The study of election fraud is largely undeveloped in the academic community. Although there are some exceptions, such as Walter Mebane’s use of Bendford’s Law and random digit forensics, most research has been case-specific without broad implications. One type of election fraud, which often goes undiscussed, is when electors casting ballots in constituencies they don’t reside in. Kentaro Fukumoto and Yusaku […]
Author Archives: JD
Egyptian government to introduce e-voting system, ensure future allegations of fraud
I’ve previously praised Estonia’s internet voting system, not so much for the concept (unnecessary) , but their execution. Internet voting is fraught with challenges and Estonia has done an admirable job of creating a system that addresses them. But it’s not easy to administer an e-voting system; Estonia had to rewrite laws and spend considerable effort to make theirs work. So I got a little scared today when I read that Egypt was planning on introducing an electronic voting system for their upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.
Electronic voting can mean both internet voting, or simply automated machines; it’s not clear what they are referring to here. The mention of Egyptians overseas voting leads me to believe they are talking about internet voting, which would be a disaster. This could, of course, simply mean automated voting, which would be slightly less of a disaster. Indonesia, the Philippines and India are all examples of non-Western democracies that have implemented automated voting; the success of such programs is subjective, but generally acknowledged. All of those processes, however, took considerable time to develop (not five months!). While I have heard that India was advising Egypt on election administration, I find it hard to believe they would recommend moving to this system so quickly.
This leads me to believe they may actually be thinking about internet voting. This actually might be better than an automated system, as it would not require buying thousands of machines (and training people how to use them). Internet voting, however, is far from secure. I would also think a high profile election like Egypt’s would attract top hacker talent – some political, some bored teenagers – from around the world. So don’t’ be surprised if internet votes make Ruby the next president of Egypt.
In which I sound like a Neocon
Mar 20
I think both Jon Chait and Matt Yglesias make characteristically strong arguments in debating the wisdom of getting involved in Libya. I’m glad I’m not a policymaker right now because I have very mixed emotions about this. On one hand, I share the worries, well expressed by Jeffrey Goldberg, about what happens after we become committed. And another […]
Elections in E-stonia
Mar 7
Estonia held parliamentary elections on Sunday, in which a record number of Estonians cast their ballots through the internet. This was Estonia’s fifth election where e-voting was an option and the second national-level poll to allow it. The almost 25 percent of voters who used the internet shows that there is an increasing level of […]
Election Observations
Mar 5
Election Observation Missions (EOMs) in general, don’t receive enough attention from the academic and policy communities. Not no attention of course, but very little when we consider how important they are. Maybe it’s because by their very nature, EOMs are assumed to be another method of data collection to build other assessments off of. […]
Internet Voting in Estonia
I have a new post over at ElectionGuide.org detailing the upcoming election in Estonia. It’s a basic rundown of the election that discusses, among other things, Estonia’s innovative Internet voting system. I think it’s a fair question to ask if anybody really needs internet voting, and if the potential costs are really worth anything gained. Regardless of the answer to that, I believe Estonia has done an impressive job of making their system as secure and safe as can be. Take, for example, their solution to the problem of vote buying. The privacy of a voting booth, if executed correctly, can destroy much of the potential for vote buying. This is because it makes it difficult for a vote-buyer to verify how a ballot was actually cast. (Yes there are ways around this, that’s why I said “if executed correctly”). This protection would be lost with the ability to vote from anywhere at anytime. Estonia, however, has found a solution to this.
To address this problem, Estonian officials came up with an innovative solution: an elector can cast as many internet votes as they like in the allotted timeframe, but only the last vote will count. In addition, an elector may still cast a paper ballot on election day, which will void all previous votes cast through the internet. This setup destroys the incentive for a vote buyer to purchase a vote, as they have no guarantee that the voter cannot simply change it at a later time
I would also add that this goes above and beyond the state of Washington, which votes entirely by mail, and is theoretically subject to the same level of vote buying.
No one could have predicted this
Feb 14
I’ve heard this a lot over the past couple of weeks with regards to the revolution in Egypt; there is some truth to it. On January 7th, I remember reading this article, which used Egyptian humor to highlight the hopelessness that the country had become used to feeling. I do think, however, that some of […]
Internal Alliances Collapsing
Feb 5
My friend Sam Tadros has a new piece in the American Thinker about the recent events in Egypt. There is a lot here, so I’m not going to go into all of it, but one point Sam makes is worth highlighting: The army never liked Gamal or his friends. Gamal had never served in the […]
Not Business as Usual in Egypt
Jan 29
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For some reason I don’t think that firing the Egyptian cabinet is going to cut it at this point. It’s true that the interior minister was truly hated, but we don’t know what is really going to happen to him. Similarly, given his position within the military, sacking Defense Minister Mohamed Tantawi will probably not […]
Ahwa Talk 