Ex White House chief questions internet voting
Electronic voting raises concerns security, privacy, fraud
by Bankole Thompson for the Michigan Citizen
DETROIT ? John Podesta, former White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration, has doubts about the security of Internet voting.?

??Internet voting is very, very troublesome,? Podesta said in a recent interview with The Michigan Citizen, during a recent stop in Detroit.

Despite a public outcry over Internet voting by opponents who say it would cause a digital disenfranchisement among minorities, the Michigan Democratic Party introduced Internet voting in the state?s caucus Feb. 7.

?In Internet voting, the voting machines are subject to abusive misuse. I think this is a real issue,? Podesta said. ?I?m very skeptical about this.?

Dr. Rebecca Mercurie, an expert in voting machine security and standards, wrote that Internet voting leaves many security issues unresolved, including the dangers of coercion, vote selling and impersonation.

?The voter has absolutely no control over the vote cast once it leaves his own computer system,? she wrote. ?He cannot check whether it has been subverted on the way to the count. The Internet introduces additional authentication issues.?

Podesta agreed, saying, ?Maryland is beginning to get nervous? about its voting machines.

Officials there released a report that their Diebold machines were ?at high risk of compromise? due to security flaws in the software.

Like many, Podesta believes that large corporations, like Diebold Election Systems, which makes voting machines, have proven ties to GOP interests.

Different companies that make the machines have experienced problems with their software and hardware, in effect losing many votes. Problems have been reported in more than a dozen states that use the machines, including California, which used them in its gubernatorial elections last year.

California?s Alameda County, for example, uses 4,000 touch-screen voting machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems. Despite the report released by Maryland officials, Alameda insisted its policies and procedures for using the machines would secure them against fraud.

?Anytime large corporations in America decide to take [control over] any aspect of the political process, be alarmed,? said Dr. Lynn Lewis, professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Detroit-Mercy.

Michigan Democratic Party officials said the introduction of Internet voting is part of the party?s larger vision of adapting to the technological age. The party does not see the plan as a disenfranchisement of any group.

?This is a system, I think, would have substantial problems,? Podesta said. ?For a general election there would be tremendous security problems.?

Most of the Democratic presidential hopefuls condemned Internet voting in Michigan. Computer security experts last month warned its supporters that digital voting, with current technology, could not be secured against fraud.

?Basing a voting system on the Internet poses unavoidable risks of voting fraud and privacy risks,? David Wagner, professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, said.

?They are unavoidable and can?t be fixed.?

As November nears, the uncertainty over Internet voting grows, and is forcing ballot machine vendors to address a host of complaints about their products.

?If you vote from an insecure home computer over an insecure network, you have an insecure election,? Wagner said.

One of the Democratic presidential hopefuls, the Rev. Al Sharpton, criticized the Michigan plan to use Internet voting, saying it would benefit mostly voters who are wealthy and can afford a computer and Internet access.

?A grandmother in a housing development is going to have to walk downstairs and walk five blocks to vote. Who do you think is going to get more of the vote?? he said.

?Democracy is about equal access. This is not equal access; it really is a high-tech poll tax.?

U.S. Department of Commerce figures for Internet users show different groups, including the unemployed and seniors, would not benefit from Internet voting.

The DOC?s figures show that, while 53.9 percent of Michigan?s population are Internet users, of these only 37.1 percent of people over the age of 50, and 36.9 percent of the unemployed, are Internet users.

The statistics also show that only 12.7 percent of households with incomes of $15,000 or less have Internet access. By contrast, 86.3 percent of homes with earnings of $75,000 have Internet access.

Reach Bankole Thompson at bthompson@michigancitizen.com