e-voting > Press Releases

Members of the press are invited to contact Jason Kitcat, ORG’s e-voting campaign coordinator, for further information and interview requests. Please call +44 7956 886 508 or email jason [AT] jasonkitcat.com.

Election monitors give vote of no confidence to results of 3 May polls

EMBARGOED UNTIL 0001 WEDNESDAY 20 JUNE

The Open Rights Group (ORG) will today express deep concerns over the conduct of the 3 May elections in England and Scotland. Presenting the findings of their 25 strong team of officially accredited election observers, they will announce that they are unable to express confidence in the results of the polls in those areas observed.

A sixty-page report into the English e-voting and e-counting election pilots, and the Scottish e-count, will be officially launched tonight. It presents findings which indicate that the Department for Constitutional Affairs (now Ministry of Justice) failed to adequately manage the procurement or implementation process for election pilots in England. As a result, systematic problems were experienced with e-voting, and counts were severely delayed or abandoned amidst chaotic scenes.

Overall, the report finds poor security, little evidence of testing, inadequate audit trails and insufficient attention given to system or process design. ORG concludes that insufficient technical expertise exists at both Government and local authority level to properly manage and hold suppliers to account.

Jason Kitcat, ORG’s e-voting coordinator said “ORG previously expressed concerns over the preparations for the May elections, but even we were surprised by the scale of the problems our team observed on polling day. Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to verify the accuracy of the elections we monitored.”

The report will be formally launched at 18.30 tonight (Wednesday 20 June) at the Royal Academy of Engineering, 29 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 3LW. The event will include a presentation from Harri Hursti, a computer security expert who has revealed a number of flaws in American voting systems.

Jason Kitcat, the Open Rights Group’s e-voting coordinator is available for interview. Please call +44 (0) 7956 886 508 or email jason@jasonkitcat.com. Advance copies of the full report are available on request from Michael Holloway on +44 (0)20 7096 1079.

Notes to Editors

The Open Rights Group is a digital rights advocacy group based in the UK. It aims to increase awareness of digital rights issues and to preserve civil liberties in the digital age. It opposes the introduction of electronic voting into the UK’s electoral system. To find out more about the Open Rights Group’s e-voting campaign visit http://www.openrightsgroup.org/e-voting-main/.

Thanks to generous funding from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd, ORG coordinated a 25-strong volunteer team of officially accredited election observers to monitor the implementation of e-voting and e-counting in Bedford, Rushmoor, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, South Bucks, Stratford, Swindon, East Dunbartonshire, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

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Electoral Commission grants official accreditation to Open Rights Group missions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

23 April 2007

The Electoral Commission have today granted Open Rights Group election monitors official observer status in the local elections of 3 May. The observers will be monitoring electronic voting and electronic counting pilots across England and Scotland.

The implications of the new electronic voting and electronic counting technologies will be closely examined. Their impact on voter privacy, their vulnerability to fraud and general electoral transparency will be under close scrutiny.

Around thirty Open Rights Group observers will be watching the electoral pilot schemes, which are deploying Internet voting, telephone voting and electronic counting technologies. The Open Rights Group observers dominate the group of official observers announced today by the Electoral Commission.

As well as monitoring electoral activity in polling and counting stations, Open Rights Group observers will be allowed to observe server hosting locations for Swindon, Rushmoor, Shrewsbury and Sheffield. The volunteer observers include computer security experts, mathematicians and programmers.

“These last minute moves to give us the opportunity to inspect hosting facilities are very welcome.“ commented Jason Kitcat, e-voting coordinator for the Open Rights Group. “What we will be allowed to observe at these sites remains to be seen.”

All observers will receive operational guidelines based on international best practice, with advice from leading election monitoring organisations. A report based on the observation mission will be published in June and submitted to the Electoral Commission and the Department of Justice (formerly Department for Constitutional Affairs) for inclusion in their evaluations of the electoral pilots.

Jason Kitcat is available for interview. Please call +44 (0) 7956 886 508 or email
jason@jasonkitcat.com.

About the Open Rights Group

The Open Rights Group is a digital rights advocacy group based in the UK. It aims to increase awareness of digital rights issues, help foster grassroots activity and preserve civil liberties in the digital age.

To find out more about the Open Rights Group’s e-voting campaign visit http://www.openrightsgroup.org/e-voting-main/. This e-voting observation mission has been funded by a grant from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd.

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The Open Rights Group opposes the introduction of e-voting into our democratic process

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

29 January 2007

Despite serious problems with e-voting in other countries, the UK will hold electronic voting pilots in selected local authorities during the May 2007 elections. e-voting is a technology that threatens the integrity of our elections. The Open Rights Group opposes its introduction into our democratic process.

The Department for Constitutional Affairs has today announced a new series of electoral modernisation pilots which include telephone voting, internet voting and electronic vote counting.

The pilots will be held in Atcham, Bedford, Breckland, Broxbourne, Gateshead, Rushmoor, Sunderland, Shrewsbury, South Bucks, Sheffield, Swindon, Dover, Stratford-on-Avon District Council and Warwick District Council.

The Open Rights Group today expressed surprise that the government has chosen to focus its already ill-conceived e-voting strategy on expensive telephone and internet voting methods. Such systems open the door to voter coercion and vote buying as well as potential electronic attack from anywhere in the world. They rely on commercial confidentiality, rather than explicit and accepted computer protocols, to maintain voter privacy. And they do not allow for meaningful vote audits and recounts.

As renowned computer security expert Bruce Schneier has pointed out: “a secure internet voting system is theoretically possible, but it would be the first secured networked application ever created in the history of computers”.

Why is e-voting being foisted onto our democratic process? The government believes e-voting is simply part of its modernisation programme, that it will increase youth engagement by making voting easier. But this is not the case. In fact, turnout fell during the government’s 2003 pilots. It takes more than aping Big Brother or The X Factor to get young people to care about politics.

Voting is a uniquely difficult problem for computer science. This is why Italy has ruled out e-voting, Ireland has a moratorium on e-voting, The Netherlands has withdrawn one model of machine for their elections, the Canadian province of Quebec has cancelled future use of e-voting and the US election system is in turmoil over e-voting related problems.

e-voting introduces new risks, doubts, and opportunities for fraud and failure. e-voting technology is demonstrably less secure, accurate and reliable than suppliers promise.

Jason Kitcat, the Open Rights Group’s e-voting campaign coordinator is available for interview. He can be contacted on +44 7956 886 508 or jason@jasonkitcat.com .

About the Open Rights Group

The Open Rights Group is a digital rights advocacy group based in the UK. It aims to increase awareness of digital rights issues, to help foster grassroots activity and to preserve and extend civil liberties in the digital age.

The Open Rights Group is holding a series of events in February that puts e-voting under the microscope. To find out more, visit http://www.openrightsgroup.org/e-voting-main/.

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Open Rights Group launches campaign against e-voting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

26 January 2006

Despite serious problems in other countries, the UK will hold electronic voting pilots in selected local authorities during the May 2007 elections. e-voting is a technology that threatens the integrity of our elections. The Open Rights Group opposes its introduction into our democratic process.

Despite a global trend that is moving away from e-voting, the British government has announced a new series of electoral modernisation pilots which include e-voting and electronic vote counting.

Around the world nations are learning that expensive e-voting technologies are not as secure, accurate or reliable as promised by suppliers. Systems fail on election day, software bugs prevent votes being recorded, voters find the interfaces hard to use, and recounts aren’t possible. These problems occur even when authorities have implemented testing, certification and audit processes for the systems being used.

Despite having had ample opportunity to learn from experiences both abroad and at home, the government has chosen to once again run e-voting pilots without any systematic audit, testing and certification processes in place. Nor will there be any meaningful oversight by technically competent bodies. The government has also ignored calls both from The Electoral Commission and from vendors to allow more time for system implementation. 2007 will see another rush to be ready by election day.

Why is e-voting being foisted onto our democratic process? The government believes e-voting should be an integral part of its modernisation programme. Ministers also believe that it will increase engagement by making voting easier: the 2007 pilot prospectus by the Department for Constitutional Affairs argues that e-voting could stem declining turnout. But this is not the case. In fact, turnout fell during the government’s 2003 pilots.

Voting is a uniquely difficult problem for computer science. A successful electronic voting system must:

  • be sure that you are allowed to vote and that you haven’t voted already
  • make it impossible for anyone to find out who you voted for
  • allow for audit and recount the votes without compromising voter anonymity

e-voting introduces new risks, doubts, and opportunities for fraud and failure. e-voting machines are demonstrably less secure, accurate and reliable than suppliers promise.

To find out more please download our e-voting briefing pack and come to one of our events - watch as we hack an e-voting machine live on stage.

Jason Kitcat, an expert on e-voting and the Open Rights Group’s e-voting campaign coordinator is available for interview. Please telephone +44 (0)20 7096 1079 or email becky@openrightsgroup.org in the first instance.

About the Open Rights Group

The Open Rights Group is a digital rights advocacy group based in the UK. It aims to increase awareness of digital rights issues, help foster grassroots activity and to preserve and extend civil liberties in the digital age.