A Politech reader reported last week that the French-government-supported Internet Rights Forum (“Le Forum des droits sur l’internet”) has published recommendations about the future of eVoting in France.
The audit recommendation does not explicitly call for a “voter-verifiable audit trail,” which is the goal of two European advocacy groups: the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) and the Free E-democracy Project. Last month, California became the first state to require a voter-verified audit trail, but not until 2006.
The report also does not detail security measures, but references a European Commission definition [1]
[A secure system] can withstand deliberate attacks – [is] reliable – it works whatever the shortcomings in terms of software or hardware. (…) In addition, the voter must be able to obtain confirmation of his/her vote(…) and the transparency of the system must be guaranteed, in the sense that correct operation can be verified.
The report includes the follow recommendations:
- Electronic voting should be introduced in a gradual manner.
- Technically, there must be access to source code by approved experts as well as a “posteriori” audit of the voting system
- Citizens may expect SMS or telephone voting, because they have been exposed to this technology via television shows; the group refers to this as “distance voting” and endorses the concept while acknowledging security issues.
A European Gallup methodologist, in an interview published last week, believes that voters expect more confidentiality in voting than they do when expressing an opinion in an online poll.
Links: EurActiv.com (5 Dec); Wiredpen (25 Nov); Wiredpen (19 Nov); ElectricNews.net (12 Nov)
[1] The “European Commission for democracy through law” published a “Code of good practice in electoral matters” (Opinion no. 190/2002 of 19 October 2002).
