Electronic voting seems to be just around the corner — already certain local elections are being processed using completely electronic means. It seems as if it’s only a matter of time before national elections are recorded and tabulated exclusively by computer.

As a computer engineer, I am generally excited to see technology used to improve processes, reduce overhead and generate efficiencies.

However, while electronic voting accomplishes these goals, I am skeptical.

The right to vote is one of the ways in which the populace maintains control of its government. If that right is hindered, so is the populace’s control of the government.

Currently, when voting tabulation systems do not report votes accurately, there is always a paper trail; the actual ballots cast by voters can always be read and tabulated by hand in the event of hardware failure.

With electronic voting, there is no such paper trail.

Certainly paper reports can be generated at local polling places, but if those reports are corrupt, then they are worthless and cannot be used.

Companies such as MicroVote and Diebold are working on closed-source electronic voting systems.

The fact their systems are closed-source allows these companies to reap exclusive profits from their code — but closed source electronic voting does not allow public scrutiny of recording and tabulation mechanisms.

In the absence of public scrutiny of the workings of these systems, what assurance can the public have that these programs are as solid as their makers may claim?

Recently, an electronic voting system caused quite a scare among election officials in Boone County, Indiana, when more than 144,000 votes appeared to be cast from a pool of 19,000 registered voters.

The situation was later corrected, but what would have happened were the error not correctable?

Personally, I am greatly concerned with the speed at which our society seems to be embracing electronic voting. The security and reliability of voting via electronic means seem to take a back seat to convenience and saving money.

Something as important as voting should not be taken so lightly.

Aaron Hurd

Junior

Computer Engineering