Internet voting abandoned by Pentagon.

[yowzayowzayowza]

Just saw on CNN from Jim Drinkard of USA Today... Don't see anything on either CNN or USA Today site yet.

On edit link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-07-13-troopvote_x.htm

Among developments that have election officials concerned:

• A $22 million pilot program to develop an Internet voting system for Americans deployed overseas was scrapped after the Pentagon concluded it would be vulnerable to hackers intent on tampering with elections.

[ima_sinnic]

1. I believe that bit is old news

I vaguely remember seeing something about that some weeks ago.
I think the author is merely including it in a list of factors that relate to military absentee voting.
"problems" with getting the votes in on time are a crock-o-XXXX if you ask me--as the article points out, the USPS can do a Priority thing or whatever it takes, including specially-coded packaging. When the bozos in charge want something from overseas like yesterday, they of course get it. But, as the article also points out, disenchanted military personnel might not be so strongly Republican as in the past; therefore, their ballots might have "problems" getting in on time.

[yowzayowzayowza]

2. My Bad...

CNN HLN reported it as news. I Musta mist it back when. Modz lock at will.

[LiberalFighter]

3. There is no reason why anyone in the military can't vote on time

And that also means their vote reaching the destination by election day.

What should be done if it isn't would be to post in appropriate places of deadlines for obtaining absentee ballots and mailing them back.

It should be fairly easy for military personnel to obtain absentee applications via the internet from the appropriate state.

A question that may need to be pursued in this type of situation is verification that the enlistee's ballot was received and counted. Possibly posting information/code on the website at either the state or county level so that the enlistee can check it out.

[Paschall]

5. Yes, old news. But allow me to disillusion you.

SERVE was scrapped in February, I believe.

But don't think that timely return of ballots is not a problem.

There are 4.1-8 million Americans living overseas, but only 500,000 are military or federal personnel. Voters in the latter group do benefit from the APO/FPO mail system, but regardless, for all overseas voters, timely receipt and return of ballots is a big concern.

Ballots are usually not printed until a 5-6 weeks before the election. And as I understand it, state officials are only required to have them in the mail to absentee overseas voters 30 days before the election date.

I'm in Paris. Last spring, after the primary, I received a letter from my election official in the Dallas/Fort Worth area informing me that my ballot took 19 days to reach him and had not been counted because it arrived two days after polling.

Imagine the difficulty of receiving and returning your ballot in 30 days time if you vote in some isolated town in Colorado and live in an even more hard-to-reach location in Southeast Asia or Africa.

Fortunately, overseas voters have an emergency option they can use--and should!

Overseas voters can use what is known as the Federal Write-In Ballot, available from their nearest embassy or consulate or Democrats Abroad. I urge all overseas voters to get their hands on one today and put it in their daybooks for the month of October.

It's a blank ballot guaranteeing overseas voters that--regardless what happens with the mails--they can cast their votes in this year's federal elections. If voters don't get their regular absentee ballots from their local officials in the US by October 7, 2004, they should vote the Federal Write-In Ballot and mail it immediately to their local election official.

There are restrictions on the use of the Federal Write-In Ballot though: you must specifically request an absentee ballot this year and your request must reach your local election official in the US at least 30 days before the election.

To find out more about the absentee ballot, go to the Federal Voting Assistance Program. The FVAP has toll free phone and fax number that US citizens in over 60 countries can use to communicate directly with their local election officials in the US.

To register to vote as an absentee overseas voter and request your absentee ballot, go to OverseasVote.com or contact Democrats Abroad.

All those of you who know Americans living abroad, http://www.overseasvote.com/refer/">encourage them to vote!

[Sven77]

4. from the Arthur Anderson school of accounting

Accenture, formerly Arthur Anderson was awarded a contract with the Department of Defense to work on the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE). The SERVE is a new voting system that is intended to allow military personnel and some Americans overseas to case absentee votes over the Internet in the 2004 general election. On Monday, Accenture subcontracted with VeriSign to provide certain components of the new SERVE.

Accenture, formerly called Arthur Anderson Consulting, is now rebranded with the name Accenture and is based in Bermuda.

http://www.kucinich.us/articles/enron.htm