CIS Presents 2: Electronic Voting

Well the presentation by Coralee Whitcomb was pretty interesting. Electronic voting is probably the next logical step from paper ballots. There however, are flaws and bugs. But, that is always an issue with new technology or with new systems in general.

The newest system for electronic voting is called the DRE machine or the "direct recording electronic voting machine." One has a smart card designated to vote for a certain ballot or area that gets inserted into the DRE machine, then the machine records it onto a hard drive, which then is sent to get tallied on some huge server somewhere. Also these smart cards are reusable by voters.

There are many pros and many cons that are pretty consistent with an electronic voting system.

Pros
1. Accessibility to those who aren't in their voting district (College students)
2. Easy to use interface
3. Guidance via electronic instruction
4. Audio aid to those who aren't literate
5. Different languages programed in to help those who don't speak English well.

Cons
1. Need knowledgeable technicians to maintain machines
2. Can be easily hijacked
3. Software bugs
4. Cannot verify with paper backup
5. Scale of electronic voting errors could be immense due to conformity of machines and programs.

So, although electronic voting is very much the future of voting there are still many risks involved. Risks that could in fact, jeopardize national security.