Virtual voting initiative boosts accessibility

Virtual voting initiative boosts accessibility

By John Digrado

Daily Bruin Staff

In an effort to bring democracy out of the polls and into the
the living room, the newly founded Campaign for Digital Democracy
unveiled an initiative late last week that would create a "virtual
voting booth" on the World Wide Web.

The Virtual Voting Rights Initiative would add sections to the
California Elections code that would require the Secretary of State
to "design, develop and implement a digital electoral system," a
move that would allow the citizens of California to vote via the
Internet, telephone and other digital platforms.

"The goal is to create a political community linked by computers
so (voters) can decide together what they want in policy," said the
Campaign for Digital Democracy Chairman Marc Strassman. "It’s very
low cost, very participatory. It’s fast and relatively cheap."

The initiative would allow computer users to download voting
software from the Internet and, after a series of user
identifications, cast their ballots from the comfort of their
homes.

Voters without access to the Internet would be able to call a
toll-free number and vote over the telephone, from networked kiosks
and eventually through cable and interactive television, proponents
said.

"It’s faster and less inconvenient (than going to the polls),"
Strassman said. "If more people vote, you have a more democratic
government."

Some students agreed with Strassman, citing that the increased
accessibility of the system would lead to a more active public role
in government.

"It’ll be good for students because most people on campus have
Internet access," said Tom Soong, a fifth-year sociology student.
"People will have more access to (the political system)."

Though the initiative may go to the voters on the November 1996
ballot, voters may not approve the measure due to concerns over the
security of the ballots cast.

"I wouldn’t support it. If it’s over the ‘net, it’s not totally
safe," argued Steve Drew, a fourth-year history student. "It kind
of destroys the idea of the secret ballot."

Others expressed concerns about votes being forged by hackers,
effectively stuffing the virtual ballot box.

"If votes could be changed, then that’s a problem that needs to
be dealt with," Soong said.

Supporters of the initiative said that they recognize the
potential problems that could arise should the system be
hacked.

"We don’t have the answer to it yet," Strassman said. "We’ll
have to see what happens, but we have to spend a lot of time and
effort to protect against violations of (the system’s)
integrity."

The initiative calls for the use of digital signatures and
public key cryptography to safeguard the Virtual Voting System from
fraudulent voting.

Proposed penalties for hackers caught compromising the system
include a $3,000 fine as well as a one to three year exile from any
public computer network. Fraudulent use of other forms of the
system carry the same ramifications.

"There are a lot of things running around the world, all of
which can be compromised by computer hackers," Strassman said.
"This is a problem that is far broader than voting in
cyberspace."

Despite the apparent drawbacks, Strassman hopes to obtain the
approximately 700,000 signatures required to place the measure on
the November ballot and put the issue directly to the voters.
Should the measure pass, the system is anticipated to be in place
for the 1998 primary elections.

Voters that want to sign the petition can visit the Campaign’s
World Wide Web site at http://www.cddemocracy.org.Comments to
[email protected]