The Pentagon Drops Internet Voting

The Reuters' headline reads Pentagon Dumps Vulnerable Internet Voting System (2/06/04).

The Pentagon heeded the advice of cyber-security experts who urged in a Jan. 21 report the program be abandoned because it was impossible to create a voting system with current personal computers and the Internet that would stop hackers or terrorists from tampering with election results.

This is really pretty big news all things considered. First, "electronic voting" is the big push in the US these days despite ongoing concerns ( Test of Electronic Balloting System Finds Major Security Flaws, Schwartz, NYT, 1/30/04). I recommend the Black Box Voting to track the whole issue of electronic ballot tampering risks.

Second, is who has just lost the contract for the US military's voting system - Arthur Anderson under their new moniker "Accenture" - Offshore Company Captures Online Military Vote (Landes, Scoop, 7/16/03). Yes comrades the accounting firm that allegedly colluded with our old friend ENRON ... and you thought they were history.

It will be very interesting to see if the Pentagon's decision has any effect on electronic voting in general. The whole thing may just "slip under the radar" so to speak.