Arstechnica: French latest to realize the perils of e-voting

[mod mom]

French latest to realize the perils of e-voting
By Ryan Paul | Published: July 09, 2008 - 08:32PM CT

A study conducted by a researcher in France has uncovered that polling locations which use electronic voting machines exhibit a higher number of discrepancies than those using conventional paper ballots. Unsurprising to those who have followed the problems plaguing e-voting since its introduction, the revelation has fueled renewed calls for greater scrutiny of electronic voting technology in France.


The study was conducted at over 21,000 polling stations by comparing electoral registers, which voters sign after voting, with the total vote counts from machines and paper ballots in several elections. Discrepancies were found at almost 30 percent of polling stations that use electronic machines and only at about 5 percent of those using paper ballots. Based on the results, the researcher believes that broader studies are needed to determine the scope of the pattern and the reasons for the discrepancies. The root cause is thought to be technical rather than a result of widespread operator error because the margin of discrepancies increased in later elections when voters were already familiar with the systems.

The results were announced at a press conference hosted by Ethical Citizen, a transparent voting advocacy group that partially funded the research. "For more than a year, Ms. Chantal Enguehard—a member of the Laboratory of Computer Science, Nantes Atlantique (CNRS UMR 6241)—conducted the study in conjunction with the Observatory of the vote to determine whether it was possible to observe quantitatively alterations or improvements to the functioning of polling stations equipped with computers to vote," said Ethical Citizen in a statement. "The first results, announced at the press conference, confirm this hypothesis and show the need to develop for the future tools that will enable independent evaluators to to measure the quality and reliability of elections."


France has had a rocky relationship with electronic voting since the introduction of the technology in 2004. The machines have faced significant criticism from organizations across the political spectrum and have been met with particularly high skepticism from elderly voters who distrust the machines and have difficulty operating them. The country suffered an electronic voting catastrophe last year—the first time that the machines have been used for a presidential election. Voting was disrupted by the same kind of technical problems and machine failures that we have seen plague many elections in the United States.

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http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080709-french-latest-to-realize-the-perils-of-e-voting.html

[kster]

1. The Demliones and the Republigino crime families

would never allow open and see through ballot counting boxes, they like their electronic vote count/smuggle the ballots out of the neighborhoods/polling place machines, so they can let the Big Dummies keep talking about audits and how hard it is to hand count those ballots.









BIG K&R....:)

[Wilms]

3. .

In French elections, voters are traditionally presented with an opaque envelope and a selection of ballot papers, each printed with the name of one of the candidates. In private, they place the ballot paper of their chosen candidate in the envelope, before identifying themselves to voting officials who verify that they are registered to vote and have not already voted in that election. Finally, they place their envelope in the transparent ballot box and sign the register of electors to say they have voted.

The opacity of the envelopes guarantees the secrecy of the vote, while the transparency of the ballot boxes guarantees that they were not stuffed with votes prior to the opening of the poll.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=17&articleId=9108498&intsrc=hm_topic

[kster]

4. Please, go try and BULLSHIT someone else

Hand Count the Paper Ballots before they are allowed to leave the nieghborhood/polling place, it's that simple, and US AMERICANS can make that happen WATCH US!!!

[eridani]

5. More of the same from someone who has not done one damned thing to make it happen n/t

[kster]

2. KICK for one more "R" nt