New Jersey To Let 'Displaced' Voters Use Electronic Voting... If They Give Up Secrecy & Return A Hardcopy
from the details,-details dept
Given the still ongoing recovery from Hurricane Sandy in the northeast, New Jersey has decided to deal with potential problems with Tuesday's election by declaring that "displaced" voters can qualify to submit ballots the same way overseas members of the armed services can -- via email or fax, followed up with a hardcopy. They're also allowing early voting, more provisional voting and absentee voting, but the ability to submit by email is generating plenty of attention. Some, like professor Richard Hasen, who is an "election law" expert, worries about the security of such a system, and whether or not ballots could get hacked or lost. Professor Andrew Appel, who has done work with e-voting systems in the past, worries about two things. First, the loss of the secret ballot when you vote this way:We see already one problem: The loss of the secret ballot. At many times in the 20th century, NJ political machines put such intense pressure on voters that the secret ballot was an important protection. In 2012 it’s in the news that some corporations are pressuring their employees to vote in certain ways. The secret ballot is still critical to the functioning of democracy.But, he's also worried about the unclear nature of the announcement (pdf), in which it is not emphasized that anyone who votes this way must also submit a hardcopy. He notes that the directive about allowing displaced voters to vote this way left out the line about submitting the hardcopy, and the law is not clear what happens to votes where the hardcopy is not sent as well. The fear then, is that these votes will wind up in court.
Then things really get murky: The statute doesn’t say what happens if the hardcopy is not received, except that the county superintendent of elections must investigate. It’s not difficult to imagine that these ballots will end up in court.It does sound like officials in New Jersey now understand this and intend to be much clearer about it, but it is raising reasonable concerns.
I urge the Lieutenant Governor to issue a revised order, clarifying that displaced voters must immediately follow up by mailing hardcopy identical to their e-mailed ballot–or risk having their votes thrown out.
Finally, well-known e-voting critic (and New Jersey resident) Ed Felten has actually taken a much more "it's not great, but given the situation, it's okay" type of position.
I am in no way a fan of online voting. Just last week I hosted an online symposium where experts talked about the many barriers to secure online voting. But under these circumstances I can understand why the State has taken the steps it has. The email+hardcopy approach will undermine ballot secrecy, and inevitably some voters will forfeit their votes by failing to submit the follow-on hardcopy ballot correctly. But at the same time, the state is allowing citizens who are facing a tough situation a greater chance to cast their votes. I would strongly oppose any long-term move toward online voting, but I can see the point of allowing limited email+hardcopy voting for displaced voters under these very unusual circumstances.If the voting in New Jersey turns out weird tomorrow, the conspiracy theories are never going to stop...
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: e-voting, election, new jersey, privacy, secret ballot
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Too late for that my friend, the US has itself submerged till the ears in conspiracy theories. Many of them sparked by its own dubious actions.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Why not JUST the hardcopy?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
and why the hard copy is being requested is so it isn't a secret ballot any more. democracy may well still be functioning, but it's barely doing so and i doubt for much longer. democratic governments everywhere are becoming more like those they supposedly despise. no one outside of government and big business is allowed privacy and as for any of the freedoms that our forefathers fought so hard for, they are being eroded, rejected and dispelled on a daily basis.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/10/theres-no-money-indie-music-cat-power-br oke/58552/
Just a little bit of reality to intrude on the groupthink "stealing from musicians is ok" crowd here.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Being able to make money out of something you enjoy doing is a privilege, not a right. If it was a right, we'd all be astronauts and race car drivers.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Apparently you not only don't know what the reality of the opinions you're attacking actually is (hint: what you said is a lie), but you also can't address the reality of the thread you've posted in, where this is totally irrelevant even if there was a shred of truth. Bravo, I guess.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
By properly formatted e-mails, I mean the voting office would provide a template for the voters to put the data in.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
That said, I'm curious how they *would* verify eligibility and one person/one vote criteria. Trying to do that in person without requiring what amounts to a poll tax has always seemed a tricky tight-rope walk to me. Doing it online would make it more of a tight-string...
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Email is just a transport mechanism, like any other. Except that it is one of the least secure ones, as email is incredibly easy to spoof.
How would this make it impossible to hack the system. BTW, as a computer security professional, let me assure you that there's no such thing as a system that is impossible to to hack.
The solution to make the system hack-resistant (hack-proof is impossible, but that's not because the internet or computers are involved. The traditional systems aren't hack-proof either) is encryption.
No system that relies on a shared secret, particularly not an easy-to-determine-and communicate secret such as the format of an email, is secure.
(For the pedants out there, one time pads are best-case shared secrets and mostly secure, assuming that the pads themselves can be communicated securely and that they are truly random. Those two conditions are really hard to achieve, though.)
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Whilst I agree with your sentiments, I now challenge you hack into the calculator I currently have in my underwear. Btw, I have taken the batteries out.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
They are counted in a separate category, as potential problems.
If the votes are tallied without those ballots, and the divide between the winner and runner up are decided regardless of the problem ballots, then there is no issue. Otherwise, they end up in court.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
One question
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: One question
That would have to be owned by an attorney.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Another way to get screwed...
Start sending votes by e-mail, and afterwards you'll be hearing about how so many messages were trashed by the spam filter.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
sort of makes sense, but it is messy
State says "Erm, yeah, ok. But how do I know that it's really you emailing? We don't have time to set up a proper online system now. We don't want to be sued for disenfranchising people."
People say "So is that a yes or a no?"
State says "Well, OK, you can do it, as long as you sign and send a piece of paper your voting card confirming that it was you who voted and that you won't sue us if we get it wrong."
What I don't understand is, if they need the hard copy in the post, why they don't just use postal voting instead?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: sort of makes sense, but it is messy
Plus, can you imagine the shitstorm should those votes make a difference after the ones who failed to send in hard-copy were taken into account?
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: sort of makes sense, but it is messy
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: sort of makes sense, but it is messy
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
New Jersey seating...
If anybody's wondering, 538.com listed Obama at +11.6% and the Senate race with Menendez(D) is at +14%. These offices can be described as "Safe Democratic".
Wikipedia shows that New Jersey has 13 congressional seats. Currently 6 Democrats and 6 Republicans hold these seats. One seat is vacant when Donald Payne(D) passed way in March.
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
conspiracy? HA
There's more to know if one is to look critically
[ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]
Add Your Comment
Add A Reply