Afghanistan’s presidential elections: More votes than voters | The Economist

Afghanistan’s presidential elections: More votes than voters | The Economist:

Gloom descends after a deeply flawed election in Afghanistan

BY MID-MORNING on August 20th, election day, the police standing outside the Haji Janat Gul High School, a polling centre a few miles east of Kabul, estimated it had been visited by just four lorries, carrying a score of voters each, and three or four cars. After long conflicts, the second set of elections is often a story of unrealistic expectation turned to disillusion and apathy.

Across Kabul, turnout was sluggish. But at Haji Janat Gul the lack of voters had not dented the tally of votes. Only an hour after voting began, 6,000 had been cast. Yet not a voter was in sight. Staff insisted that the 6,000 had all come at 7am, when polls opened: “The Taliban said that they would cut off the fingers of people voting so they came early.”

This was impossible. Typically it takes four minutes to vote. For 6,000 to have voted in an hour at the 12 ballot boxes, they would have had an average of seven seconds each. The Electoral Complaints Commission later received allegations that the ballot boxes had been stuffed for President Hamid Karzai before polls opened, at the instigation of a local MP and tribal leader.

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Czech ODS wants to enable people to vote on net in next polls - ČeskéNoviny.cz

Czech ODS wants to enable people to vote on net in next polls - ČeskéNoviny.cz:

Prague - The Czech Civic Democrats (ODS) want to enable people to vote via the Internet in the general election to follow after this October's, ODS deputy chairman Ivan Langer said today, presenting the relevant proposal to journalists as part of the party's election programme.

The ODS reckons with the system of e-voting being introduced in four years. It believes it could be tested in the Senate elections in 2012 already.

The other big party, the Social Democrats (CSSD), supported the possibility of Internet voting today.

If the next general election were held in four years, i.e. 2013, people would be able to "cast their votes" via the Internet at any place in the world.

Bogus ballots and Britney: fraud threatens Afghan poll | International | Reuters

Bogus ballots and Britney: fraud threatens Afghan poll | International | Reuters:

KABUL, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Voter registration cards are for sale by the handful on the streets of Afghan cities and villages.

Somebody even registered U.S. pop star Britney Spears to vote in Thursday's presidential election -- copies of her card were widely emailed and, for a while, pinned up in a Kabul hotel bar.

Bulgaria: Serious Violations Found in Bulgarian Foreign Election Sections - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency

Bulgaria: Serious Violations Found in Bulgarian Foreign Election Sections - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency:

An inspection by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has found serious violations in the foreign sections during the Parliament Elections on July 5.

Kentucky - Former Pineville mayor sentenced to 20 months for buying votes - Latest News - Kentucky.com

Former Pineville mayor sentenced to 20 months for buying votes - Latest News - Kentucky.com:

Robert L. Madon, who was mayor of Pineville for 18 years, must serve 20 months in federal prison for buying votes, a judge ruled Thursday.

Madon, 75, also was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and will be on supervised release for two years after he leaves prison.

In sentencing Madon, U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove said some people don't regard vote-buying, which has a storied history in Kentucky, as a serious crime.

TheStar.com | SpecialSections | Fishy voter list sparks doubts

TheStar.com | SpecialSections | Fishy voter list sparks doubts:

Seemingly inflated registration, busy black market for polling cards threatens to put results in doubt

Voting observers expect fraud during next week's Afghan presidential election and warn that cheating will likely take place in remote or dangerous areas where independent monitors can't go.

A suspiciously high number of women – far more than men – are registered to vote in culturally conservative provinces where President Hamid Karzai expects to do well, a leading election monitor said this week. And an adviser to the top U.S. military commander said she bought voter registration cards on the black market and could have bought hundreds more.

iTWire - Why Governments must make voting systems open source

iTWire - Why Governments must make voting systems open source:

"Premier Election Solutions, formerly known as Diebold, patched a security weakness in its electronic vote tabulation software this week. Nice, but how many flaws are required before governments mandate open source solutions?"

UCSD CSE -- Security and Cryptography -- Attacking the AVC Advantage

UCSD CSE -- Security and Cryptography -- Attacking the AVC Advantage:

The Case of Return-Oriented Programming and the AVC Advantage

Obtain the research paper here.

Stick with paper, Elections Canada urged

Stick with paper, Elections Canada urged:

As Elections Canada moves forward with its proposal to try online voting in Canada within the next four years, a fresh warning was raised this week urging governments to stick to old fashioned paper.

Computer scientists from three prestigious U.S. universities managed to hack into and steal votes from an electronic voting machine that was designed to resist takeover attempts.

"Based on our understanding of security and computer technology, it looks like paper-based elections are the way to go," said University of California San Diego Prof. Hovav Shacham, who led the project. "Probably the best approach would be optical scanners reading paper ballots."

First Nation Elections - Problems abound with current system - The Globe and Mail

Problems abound with current system - The Globe and Mail:

An internal Indian Affairs document leaked to The Globe and Mail earlier this year notes 'long-standing problems' with the current system of electing the AFN national leader. It states that 252 reserves, or first nations, elect their chiefs and council according to the Indian Act, which requires an election every two years and a secret-ballot vote. Off-reserve members can also vote by mail-in ballots.

However, the majority of first nations - 334 reserves - have adopted "band custom codes," each tailored to the community's specific preferences and traditions.

Diebold Quietly Patches Security Flaw in Vote Counting Software | Threat Level | Wired.com

Diebold Quietly Patches Security Flaw in Vote Counting Software | Threat Level | Wired.com:

Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold, has patched a serious security weakness in its election tabulation software used in the majority of states, according to a lab that tested the new version and a federal commission that certified it.

The flaw in the tabulation software was discovered by Wired.com earlier this year, and involved the program’s auditing logs. The logs failed to record significant events occurring on a computer running the software, including the act of someone deleting votes during or after an election. The logs also failed to record who performed an action on the system, and listed some events with the wrong date and timestamps.

A new version of the software does record such events, and includes other security safeguards that would prevent the system from operating if the event log were somehow shut down, according to iBeta Quality Assurance, the Colorado testing lab that examined the software for the federal government.
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IBeta’s report on the Premier system (.pdf) and testing plan offer an interesting and rare look at the testing and certification procedures for voting systems, which until recently were closely guarded secrets.

Sequoia e-voting machine commandeered by clever attack • The Register

Sequoia e-voting machine commandeered by clever attack • The Register:

Computer scientists have figured out to how trick a widely used electronic voting machine into altering tallies with a technique that bypasses measures that are supposed to prevent unauthorized code from running on the device.

The method, known as return-oriented programming, has already been used to defeat security measures built into the Linux and OpenBSD operating systems.

The beginning of open primaries? - politics.co.uk

The beginning of open primaries? - politics.co.uk:

The Conservative's decision to launch an open primary in Totnes raises the possibility of Britain following in the footsteps of America when it comes to selecting candidates.

Computer Scientists Take Over Electronic Voting Machine With New Programming Technique - Science Daily

Computer Scientists Take Over Electronic Voting Machine With New Programming Technique:

Computer scientists demonstrated that criminals could hack an electronic voting machine and steal votes using a malicious programming approach that had not been invented when the voting machine was designed. The team of scientists from University of California, San Diego, the University of Michigan, and Princeton University employed “return-oriented programming” to force a Sequoia AVC Advantage electronic voting machine to turn against itself and steal votes.

E-voting will allow some Swiss abroad to vote in elections back home. - swissinfo

E-voting will allow some Swiss abroad to vote in elections back home. - swissinfo:

Nine out of ten Swiss citizens living abroad will be able to vote by using remote electronic systems by 2015, according to the Federal Chancellor, Corina Casanova.

Protecting personal information - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca

Protecting personal information - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca:

A Halifax university professor’s software research is paving the way for better protection of privacy in cyberspace.

Dawn Jutla, a professor at the Sobey School of Business, recently walked away with an international award for her research and development of privacy software, beating other finalists at universities such as Stanford and MIT.

Ms. Jutla, also an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University’s faculty of computer science, took home this year’s IT Software Award (in the individual category) at the World Technology Summit and Awards in July in New York City.

XML flaws threaten 'enormous' array of apps • The Register

XML flaws threaten 'enormous' array of apps • The Register:

Security researchers have uncovered critical flaws in open-source software that implements the Extensible Markup Language in a staggering array of applications used by banks, e-commerce websites, and consumers.

The bugs uncovered by researchers at Finland-based Codenomicon were contained in virtually every open-source XML library available, Ari Takanen, CTO of Finland-based security testing firm Codenomicon, told The Register.

Canaries in the Internet's crazy mine - The Globe and Mail

Canaries in the Internet's crazy mine - The Globe and Mail:

This year, the Internet's fever swamps have served up a conspiracy theory that's making waves – and rolling eyes – around the world. It goes like this: Barack Obama was not born in the United States, as the U.S. constitution insists a president must be. Instead, he was actually born in Kenya and then smuggled into Hawaii, where his birth certificate was forged and phony birth announcements were slipped into the local newspapers.

Would-be chief appeals First Nation vote result - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca

Would-be chief appeals First Nation vote result - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca:

INDIAN BROOK — A Shubenacadie First Nation man has launched an appeal of the community’s June election and wants the result thrown out.

Text your… ballots! - Russia Today

Text your… ballots! - RT:

Russian citizens will soon be able to vote with their mobile phones, according to the country’s Central Election Commission.

Vladimir Churov, Head of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, said this will become possible as early as March 2010 when parliamentary elections will take place in many federal regions, Interfax reports.