Crypto-Gram Newsletter: Hacking the Papal Election

[Catbird]

An interesting discussion by Bruce Schneier, Founder and CTO of Counterpane Internet Security, Inc. It combines a detailed explanation of the papal selection process with perceptive comments on voting security.

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As the College of Cardinals prepares to elect a new pope, people like me wonder about the election process. How does it work, and just how hard is it to hack the vote?

Of course I'm not advocating voter fraud in the papal election. Nor am I insinuating that a cardinal might perpetuate fraud. But people who work in security can't look at a system without trying to figure out how to break it; it's an occupational hazard.

<snip>

First there's the "pre-scrutiny" phase. "At least two or three" paper ballots are given to each cardinal (115 will be voting), presumably so that a cardinal has extras in case he makes a mistake. Then nine election officials are randomly selected: three "Scrutineers" who count the votes, three "Revisers," who verify the results of the Scrutineers, and three "Infirmarii" who collect the votes from those too sick to be in the room. (These officials are chosen randomly for each ballot.)


<snip>

And a third and final lesson: when an election process is left to develop over the course of a couple thousand years, you end up with something surprisingly good.

http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0504.html#8

[RevCheesehead]

1. Paper Ballots.

It's so simple. :think: Hey! Why don't WE try that???