Earlier this week, Ireland moved to ban the use of electronic voting equipment purchased for June elections. The decision, based on a report from the Commission on Electronic Voting, puts the €52m purchase on ice.
Ireland has purchased e-voting machines from PowerVote, a UK firm. The web site touts the lack of “ballot papers” as a feature.
The system (already purchased, just like in California) could not be judged reliable because of a long list of reasons which include the following:
- Limited “end-to-end” testing of the full system
- No independent “end-to-end” testing
- No parallel testing in a real election (compare results of the two systems)
- No certification by an “accredited testing and certification authority”
- Software not yet finalized
- Commission unable to access source code
- Ineffective electronic security measures
Links: Ireland Online (4 May); NewsForge (3 May)
