Contact
I am based in Sweden and my contact details are as follows:
E-mail: david@bismark.se
Phone: +46-73-033 27 03
Twitter: @davidbismark
LinkedIn: http://se.linkedin.com/in/davidbismark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bismark (more private than professional)
Blog etc: http://www.bismark.se
Post: Åldermannavägen 62, 145 57 Norsborg, Sweden
Hi there,
Is there a “light” version that can be used for smaller electoral processes such as student elections?
I am thinking of my university’s elections in 2011.
Great innovation! It is high time Diebold got the boot.
Kindly,
Harold
I think that the “light” version is actually the current version of the system. The research group is working on a new version which will meet the requirements of political elections while the current version was, in fact, developed specifically to run a student election.
Dear David,
I like your idea. At the same time I can see some problems with it:
I am from Central Europe and there is a lot of buying and selling of the votes happening every elections – especially with voters in difficult financial circumstances. Votes were sold for 5-10Eur last elections. The trick is simple – person who is in charge of buying votes sends one person to pick the ballot list, go behind the curtain and drop the empty envelope. Person brings blank ballot list out of the poll station. “Buyer” marks the ballot list and sends next person with the filled ballot list in. This marked list is put to the envelope and the blank list is brought out again. By my understanding this simple trick is possible with your card as well. On the other hand – it will be not necessary – as the person can collect money just by showing the vote results to the “buyer” on the computer. In that sense you are actually making it easier for the “buyer”. One can argue that selling own vote is somehow OK if the person sells it on voluntary basis. The different story is if you are under thread or pressure to give vote to someone involuntary.
For the same reason I am against postal vote. Postal vote was introduced to make life easier and attract people to vote in the elections. Unfortunately people which are not interested in the elections will not even register for the postal vote. I believe that it is citizen’s duty to make this small effort and get to the poll station. On the other hand there are some cultural differences between people and lot of these postal votes are filled by the “head of the family” for everyone in the household taking this right away from them. Again – your voting ticket will make it possibly easier to do this.
I understand that you are addressing the issue of counting of the votes in the poll stations and your system is addressing it nicely. Well done!
The encrypted receipt does not reveal how you have voted and neither does verifying your vote, so it does not make it easier to buy votes.
The first attack you describe is called “chain voting,” because a chain is formed of people casting someone else’s ballot form before providing the coercer with her own, blank ballot form. There are measures to combat this, it would for example be possible to write down the serial number of the ballot form at the time the voter is given the form and then check that she scans an encrypted vote using that particular ballot form later. In short, there are procedural means to combat chain voting.