Dutch government abandons e-voting for red pencil

About a year after the Dutch government began seriously worrying about the integrity of e-voting machines, they've literally pulled the plug on the venture. The biggest flaw was the lack of a paper trail according to a special committee which reported its finding this morning. As such, Nederlanders will return to the "red pencil method" in upcoming elections until an automated paper-counting solution can be deployed... and then hacked.

Update: To be perfectly clear, the regulation allowing e-voting machines has been withdrawn -- i.e., effective immediately, there is no more e-voting in the Netherlands. However, the Dutch government will make an overarching decision in the next two months "to regain the trust of the public in our voting system." Given that the government commissioned this study themselves, the decision is expected to be a simple rubber stamp approval.

[Thanks, Wol]

[Jugomugo @ Sep 27th 2007 8:23AM]

Hopefully America will get the hint and soon follow their lead.

[z @ Sep 27th 2007 8:37AM]

well, it works in canada. I don't see why it wouldn't there. We've been using pencil and paper ballots for a long time...

[Phil @ Sep 27th 2007 3:22PM]

It doesn't get any easier than walking into a both with a piece of paper that has the candidates names with a checkbox besides each one on it. You just x, check, circle, scribble, doodle, or fill in your choices box. Then to count the votes, 3 or more people sit in a circle and they pull the votes out one at a time and all agree which name is marked and each keep a tally on their consensus. No hanging chads or mysterious votes from the dark corners of the internet. Our results are usually in by the time everyone goes to bed.

[Goofster @ Sep 27th 2007 8:38AM]

"Pulled the plug" is a bit untrue. It's a recommendation of a commission, not a government decision yet...

[Rik @ Sep 27th 2007 8:50AM]

Excactly, this is just a recomendation. Commitees recommend a lot more things which don't make it past the senate or have the administration abandonning it in our country. Personally I really dislike it if this would make it since it is going backwards instead of forwards. E-voting all the way if you ask me!

[Thomas Ricker @ Sep 27th 2007 9:02AM]

@Goofster,

Sorry, wrong link. The new link points to the correct story -- the public recommendation and decision were printed just hours apart.

http://tinyurl.com/2qwumh

Thomas

[Rik @ Sep 27th 2007 9:21AM]

Hmmmm, that translation is quite good, I'm suprised. Only it still doesn't understand words like "oud-minister" (former minister) and "handmatig" (by hand).

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 27th 2007 8:39AM]

Nee!

[Morrison @ Sep 27th 2007 8:46AM]

"upcoming" elections will be in 2011. Any problems will probably be fixed by then. And it was an advice from some random commission.

[padawan @ Sep 30th 2007 9:09AM]

Their upcoming election is in 2009 (European election) and no amount of time will suppress the inherent trust issue with blackbox voting that the layman voter cannot verify through their own eyes.

[boynamedsue @ Sep 27th 2007 9:44AM]

whew. i'm glad that nonsense is over. remember when voting was all paper, and there was never any voting fraud? paper does not lie.

[Josh L @ Sep 27th 2007 10:31AM]

I have a hard time remembering that, likely because it's a delusional fantasy. There has never not been voting fraud, and as long as there are human beings involved in the process there always will be.

[AllAboutVoting @ Sep 27th 2007 1:42PM]

Paper is not enough. Plenty of election fraud has occurred on paper systems:

http://www.rangevoting.org/PresFraud.html

We need to start moving towards end-to-end verifiable systems:

http://allaboutvoting.com/2007/09/25/rasing-the-e2e-profile-in-the-public-eye/

[Cesar Cardoso @ Sep 27th 2007 11:28PM]

It's easy to fraud on paper, but it's even easier to fraud on e-voting.

[Xander @ Sep 27th 2007 10:10AM]

Well, it actually is more than just a recommendation of a random commission. The secretary of state responsible for the voting machines (Ank Bijleveld) already announced that she will follow the recommendation. Of course parliament still needs to ratify, but as parliament was very critical to begin with and actually is the reason the committee was started, I do not think they will throw this advice away.

Also, the next election effected actually is already quite soon: the referendum for the mayor of the city of Utrecht of 10 October. The city of Utrecht already ordered red pencils to be on the safe side pending the decision.

[Kamal @ Sep 27th 2007 11:14AM]

The U.S. and the rest of the world could learn a few things from the Dutch.

[jroc @ Sep 27th 2007 11:20AM]

"It's not the votes that count, it's who counts the votes"- Joseph Stalin

[Michael @ Oct 13th 2007 8:14AM]

If E-voting is made compulsory in the UK, I shan't bother voting.