http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/may/30/me-internet-voting-targeted/
Activists Target Internet Voting
By CATHERINE DOLINSKI
The Tampa Tribune
Published: May 30, 2008
Related Links
* Politics Page <
http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/>
* Blog: <
http://news.tboblogs.com/index.php/news/C520/> March On
Politics
TALLAHASSEE - Voting activists demanded Thursday that state officials stop
one Florida county from experimenting with Internet voting this fall.
If Secretary of State Kurt Browning allows Okaloosa County to go ahead with
the project, the issue could wind up in court, said Dan McCrea, president of
the Florida Voters Coalition.
"Taxpayers are still reeling from the costly mistake of allowing DRE
touch-screen voting before that technology was secure," McCrea said in a
letter he sent to Browning. "We mustn't repeat that mistake by allowing
cyberspace voting when that technology is not secure."
McCrea referred to the Operation Bravo pilot project in Okaloosa County,
which Supervisor of Elections Pat Hollarn plans to launch this fall
specifically to serve overseas voters in the military.
In his letter, McCrea raised the specter of touch-screen voting and the
problems associated with it, which compelled lawmakers and Gov. Charlie
Crist last year to approve switching to a statewide paper-ballot system.
"A less expensive, more secure solution existed when half of Florida's
voters were switched to touch-screens," McCrea wrote. "Now Florida has
required that simpler solution - paper ballots - and we're tripping over our
worthless touch-screens before we're even finished paying for them."
Voting Available In Certain Areas
The Operation Bravo project attempts to remedy problems that overseas
military personnel encounter in the voting process, which leads to low
participation. On its Web site, the Operation Bravo Foundation cites a 2006
report from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission that found that of the
992,034 absentee ballots requested, about 330,000 ballots were cast or
counted.
"More than 70 percent of all absentee ballots reported not counted was
because these ballots were returned to local election offices as
undeliverable," according to the EAC.
Through Operation Bravo, overseas military personnel stationed in selected
areas of Germany, England and Okinawa, Japan, would vote at computer
stations on encrypted electronic ballots, which would transmit on a secure
computer line to a data center in Spain, then to Florida. Only Florida
election officials would be able to decrypt the ballots, Hollarn said.
Voters would see a printout of the ballots they cast prior to transmittal -
something that Florida's 2007 paper-trail legislation does not require for
disabled voters who will continue to use touch-screen machines, Hollarn
noted.
But McCrea said Operation Bravo's paper trail does meet the state's
requirements for paper ballots - and that, he said, flies in the face of the
state's voting reform movement.
"Less expensive, more secure solutions may exist for overseas voting, too,"
he wrote.
Elections Chief Leads Foundation
McCrea and Hollarn are using different parts of Florida's voting statutes to
make their case. McCrea is pointing to the 2007 paper-trail statute, while
Hollarn cites a 2005 statute permitting safe electronic transmission of
election materials - a provision, she noted, that the 2007 legislation did
not repeal. McCrea is asking Browning to find that the 2007 law renders the
2005 statute "moot."
McCrea is also leveling a conflict-of-interest accusation against Hollarn,
who heads the Operation Bravo Foundation that wants to launch the pilot
project.
The Operation Bravo Foundation is only a fundraising mechanism for the
project, Hollarn said.
She added that she has had attorneys review the project to ensure its
legality and propriety.
Jennifer Davis, spokeswoman for the secretary of state, said Browning has
not yet received or reviewed Okaloosa's final project submission for
certification.
Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or
cdolinski@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.