[liberationtech] Free and Fair Elections in Egypt

[James S. Tyre]

I've no idea what might be proposed for Egypt.  I do know, however, that importing Indian EVMs (and all their problems)
is being considered by Pakistan, Nepal and Russia.
 
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James S. Tyre                                      jstyre at jstyre.com
Law Offices of James S. Tyre          310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax)
10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512               Culver City, CA 90230-4969
Policy Fellow, Electronic Frontier Foundation     http://www.eff.org
 
From: liberationtech-bounces at lists.stanford.edu [mailto:liberationtech-bounces at lists.stanford.edu] On Behalf Of Rebecca
MacKinnon
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2011 1:25 PM
To: Steve Weis
Cc: M[P
Subject: Re: [liberationtech] Free and Fair Elections in Egypt
 
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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