Wednesday, September 21, 2016

The Great American Spirit and Internet Voting

Election Attitude
John Patrick, Ph.D.

A Book Review

When asked about the possibilities for having Internet voting in the USA, Vint Cerf, one of the Founding Fathers of the Internet, declared to Dr. Patrick, “We can do this!”

Having an Election Attitude means believing that an election system should serve the needs of the people, our brothers and sisters, who use it.  This book applies the attitude of caring about people to an examination of the election system in the USA today. If you care about people, especially the American people, then you will be quite upset by an election system that forces voters to waste their time trekking to a distant polling place, taking buses, or fighting traffic and finding parking, only to have to wait in lines, which are sometimes very long, and where equipment problems lurk.

Even those who vote by mail can never be sure their ballots will be timely delivered by the USPS. Besides inconvenience and delivery concerns, there are other worries. Were all the millions of pieces of paper from both Post Office and polling place, that folks voted on, counted correctly, or counted at all?

As Mr. Cerf understands, if we can shop and bank online, then we CAN vote online.  Se si puede, as President Obama has often affirmed. Isn’t that The American Spirit?

This book shows how voting online can be made reality in American elections. Dr. Patrick has a Ph.D. in systems management. He was the VP of Internet Technology at IBM, with 35 years of experience in the field. He has written extensively about applying a pro-people attitude to the reform of systems. One example is his book on the US health care system (in which he criticizes, among other things, Obamacare).

Efficiency, reliability, and ease of use are some of the human needs that systems ought to satisfy. Amazon is an example of how this has been done. Consider the process of driving to a bookstore, traffic, parking, then scanning shelves for your title, then paying at the register, if the store has your book in stock. Compare that to tapping a few keys on your Smartphone, and having your book, or other item, delivered to your door. Amazon understands, respects, and satisfies human needs.

Dr. Patrick puts his expert knowledge to work to show his readers how our cumbersome antiquated 19th century voting system can be transformed into a 21st century secure and easy to use online process. This would not be done all at once, of course, but state by state and district by district, as the people demand it from their officials. Aware that the US Constitution gives authority over election administration to the states, and the states allocate that authority to their numerous local voting jurisdictions, Dr. Patrick envisions Internet voting systems emerging in every jurisdiction, offering online voting to their voters, but NOT connected to one another. Having hundreds of small, local systems, like the ones used in Norway or Estonia, would make hacking a national election on a national level impossible.  

We can vote on our PC, cell phone, or tablet, from anywhere, even out of the country, and any time during the election period. Blockchain technology is one of the examples Dr. Patrick explains as a way of making the devices voters use secure against spies and viruses. He has made a believer of me!

So, what’s the hold up? Here is where Dr. Patrick really does a service for his country. He exposes, and clearly shows, that for over a dozen years a small, well organized, well-funded group of anti-Internet voting pro-paper extremists have cleverly manipulated public opinion and forcefully intimidated federal, state, and local authorities so as to block even tiny trials of online voting. They use scary stories of what MIGHT or COULD happen with online voting. They cry, the Russian government, or a US teenager in his suburban bedroom, might or could control an election for the US President. (Maybe a hacker in Iran could elect an Ayatollah for US President!)

My, oh my! I guess we’d better not go that route. But wait! Dr. Patrick shows by historical fact that other countries have been using Internet voting for years, and NO election results have ever been shown to have been altered in any way by hackers.  Not one vote stolen or modified. (In 2014, 97 cities in Canada offered an Internet voting option. All with great success.)

One reason why online voting can be so secure is that its servers are only online for a short time – the election period. Business systems are more vulnerable because they are online 24/7/365. Hackers have time to probe for weak spots, or fool employees with trick emails that look innocent but have a link that, when clicked on, lets in the hackers. Online voting server software can have security programs that keep out spies and viruses. Security is doable.

But the well-funded extremists use the Absolute standard of Perfectly Safe Voting Systems. This is the kind of standard that would make any reasonable person afraid to get out of bed in the morning. Thus, they find all sorts of possibilities that MIGHT or COULD (but never have) go wrong.

So an Election Attitude also entails having the courage to go ahead with a Plan for Progress despite the hysteria created by the few well-funded nay-sayers. Dr. Patrick discusses several instances in which Chicken Little “experts” declared “it can’t be done!”  But stalwart pioneers persevered, and did it. One example is West Virginia Secretary of State, Natalie Tennant. She ran an online voting trial for her state’s overseas military. It went without a hitch. The voters loved it.

Besides electing officials to office, there are other benefits for those with the courage to Cyber the Vote. Imagine a weekly e-townhall meeting in every Congressional District. Constituents could conveniently interact with their representatives – even initiate and vote on proposed legislation to be introduced or voted on in Congress. Indeed, every elected office and public agency in the country could have such e-townhalls.

Presidential elections can be re-organized around Internet voting.  Imagine watching a series of debates online or on TV, and then Rank Choice Voting online; that is, rating each candidate, say 1-3, rather than one vote for one person. The least appealing candidate could be eliminated in the series until only two are left. A couple more debates and the final vote online. (I have written about this in detail.*)

Dr. Patrick mentions several possibilities he sees for the e-reform of our government – some are very interesting, some are kind of silly (like Chaum’s idea of government by polling people); some he didn’t see, but which are mentioned here.

In short, this little book shows how it can be done.  The primary obstacle is Not Technology, but the FEAR of Technology; a fear fueled by a small group of well-funded professional propagandists.  While Dr. Patrick believes that every objection deserves consideration before proceeding, sheer scary stories based on fantasy standards of perfection should not be allowed to cower a nation.  As FDR famously proclaimed, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Having an Election Attitude means having the pioneer’s courage to boldly move into the future, ready to work to realize our nation’s full potential for Democracy.


William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
(On Kindle or in paper)

*For a detailed online presidential election organization plan, which would sharply sideline the power of Big Money, go here, and here.

Friday, September 9, 2016

Internet Voting and Democracy FREE E-Book!

FREE E-Book - INTERNET VOTING NOW!

Internet voting is coming to the US. There is no way to stop it. But, we as a nation can go with the flow, and direct the new technology in ways that will democratize our election practices. With Internet voting rightly organized, we can #GetMoneyOut of US politics - on all levels!

Imagine a series of elimination debates for presidential contestants. Watch the debates online or on TV, and vote online. (For all the details, start here*)

Imagine: every Congressional District having its own E-Townhall, as often as the People demand it. Indeed, we can do this in every government office.

Read or download (safe!) these chapters for FREE:

Internet Voting: The Great Security Scare 

The Original Intentions of the Framers for US Presidential Elections 

Obama's Oligarchy: And Other Deviations from the Original Intentions 

How to Organize the Direct Election of US Presidents in a Way Which Will Restore Reason and Eliminate Costs to the Candidates, Based on Internet Voting

TO READ THESE CHAPTERS click on a title, or go to my SSRN author page, at http://ssrn.com/author=1053589 Then click on a title. When it comes up, click on "download." Each chapter is a searchable pdf file.

All comments welcome!

William Kelleher, Ph.D.
InternetVoting@gmail.com 


In paper on Amazon at, http://tinyurl.com/IVNow2011
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Thursday, September 8, 2016

Misinformation about Security of E-Voting Machines

I'm no advocate for evoting machines in polling places. In fact, I think the trek to polling places is a waste of time, we could be voting online from home or anywhere. But somebody's got to say something!

US “journalists” ought to be ashamed of the totally irresponsible one-sided presentation they are giving the issue of voting machine security.  They are undermining the legitimacy of our nation’s election results. How reckless and careless can they be?!

They should be giving top priority to FACTUAL and responsible stories, not unrealistic scary stories – especially from the agents of the Verified Voting Foundation.

US Courts have heard all the scary testimony, and found each one to be false.

A fully documented account of the Maryland case, Schade v Lamone, is at How NIST has Misled Congress and the American People about Internet Voting Insecurity, http://ssrn.com/author=1053589  (free safe dwnld) The testimony of “expert” witness, Avi Rubin, was disregarded by the court, and the petition for an injunction to stop the use of evoting machines denied.

The New Jersey court in Gusciora v Corzine began its list of findings of fact by stating, “While the AVC is not a perfect voting system and there are serious issues that remain to be addressed, based on the evidence adduced at trial, the court finds the following: 
(1) No AVC has ever been demonstrated to have been hacked, other than in an academic setting, in this State or any other state. 
(2) There has never been a demonstrated incident of an attempted attack or a verified attack of any AVC voting system in the United States since its use began at least as early as 1979.” p159 (italics added) The court dismissed some of “expert” witness Andrew Appel’s claims with words like “purely hypothetical,” “fictional,” and “unrealistic.” See the opinion at http://tinyurl.com/NJEVoteOK

Hey journalists folks, Thanks for the harm you've done to our democracy.

William J. Kelleher, Ph.D. 

Author, Internet Voting Now! 

PS

Consider this:

Media helped to nominate Trump with Preferential Coverage

Media is helping to finance his campaign with more Preferential Coverage

Media is Reinforcing Trump’s Campaign by Promoting Misinformation about Security of
E-voting Machines


The greedy herd stampede towards Mindless Unselfcritical Sensationalism is controlling this US presidential election, and We The People are allowing it


Sunday, February 21, 2016

Internet Voting in Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Elections!

The Los Angeles Department of Neighborhood Empowerment has recently announced the selection of Everyone Counts as the proposed online voting vendor for the 2016 Neighborhood Council elections.  The contract is for 50 elections with online and telephone voting options, for $552,000. A verifiable voter registration service is included.

Online voting has the ability to significantly increase participation in the Neighborhood Council system. Currently, voters who want to participate in Neighborhood Council elections are forced to vote in person on one day in a single location for a period of between 2-6 hours unless the Neighborhood Council offers vote-by-mail, which only 15 Neighborhood Councils do. On average, there were only 264 votes per Neighborhood Council in the 2014 elections when tens of thousands were eligible.

Voters will have the opportunity to vote from their computer, smart phone or telephone land line.

Besides many government elections in 165 countries Everyone Counts has conducted the voting for the Oscars and Emmy’s, which apparently require more security checks than many government elections.  In 2014 alone, Everyone Counts administered 540 primary and general US elections, delivering 5,000 ballot styles to voters across 27,000 precincts for 231 counties.

Once a voter is registered, they will be provided security information to sign-in and cast their vote online. They will only receive the ballot for which they are qualified to vote. Online voters can review their vote prior to submitting. One vote per voter.

Online voting will replace any vote-by-mail options that Neighborhood Councils may have.


If the contract is approved this March, after public discussion, it still must go to the Mayor’s Office and the CAO for final sign-off. Check the www.EmpowerLA.org calendar for more information.

William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
Author: Internet Voting Now!
(on paper or in Kindle)