[CitizensTruth] ACTION ALERT - Internet Voting Bill

[Walterb306 at cs.com]

All,

FYI.  Alert

Beverley

URGENT!!!!! 



Please go to our website at www.ballot-integrity.org to see the full 
details.



PLEASE SPREAD WIDELY!!!!!!




Please call your Illinois state Senator AND Governor Pat Quinn's office  to 
OPPOSE  Illinois HB 85, which seeks to establish an ad hoc commission to 
investigate INTERNET VOTING. 

    
      
     Don't know your Senator?   
    Look here:   
     
(http://www.elections.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/SelectSearchType.aspx)

    
     Gov. Pat Quinn's office:  
    (Phone: 217-782-0244 or 312-814-2121)


WHY OPPOSE THE COMMISSION:

Since the bill establishes a COMMISSION and NOT a COMMITTEE it is not 
subject to the usual review or input from the public, internet security and 
voting experts.  As such, the commission can "rule" to suggest a vendor for 
internet voting without the benefit of fully understanding the insecurities of 
internet voting or the fact that there is no verifiable paper ballot as 
required by the Illinois Election Code.


I THOUGHT THAT INTERNET VOTING IS SECURE:
While many transactions have been conducted online safely, all systems are 
still vulnerable to attack--even the Pentagon has been hacked into. 
 For more information: 
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/03/07/china.hackers/index.html


I THOUGHT THAT INTERNET VOTING WOULD BENEFIT US CITIZENS LIVING ABROAD, 
INCLUDING US MILITARY PERSONNEL: 
ALL ILLINOIS VOTERS should demand a verifiable paper ballot which can be 
easily read, marked, accurately counted and secured, especially in the event 
of a recount or close election.  ALL military personnel and those living 
abroad still have that ability NOW to vote with a military or overseas paper 
absentee ballots.  

The Pentagon tried to introduce internet voting for its military, but it 
was a complete failure, due among other problems, its vast insecurity.  So 
porous was the system that the Pentagon CANCELED internet voting.  

See: http://news.digitaltrends.com/news-article/2589/favicon.ico 


According to Dr. Rebecca Mercuri, computerized voting expert--the military 
and ex-pats have the ability NOW to establish precincts in overseas military 
bases as well as all overseas embassies.  The fact is, the need for 
internet voting is not justified.

In a document regarding internet voting over 24 computer security and 
computerized voting experts have determined that internet voting or the even a 
pilot program for internet voting is just not appopriate due to inherent 
insecurity:

Here is what they said:  



"Given this list of problems, there is ample reason to be skeptical of 
internet voting proposals. Therefore, the principles of operation of any 
internet voting scheme should be publicly disclosed in sufficient detail so that 
anyone with the necessary qualifications and skills can verify that election 
results from that system can reasonably be trusted. Before these conditions 
are met, "pilot studies" of internet voting in government elections should be 
avoided, because the apparent "success" of such a study absolutely cannot 
show the absence of problems that, by their nature, may go undetected. 
Furthermor e, potential attackers may choose only to attack full-scale elections, 
not pilot projects.
The internet has the potential to transform democracy in many ways, but 
permitting it to be used for public elections without assurance that the 
results are verifiably accurate is an extraordinary and unnecessary risk to 
democracy.


You can see the entire document here.
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/downloads/InternetVotingStatement.pdf



INTERNET VOTING IS JUST FOR THOSE PEOPLE OVERSEAS--HOW DOES IT AFFECT ME?
One can make a claim that with any vote lost, (or stolen) our democracy 
suffers, our self-determination denied.  An internet voting pilot program may 
turn into a fully run election--with no verifiable paper ballot, no observers 
at the poll, no election judges, no observers when ballots or materials are 
dropped off or counted. Our elections would be in the hands of a private 
server.  Is this something that we want?  I would say emphatically NO!



It would be a fully FAITH BASED election--worse than those conducted now 
with privatized, computerized voting. 

Please just take a few minutes and voice your concern.
Please tell them you your name and address.   
To make them accountable to you--please also ask your Senator to write you 
back as to how they will vote on the bill and WHY.



Use the body of this message for talking points  OR go to our website 
www.ballot-integrity.org



_____________ the bottom line is this:


Internet voting is insecure, unverifiable, and a strict violation of 
Illinois election code which requires a voter verifiable paper ballot for all 
voters!
I urge you to oppose HB 85, and the establishment of a commission for 
internet voting.




Thank you!



Melisa Urda

Illinois Ballot Integrity Project 

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