Internet Voting Risks

Articles, blogs and white papers on risks of internet voting
Last updated Sept 7, 2010


Verified Voting Blog - Reports & Articles on Internet Voting http://blog.verifiedvoting.org/category/issues/internet-voting


US: Verified Voting has published a map of what various states are doing with
Internet voting
.
http://www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org/article.php?list=type&type=27 


 Vulnerability analysis of three remote voting methods »
http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/40/94/10/PDF/Enguehard_Lehn_RC10.pdf



Electronic Voting and Direct Democracy (Dr. Joseph Lorenzo Hall)http://blog.law.cornell.edu/voxpop/2010/09/01/electronic-voting-and-direct-democracy/
To be sure, there is a lot of momentum behind moving parts of our elections processes online. In some cases, such as online voter registration, the security and reliability risks are small and the net benefits are particularly high. However, I can’t say the same about internet voting, especially in the sense that elements of direct democracy may be particularly attractive to powerful foreign interests and parties outside our collective jurisdiction



Prof. Ron Rivest (MIT)presentation at NIST's UOCAVA workshop
http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/ST/UOCAVA/2010/Presentations/RIVEST_2010-08-05-uocava.pdf
“What are best practices for internet voting?” to me sounds like “Pleash jush help me inshert the key in the lock, (hic), and I’ll be on my way…”
...
Remote voting is trade-off between franchise and risk
The risks of “internet voting” more than negate any possible benefits from an increase in franchise




Private email over the Internet is not a secure method of transfer for documents containing your confidential identity information. This is why Overseas Vote Foundation recommends that voters return their ballots by regular mail and fax.
Unsafe at any cost – Internet voting 
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3327 Based on the MOVE Act, many states and jurisdictions are experimenting with various forms of email, fax, and Internet voting. Washington, D.C. for example is setting up a pilot program..High tech solutions to military and overseas voting seem like the equivalent of a star wars sledgehammer to hit a small nail.



DC's Internet Voting Pilot
http://www.educatedguesswork.org/2010/07/dcs_internet_voting_pilot.html 
...Because voters are voting on their own computers, there is of course a risk from compromise of those machines. The average user's computer isn't very well maintained and though estimates for the fraction of machines which are malware infected vary, it's clear that the numbers are large. It wouldn't be particularly hard to develop a piece of malware whose payload changed people's votes. There are several potential attack vectors here:



UK: Cyberwar and other global risks
http://dooooooom.blogspot.com/2010/07/cyberwar-and-other-global-risks.html 
The Defence Secretary has told Parliament he will need to switch resources from conventional military tasks to tackling cyber threat  [presentation on cyber crime, cyber war, cyber fraud by Dr. Ian Brown of Cambridge U]


Dam the science; Dam the integrity; If it feels good do it!http://www.ctvoterscount.org/?p=3165
At least thirty-three states are planning on allowing military and overseas voters to cast ballots by Internet, email, or fax. What could possibly go wrong?
Pentagon voting assistance office to the EAC: Internet voting pilot not secure enoughhttp://bit.ly/d13jXP
Voting Rights Advocates and Cyber-Security Experts Raise Alarm Over Internet Voting
http://www.voteraction.org/news-article/2010/voting-rights-advocates-and-cyber-security-experts-raise-alarm-over-internet-votin US Election Assistance Commission Charged with Violating Federal Law in Proceeding with Internet Voting Plans Voter Action letter asking EAC to withdraw its plan, citing violations
http://voteraction.org/files/2010-04-26%20Final%20Voter%20Action%20Letter%20to%20EAC_0.pdf
Internet Voting For U.S. Citizens Over Seas Could Be A Bad Idea
http://thegeekchurch.com/2010/05/10/internet-voting-for-u-s-citizens-over-seas-could-be-a-bad-idea/ ...So, it seems that the Internet is being used as a “cure-all” device to solve all sorts of problems in society, including voting access for U.S. citizens over seas. ...Security will always be a serious issue due to the easy availability of the Internet and the ability of hackers to crack systems for the stealing and manipulating of information.



US: 3 million overseas and military voters will be able to cast ballots on Internet this fall http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/us/politics/09voting.html?scp=1&sq=internet%20voting&st=cse
“The commission’s decision basically takes the hazards we’ve seen with electronic voting and puts them on steroids,” said John Bonifaz, legal director of Voter Action