[liberationtech] Free and Fair Elections in Egypt

[Rebecca MacKinnon]

Important points. 

Still, it's not a bad idea for people trying to put together free and fair elections for the first time to be mindful - along with all of those core prerequisites you mention - of the problems emerging around the world with electronic voting machines. 

See for example this "Security Analysis of India’s Electronic Voting Machines" by a multi-national team of computer scientists: 
http://www.cse.umich.edu/~jhalderm/pub/papers/evm-ccs10.pdf

In the event (which may be unlikely) that the use of electronic voting machines is seriously proposed or considered in Egypt, these problems are certainly an excellent reason to stick with paper ballots.


On Feb 13, 2011, at 3:05 PM, Steve Weis wrote:

> Egypt used hand-counted paper ballots in 2010 [1]. That didn't prevent voter intimidation or ballot stuffing, like what's apparently shown in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4HBUKkXyIc
> 
> The specific mechanism of how the votes are cast is largely irrelevant without vote enfranchisement, safe voting locations, media freedoms, electoral oversight, and the ability to audit the results. Focusing on whether someone votes with a pen and paper, or a touchscreen is missing the bigger picture.
> 
> [1] - "Furor Grows Over Egypt's Election Results", http://www.npr.org/2010/11/30/131704396/calls-grow-to-set-aside-egypt-s-election-results
> 
> On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Sheila Parks <sheilaruthparks at comcast.net> wrote:
> My blood runs cold every time I hear that, wondering if, no WHEN the US privatized, riggable electronic voting machine industry will try to sell their poisons to Egypt.
> 
> The youth and geeks who organized and those millions of leaders who took part in Revolution know better than that, I tell myself
> 
> I would really appreciate comments from you who are involved in democracy and technology.
> 
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