back to article NZ government scraps e-voting trial

New Zealand's online voting trial, slated for local government elections this year, has collapsed with the national government scrapping the plan. Associate minister for local government Louise Upton yesterday sent a statement to Radio NZ saying they couldn't “meet legislative requirements” in time for the elections. Last …

  1. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    Review the Tom Scott via Computerphile video on YouTube

    Mandatory viewing: 'Why Electronic Voting is a BAD Idea'

    Crikey. The next Prime Minister of New Zealand will some chap named 'Boaty McBoatface', running for the 'Marblecake Always The Game' Party.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Review the Tom Scott via Computerphile video on YouTube

      And they've seen the Snowden leaks, they know 5 eyes (including their own group) have a hacking group like JTRIG to rig online polls.

      They could have an election rigged by a single hacker (even their own bad actors in government) and they'd never know it.

      Their PCs encryption keys are probably already in the NSAs keyring and they'd trust those computers to accurately register and count the vote? Are these Apple encrypted computers we're talking about, or other brands whose encryption is backdoored? So you want to count the vote on computers with backdoored encryption? Knowing its backdoored? Isn't that negligence?

  2. GrumpyKiwi

    Local Politics = Retard Politics

    The whine about low participation ignores that our local body politicians are made up of those that couldn't even cross the extremely low bar to get into national politics.

    And then there are the council bureaucrats who steadfastly ignore anything the councillors decide if it goes against their preferred vision for the future.

    Under such circumstances the idea that Interwebs voting was somehow going to cure low participation rates (especially amongst the yoof) can be seen as little more than fantasy.

  3. Trixr

    Postal voting is worse

    I used to considerately fill in postal votes for local body elections in Auckland for all the people who had previously lived at the address, but who hadn't updated their address details after moving out.

    Since this was a large shared house that had been operating as a shared house for the best part of a decade, with 6-8 people living there at any time, there were literally scores of these things.

    Just my bit of civic service.

  4. redpawn

    What's the difference

    With postal votes or internet votes I can vote as my parents and wife with no problems. Too bad there are no good candidates to stack the vote for.

    Seriously though a bullet proof verifiable vote counting system is a must. Use electronic voting only if it produces an audit ready paper record. My cat can code more secure electronic voting than is found in the good old USA. God bless the queen.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Too Honest

    for Their Own Good.

    Thankfully.

  6. leaway2

    As they write your voting slip number next to your name in the register when you vote (UK) there is no such thing as a secret vote.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      voting in secrecy

      I did ask about this when I last voted, the returning officer/whatever his name said that "yes, in theory, you could be traced - but it's unlikely that the time or effort would ever be spent to match all this data up"?

      Sigh, I've never voted since. I have to point out that I'm not a non-violent activist seeking to overthrow the current regime, sorry - no I mean to say that I'm not a violent activist seeking to overthrow the current regime, sorry - no I mean to say. . . mmpfhhh

      1. veti Silver badge

        Re: voting in secrecy

        In theory, yes, it would be possible - by putting together two separate records that are both kept solely on paper, and in very different places and conditions - to tell how you as an individual voted.

        But here's the kicker: that would require access to two separate archives, each of which you need a court order to access (unless you happen to work there, I guess, in which case you can probably get into one of them but not the other). And even trying to put these two bits of information together without aforementioned court order - which is generally only available when there's an allegation of voter fraud - is a serious crime, punishable by imprisonment.

        That's a big risk to take for the petty thrill of knowing which way my neighbour voted. It's not something I lie awake worrying about.

  7. FlossyThePig

    Been there, done that

    A few years ago I voted online for the Ipswich (UK) council elections. They only did it once but it appeared to be more secure at the time compared to postal and/or proxy voting.

    1. #define INFINITY -1

      Re: Been there, done that

      I suppose for some anonymity isn't that important.

      The trouble is, there is no better transparency of anonymity than standing in a queue. A voting machine might replace the paper ballot, but even there, the timestamp could narrow down who you voted for. And there's the health aspect of hundreds of people pressing the same buttons.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Been there, done that

      @FlossyTP "appearance"

      Hmm. . .you might , possibly just might, mean "semblance"

      6 (semblance)

      to give the appearance of sth/of doing

      >>>donner l'apparence de qch/de faire

      it had all the appearances or every appearance of

      >>>cela avait tout l'air de

      /******

      * start

      */

      /******

      * semblance routine

      *allow people to pretend to vote

      */

      if (isnan(Voting)) {

      Serial.println("please Vote securely now");

      } else if (Voting != lastVote) {

      Serial.print ("Winner was Mr. Smithson")

      /******

      * stop. (c) Maxwell Industries Ltd

      * firmware not available for scrutiny.

      * remember to burn the h/w after the election

      */

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