Educational Resources on Internet, Email and Fax Voting
Download the e-packet which includes testimony from leading computer scientists about electronic ballot transmission and articles from mainstream media.
Computer scientist Internet voting statement.
Internet Voting, Still in Beta, The New York Times.
Broad Concerns About Internet Voting, The New York Times.
Pentagon Cancels Internet Voting Test, MSNBC.
Electricity Grid in US Penetrated by Spies, The Wall Street Journal.
A New Approach to China, The Google Blog.
Voter Action Internet voting statement.
Hackers Attacked Colombian Vote Count
Reports on Internet, Email and Fax Voting
In January 2009 the Pew Center on the States issued a report on
overseas and military voters stating that electronic return of ballots
created a risk of violating the privacy and security of those ballots.
View the report, Here.
The security of Internet and email and fax voting systems have been
deemed insufficient by a 2004 study and subsequent report by the Secure
Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE) resulting in the
closure of an internet voting pilot program implemented by the
Pentagon. View the report, Here.
Washington: Update
On January 11, 2010, Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed introduced legislation in the Washington House of Representatives and Washington State Senate (HB 1624 and SB 5522) pursuing the implementation of an internet voting pilot program for military and overseas voters. Reed’s proposal would allow for military and overseas voters to cast their votes through a website using their own laptops, which would mark the first such voting system in the country.
Reed previously introduced internet voting in the 2009 legislative session, however the bills eventually died in the House because of the significant financial impact the program would have on counties and individual taxpayers that was not reflected in the original fiscal note.
In addition to the internet voting bills, House Bill 2483 and its companion Senate Bill 6238, seek to put into place a voting system allowing for ballots to be sent and returned via electronic transmission (fax and email). These bills were introduced allegedly to comply with the Military and Overseas Voters Empowerment Act (MOVE), which only requires that blank ballots be made available by fax or email and does not necessitate ballots be returned via electronic transmission. MOVE was established to provide voters with an efficient means to receive blank ballots and sidestep delays created by mailing a ballot via postal mail. By emailing or faxing blank ballots, military and overseas voters are able to receive voting materials in a significantly expedited manner. This is a process already employed in Washington State to positive effect; the Secretary of State’s office recently reported that Washington State has one of the highest military voter participation rates – over 76%, with 99% of the ballots being counted. However, the return of ballots via email or fax could create serious problems for overseas and military voters and the integrity of elections due to the inherent insecure environment of the internet, the lack of voting privacy and the opportunity for voter coercion.
Alabama
HB 30 was pre-filed on 9/23/09 by Representative James Martin, who sponsored HB 377, also an internet voting pilot program bill, in the previous session. HB 30 will be introduced on January 10, 2010 and move forward pending committee action.
Read the full text of HB 30, here.
Massachusetts
House Bill H4310 was introduced on November 4, 2009 by Representative Charles Murphy. The bill passed the House on November 4, 2009 and passed the Senate on November 5, 2009. H4310 was signed into law on November 11, 2009.
Read the full text of H4310, here.
To view the archive of previous internet voting legislation from the 2009 legislative session, Click Here.
Continue to check Voter Action's website for regular updates on internet voting!
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Freespeechforpeople.org Kickoff Video
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