IP: 6 months ago is nothing

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 10:08:12 -0500 (EST)
> From: Rebecca Mercuri <mercuri () gradient cis upenn edu>
> To: egerck () safevote com, farber () cis upenn edu
> Subject: 6 months ago is nothing
> Cc: mercuri () gradient cis upenn edu, neumann () csl sri com
>
> Dave and Ed --
>
> Peter Neumann forwarded me the communication that Ed sent to Dave
> about problems in Florida being pointed out 6 months ago by The Bell.
> I should point out that these problems were pointed out 12 YEARS ago
> (and numerous times since) by folks like Roy Saltman who wrote an
> entire treatise on the subject back in 1988 for NIST, and Ronnie Dugger
> who wrote a number of extensive articles, one covering the 1988 Senate
> Election in Florida. I had personally been involved with the 1993
> contested mayoral race in St. Petersburg FL where other types of
> problems occurred.
>
> I realize that the Bell is new and ambitious, and it is certainly good
> that they want to spread the word about these problems, but to take
> credit for being early on the scene is like Gore saying he invented
> the Internet.
>
> What troubles me even MORE than the credit-taking, is this chilling
> comment at the end of Ed's note: "we should in fact be looking
> > to Internet voting systems in order to try to reduce those faults and
> > thus provide for more security than what is available today ­ not
> > less security."
>
> The point is that Internet systems indeed DO promise FAR LESS in the
> way of auditability (recounts) and anonymity (privacy) than do the
> paper and other manual systems presently in place.  To promote the
> belief that Internet voting, in any way provides a SAFE VOTE, is
> wholly erroneous.
>
> Rebecca Mercuri
> mercuri () acm org
>
> P.S. Dave, if you forwarded Ed's note to your group, you may want to
> forward my reply as well. Also, I've placed a link on my web page
> with Electronic Voting information (the thesis will eventually go there
> too). The page can be accessed directly via:
> www.seas.upenn.edu/~mercuri/evote.html