Pentagon scraps Net voting plan

Pentagon scraps Net voting

The U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday backed off plans for a
large-scale test of a voting system designed to let Americans who are
overseas cast ballots in the coming election over the Internet.

The Pentagon will scrap the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting
Experiment (SERVE) until the current system can guarantee the security
of the voting process or a new system is designed, a Defense
Department spokesperson said.

"The action was taken in view of the inability to ensure the
legitimacy of the votes cast," the spokesperson said.

The decision follows a January report by four experts--three computer
science professors and a former IBM researcher--that gave failing
marks to Internet voting. The report argues that creating an e-voting
system that guarantees each person votes once and protects the voter's
identity is impossible with the current state of the Internet.

The system would have allowed absentee military voters from 50
counties in seven states the ability to place their votes. The
inauguration was to have been in South Carolina's presidential primary
on Tuesday. The Defense Department is searching for a program that can
eventually handle the nearly 6 million American military personnel and
civilians abroad.

The cancellation of the system is the latest set back for Internet and
electronic voting amid ongoing concerns over the security and
reporting features of e-voting machines.

The criticism has mounted to the point that the makers of e-voting
machines have formed a lobbying group to take their case to
Washington, D.C.

The Defense Department hasn't indicated what the next step is for
Internet voting, except that the United States is still interested.

"Efforts will continue to look into all technical capabilities to cast
votes over the Internet," the spokesperson said.