professional, I believe in electronic voting and can see the benefits of the greater accuracy and speed of the counts, and the ability to better analyse transfers and voting trends.
However, I am an even bigger believer in democracy and having a transparent and accountable elections system.
Jason FitzHarris
Rivervalley
Swords
Co Dublin
