Nanaimo's Been Voting Electronically For Years!!!

Letter submitted to and published (with some changes - ???) by the Harbour City Star on July 12/08)

Dear Editor,
Well, you sort of got it right ("E-voting is off the ballot for Nanaimo", Harbour City Star, June 28/08). You write that Nanaimo has "put aside plans to allow people to vote by phone or computer" when it would have been more correct to state that the provincial Ministry which provides the legislative framework for local (municipal) elections, the Ministry of Community Services, to their credit, declined to grant such an important power to the City of Nanaimo in a hurry. Sober reflection and careful deliberation are essential in situations like this.
Although City staff began the mis-use of the term 'electronic voting', you do the same when you imply that the voters of Nanaimo have not been doing so before. The facts are that the City of Nanaimo has been voting electronically since at least 1999, using the democracy-challenging Diebold optical scan, electronic voting machines. The use of the phone or internet to vote requires one to add the 'remote' designation to the term.
While Ms. Harrison may be right in that remote electronic voting could "encourage higher participation", although the results where it has been tried are mixed, the one thing that we know for sure is that it would open up the most basic of our democratic rights and obligations to potential vote buying/selling, vote stealing, voter coercion, vote tampering and hacking. So far, the security experts agree that it just isn't worth the risk! Just consider how many critical security-related patches Microsoft has strongly advised you to install to your Windows/Internet Explorer software in the past month alone!
If Nanaimo is really serious about significantly increasing voter turnout, might I suggest that, as a start, they do everything in their power to treat the individual's vote with the respect it deserves. "Ensuring the reliability, security, and verifiability of public elections is fundamental to a stable democracy. Convenience and speed of vote counting are no substitute for accuracy of results and trust in the process by the electorate" - Assn. for Computing Machinery.

B.C. Electronic Voting Machine Survey Results Are In!

Beginning back in early June, with the help of a list originally supplied by blackboxvoting.org and then supplemented with one from a survey on civicinfo.bc.ca, I contacted, by email, 53 B. C. municipalities which the lists indicated were using electronic voting machines in their local elections (Council, School Board and referendum). These municipalities ranged in population from 1,655 to 579,412 (normally 2006 census - civicinfo.bc.ca).

In order to better understand their use of the machines and essential testing and security protocols, I asked each of them the following 7 questions:

1. do you use electronic voting machines for local government elections/referendum? If not, please tell me and thank you for having taken the time to read this email
2. if so, what would you say is your main reason for using them?
3. what makes(s) and model(s) of machines do you currently use? Plan to use in November 2008?
4. how long have you been using these machines?
5. what is the number of the bylaw authorizing the use of these electronic voting machines and specifying the procedures for voting and counting the votes and how can I obtain a copy of same?
6. how many machines are in use at one time and are they connected via a 'live' network to a central tabulating computer during the election?
7. how do you handle training and technical support for these machines, both in between and during the actual election/referendum? This could include items such as maintenance, repair, programming and security. How many spare machines do you have?

Interestingly enough, even after at least one 'friendly' reminder, only 36 (68%) of the 53 municipalities took the time to respond. Officials with Central Saanich and Lake Country responded in a manner but did not answer more than 1 of the questions. Those that, for reasons not shared with me, wouldn't take the 10-15 minutes to complete the survey questions, were: Chetwynd, Coquitlam, Courtenay, Hope, Kelowna, Nanaimo, North Saanich, Osoyoos, Pitt Meadows, Powell River, Qualicum Beach, Salmon Arm, Sooke, Spallumcheen, Squamish, Summerland and Vanderhoof. The widely reported insecurity of the machines aside, I think the voters in these municipalities should be very concerned that they are not only using electronic voting machines which are known to be easily compromised, but those responsible don't even care to discuss it!! That, in itself, should raise a huge, red flag flag' and could be interpreted as the staff not being fully confident in their use of the machines (if they are not prepared to be queried on it).

The results from those that did complete their survey generally show that the main reasons for using the machines are "accuracy" and "speed" (i.e. convenience) and reducing voter disenfranchisement (automatic checking of the ballot for 'overvotes' and 'undervotes'), that there are very few that have any machine-related security measures built into their electronic voting authorization bylaws and they generally seem unaware of the risks, NONE of them reported doing a random audit of the results during the election, some of them have the vendor or another third party involved in the programming of the machines, a few of them share their machines with another out-of-province jurisdiction and ALL of them use the machines to perform a recount, if necessary, i.e., there is no hand-counting of ballots. These would be some of the classic signs of an insecure installation and a 'problem waiting to happen'! On a slightly positive note, none of those that use more than a single machine connect them to a 'live' network, which reduces the possibility of a virus being introduced but doesn't entirely eliminate it.

These responses basically failed to convince me that they understood the nature of the physical and 'virtual' security issues involved in the use of these machines, e.g., no one appears to require two persons to be present when the machines/memory cards are programmed, tested and secured as well as two keys to access the machines and the programmable memory cards. They are also confusing the term "accuracy" with that of "repeatability" - the machines are very good at producing the same result over and over again (repeatability) when given the same inputs but that DOES NOT mean that they are properly reflecting the voter's intent (accuracy). While the aspect of voter disenfranchisement due to undetected overvotes/undervotes is not to be downplayed, the extent of voter disenfranchisement due to compromised machines are likely to be far greater.

I am not holding myself out as an expert on this complex issue but, based on extensive reading and having more than average knowledge of computer technology, I believe the experts. Let's pay careful attention to what wide-spread use of these machines (reportedly at about 33%) in the U.S elections in November (even though several states have 'de-certified' them due to a number of concerns, they have been forced to use them because they have nothing else that will be ready in time) produces.

How We Vote in B.C. Matters A Great Deal!!

ns, securityLetter submitted to and published (largely unedited - surprise!) by the Nanaimo Daily News (June 17/08):

Dear Editor,
It would serve the interests of democracy and the residents of Nanaimo much better if City staff and council ensured that the voting machines they now have can be trusted to produce the correct result, rather than expanding the voting options to include telephone and internet (Voters could cast votes online, Nanaimo Daily News, May 7/08; Assurances needed before e-voting system in place, May 22/08). Before rushing to make changes, City staff would do well to consider the report on e-voting produced by Elections Canada which shows that only 29% of those surveyed would use a computer (the internet) while only 36% would use the phone for registering their democratic choice before they go too far down this road strewn with land mines/false assurances. They should also look at significant problems noted in the Open Rights Group report on 'e-voting' in the U.K. elections of May 2007. The Diebold Accuvote-OS machines which the City used in the last municipal election in 2005 (and for the PNC referendum) have been widely disparaged due to serious security deficiencies. Due to the fact that they have been demonstrated to be easily 'hackable/infected' and experts at institutions no less than UC Berkeley (Wagner/Jefferson/Bishop) and Princeton (Felten) have produced reports detailing some of their short-comings and how easily they can be compromised, they should be used only with extreme care. Therefore, if the City feels that voting machines are required to count Nanaimo's ballots (the only relevant justification: quick results), they should instead dedicate their efforts to putting in place equipment, procedures and training which will ensure the integrity of the vote. Even with a large number of voters, paper ballots are good enough for both provincial and federal elections, municipal elections being the only ones to use electronic voting in B. C.There is woefully little in the Nanaimo elections bylaw (5160), which regulates the use of these machines, that would prevent or detect any such tampering with the democratic will of the people and it is highly likely that City staff and the people charged with overseeing the elections (they are usually one and the same) do not know or have not been trained to detect and thwart any such an attacks.For all of these reasons, Community Services Minister, Ida Chong should, instead of allowing the City 'by decree' to introduce more vulnerabilities into something as important as the ability to exercise our democratic rights, commit herself to ensuring that the use of electronic voting machines in B. C. municipal elections is subject to strict, uniform certification and security requirements and that those responsible for our elections, who must be impartial, fully understand and discharge their responsibilities under those regulations. If you want to be sure that your vote is properly registered in November, you must tell Nanaimo council and your MLA to make the security of your democratic choices paramount. For more on the security failings of these machines, go to http://www.blackboxvoting.org & http://www.bradblog.com and search for 'Diebold+voting'.

I would ask everyone reading this article to do as I have suggested and contact their City Council (mayor.council@nanaimo.ca), (emayne@parksville.ca), (council@lantzville.ca) or (mayor@qualicumbeach.com) and your MLA (leonard.krog.mla@leg.bc.ca or ron.cantelon.mla@leg.bc.ca) and tell them to make the security of your vote the paramount consideration in any initiative to change how we register our democratic choices at election time.