“The hardest thing to accept is that these things just happen,“ Ellen continued, “and they have happened twice, in such a small team, and that makes it very hard. But there’s nothing anyone can do . . . these things just happen.”
Robert looked at her, tormented and speechless. May God forgive me for what I have done.
...20
...Thursday, January 7, 9:01PM EST (UTC-5:00 hours)
...News of the Hour Special Edition Report
...Nationally Syndicated
The studio setting had two large, comfortable armchairs, one taken by the show’s host, Stephanie Wainwright, and the other by a dark-haired man displaying a determined, passionate demeanor.
“We have invited into our studio tonight Congressman Jim Archesi from New Jersey to discuss the potential pitfalls of the proposed e-vote system. Welcome, Congressman.” She concluded her introduction with a flash of her megawatt smile.
“Thank you for your invitation, Stephanie, always a pleasure,” the Congressman responded. He seemed tense and almost sullen.
“Congressman, please tell us what the main points of contention are from your angle. Why do you think e-vote reform poses a danger, and what kind of danger does it pose?”
“There are three main areas of concern, all three very serious. First,” he said, counting on his left hand fingers, “we have a vast lineup of privacy concerns. Second, we have the heightened risk of vote manipulation and errors. In short, by deploying e-vote we are making election fraud very easy. Third, if such serious concerns regarding the new voting process are contaminating the electorate, we will have the worst participation in our history. If people are afraid for their privacy or don’t trust the effectiveness of the system, they will not show. We will cripple our entire electoral process.”
“Let’s examine the privacy concerns. What do you think is front and center on people’s minds?”
“If the voter registration scan will be happening on the same terminal and at the same time as the actual vote, this will open the door for the voter’s identity to be associated with the actual vote input somewhere in the application’s background. The architects of the e-vote system have reassured everyone on repeated occasions that this will never happen because the system isn’t built that way. They are affirming their intention is to make voting mobile, allowing a voter residing in New York City to vote in San Francisco for the full ballot registered under his county of residence. Nevertheless, the vast majority of the voters we have interviewed are very wary. Let’s admit it; the government has made little progress in the past decade in winning the confidence of the electorate, especially in matters of privacy and individual rights. The scanning process will ensure voter mobility, which brings some value to the one to three percent of the voters who will choose to travel that very day. That only goes for some states, not for all.”
“Help me understand,” Stephanie said, “why the big concern now when some voting precincts already have electronic voting machines in use and have had them for a while?”
“So far, only some of the states have deployed voting machines, and even those states have not deployed them in all precincts. States and counties are free to choose what voting mechanism will be deployed. New York still votes on paper. Washington, DC is set up on DRE, or direct-recording electronic, on digital terminals. However, the majority of the existing electronic voting equipment is aged and has become a security risk. Yes, the opponents of e-vote reform all understand this issue, and we all agree something has to be done. However, this reform calls for the deployment of a unified ballot method, standardizing the devices used across the nation, as well as the software. This layout will effectively centralize the data processing of all ballots. That’s why any privacy issue becomes so scary, whether real or not.”
“Interesting,” Stephanie said. “Do you think most concerns are real? Or not?”
“If the software does exactly what we were promised it would do and will not associate the voter’s identity with the actual ballot, then the majority of the privacy concerns are not real. That is a big if. We also have to think of the perceptions around this issue. How would we gain the voter’s confidence, even if we inspect that software inside and out? What would suddenly make the average American trust the government on matters of privacy? The latest polls indicate that less than 38% of Americans trust the government on how security, privacy, and civil rights are respected. The same study reflects that