Re: Fwd: 10/7 FVAP letter- online vote transmission

Non-secret ballots. Electronic submission without proper verification. Ballots sent out 45 days early so that observation by independent observers of the counting process becomes even more difficult ... approaching impossibility.

This is not good.

Margit

Margit Johansson

Coloradans for Voting Integrity (CFVI)

303-442-1668/ margitjo@xxxxxxxxx

Details of The Federal Voting Assistance Program Recommendations*

FVAP <http://www.fvap.gov/> recommendations are in this letter <http://www.ncvoter.net/downloads/FVAP_2010_Initiatives_North_Carolina.pdf> dated Oct 7. See excerpts below, and note that a long term goal is to transmit voted ballots /electronically/ :

*Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) letter to North Carolina

State Board of Elections, dated October 7, 2009*

Given our new focus, FVAP is realigning in Legislative Initiative

recommendations to the States. The enclosed initiatives focus on

sending ballots to voters at least 45 days before the election. FVAP

also recommends the expanded use of email and online retransmission

for all election materials throughout the entire absentee voting

process, replacing fax and postal mail where possible. *Until secure

electronic transmission of voted ballots has been established, we

recommend that States allow voters to return static copies of voted

ballots through available electronic means.* However, the decision

to send a voted ballot by unsecure electronic means must rest with

the individual voter based on the voter's desire to cast his or her

vote electronically or to ensure the secrecy of their ballot.

Email and online capabilities are widely available to Uniformed

Service members and overseas citizens, vastly eclipsing the

usefulness of faxing. After a September 2008 visit to military bases

in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, a delegation of six State Chief

Election Officials reported that "the system of delivering ballots

and returning them by mail is archaic compared to the pace of modern

military operations" and "...reliance on fax machines to speed the

voting process....is largely unworkable for deployed troops." The

delegation also reported that individual service members and

overseas citizens confirmed that in overseas locales fax

capabilities were not readily available and "indicated a strong

preference for, and almost universal access to, email or internet

based voting procedures."