User talk:Electiontechnology/Internet voting

Internet voting, also known as "online voting" or "e-voting" is a non-document ballot public network DRE voting system. Electronic ballots are submitted from Internet-enabled devices, potentially including voting machines, personal computers, or mobile phones.

Internet voting is common in private elections and is specifically authorized by statute in many states.

History

The first ballot of any kind in a US public election to be cast electronically and remotely was in 1990. The Federal Voting Assistance Program , the Department of Defense organization responsible for administering the Uniform Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), implemented a ballot faxing service. Starting with Operation Desert Shield, FVAP implemented with states the Electronic Transmission Services (“ETS”), allowing deployed citizens to request, receive, and return ballots via fax. Over two months the system transmitted 1,675 ballots to Service personnel.

United States

FVAP Voting Over the Internet

In the late 1990s, Congress gave the Secretary of Defense the responsibility to try a small experimental program in which overseas Americans could vote online, and allocated funds to the Department of Defense (DoD) to pay for the project. The program was called The Voting Over the Internet Pilot Project, or “VOI.” Using a secure DoD website, overseas citizens could register and vote regardless of where they were living. The secure website allowed a select group of volunteers to log on from any computer, in any location, enter their secret password, request a ballot, mark it, and cast their vote.

Election officials in four states, Florida, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah agreed to participate in the program. The DoD website provided registration forms and a ballot that was tailored to each state’s regulations, and which enabled voters to vote in local, state, and federal races. While the Alaska Republican Party used Internet voting in January 2000 to run a straw poll on presidential candidates, and in March 2000 Arizona Democrats voted over the Internet in their presidential primaries, the VOI project provided the first opportunity in US history for binding votes to be cast over the Internet in a November general election.

The section of DoD that supervised this project is called the Federal Voting Assistance Program, or “FVAP.” After the 2000 election, FVAP submitted its Assessment Report to the Secretary of Defense. While the big story on TV and other media was the unreliable paper-based voting technology used in Florida, and other states, the FVAP report happily declared that there were no significant problems with the VOI system. The technology worked well. The report acknowledged the security fears that arise with Internet voting, and stated that the risks of this venture could be, and were, acceptably mitigated. No challenges to the integrity of the VOI system were made by any of its participants. The authors were pleased to report that FVAP personnel worked well with state and local election officials, and that their particular laws and regulations were respected by the VOI ballots and processes.

Because the aim of this project was simply to test the idea of Internet voting for UOCAVA citizens, only 84 votes were actually cast using the VOI system. Since the system worked so well, FVAP suggested that a larger scale trial project be undertaken.

2000 Alaska Republican Party primary

The first significant usage of Internet voting in the US took place in Alaska on January 24, 2000. The Alaska Republican Party conducted a presidential straw poll covering 3 legislative districts in which approximately 3,500 people were eligible to take part in the election. Only 56 completed the required registration form and of those only 35 actually voted in the trial. This was compared to the 4,295 paper ballots cast in the rest of the state.

2000 Arizona Democratic presidential primary

The second significant trial of Internet voting also came during the 2000 presidential primaries this time with the Arizona Democratic Primary using the private company election.com. This trial offered voters the option of casting voters remotely over the Internet, at Internet enabled kiosks in polling location, by absentee paper ballot or in-person paper ballot in a polling location. Nearly half of all voters, 35,678, elected to cast their vote remotely via the Internet.

Civil rights concerns

Serious concerns about internet were also raised by civil rights organizations around the United States. Native American support is particularly important in Arizona, where they numbered more than 250,000. The states two most prominent leaders were Apache leader John Lewis, president of the Inter-Tribal Counsel, and Kelsey A. Begaye President of the Navajo Nation. The Navajo leadership, including President Kelsey Begaye, prominent native American leaders posed for Television Cameras when they later voted over the internet.

On February 24, 2000, the Department of Justice granted pre-clearance for the election.

The election survived a number of challenges, including a lawsuit from the Virginia based Voting Integrity Project, which claimed that internet voting would disadvantage minorities protected under the Voting Rights Act. Several organizations filed Amicus briefs in support of the Democratic Party and the internet election, including the Benjamin E. Mayes National Education Resource Center, the Center of Government Studies, and Professor Charles Nesson of Harvard Law School. The court denied the request for an injunction to stop the election.

Voting period

The week of the election, online voting was allowed beginning Tuesday March 7 through Friday March 10. The following Saturday March 11, voting would be allowed at polling places only, through personal computers. There were some minor problems, in that a few polling places did not open on schedule, and some users with older browsers could not vote. The election went off successfully, with voter turnout increasing more than 500% over the 1996 Primary. Contrary to expectations, Native American turnout also increased more than 500% and African American and Latino turnout both went up more than 800%, defying those who claimed that minorities would not use the internet to cast votes. The results were certified by the State Board of Elections. There were many other "firsts"; news footage showing a middle-aged quadriplegic man in Arizona who cast his first unassisted, secret ballot using the Internet. election.com reported no hacking during the election. Shortly after, Mohen was featured on the cover of the Industry Standard Magazine.

Ongoing debate

The Arizona Democratic primary has been called the "first legally binding public election to offer internet voting". However, the Arizona Democratic Party and the private company administering the election argued in federal court that it was a private election outside of federal jurisdiction. Still others, such as the Internet Policy Institute, have classified the primary, as a "hybrid between public and private elections... not run by state election officials, but were still subject to some aspects of state and federal election law." And there were some glitches such as that certain Macintosh browsers did not work. Nonetheless, the 2000 Arizona Internet vote was hailed worldwide as a landmark case of using the Internet at a major election.

2004 Michigan Democratic Party primary

In 2004 the Michigan Democratic Party introduced Internet voting as an option in addition to ballots by mail and polling place voting. 46,543 votes (29%) were cast online.

2008 Democrats Abroad primary

Prior to the 2008 presidential election the Democrats Abroad organization held a party primary including Internet voting. A total of 23,105 ballots were cast including Internet and in-person voting. However, there was no official voter registration list and any member of the public could "register" as many voters as they chose online.