"Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything." Communist Tyrant Josef Stalin
FEC Official Condemns Internet Voting
June 22, 2000 NA (Network America) e-wire
FEC Official Condemns Internet Voting
We are now starting a series of e-wires dealing with the upcoming titanic struggle for the Reform Party nomination which will culminate in Long Beach, California from Aug 10 to Aug 13, 2000.
The first phase of the Reform Party struggle will be the "mail in" ballot / internet voting phase. The letter of intent signed by Gerald Moan with eballot states that 300,000 paper ballots are expected, and about 200,000 votes cast over the internet.
Our own Citizens for a Fair Vote Count and the Canadian based International Voters Coalition have stated for years that all mail in ballots (including absentee ballots) and all voting over the internet must be outlawed because they are non-transparent to public view, unverifiable, and completely open to fraud and manipulation from many angles.
And now ("Blow me down," to quote Popeye the Sailor Man), a Federal Elections Commission (FEC) official has said the same thing about internet voting. His timely speech, given June 7, 2000 in Maryland before an assembly of Maryland election officials, was widely under-reported. (We had included a part of the below article in yesterday's e-wire.)
These remarks by such a highly placed election official have particular relevance for the upcoming Reform Party National Primary, which will be conducted in large part over the internet.
The below article was posted on CNN's website, but does not seem to be reachable there now, at least by its original path. This was the original path:
cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/06/07/virtual.voting.ap/index.html
The article also appeared in numerous papers as it was sent out over the AP wire service.
Mr. Brent Beleskey, Director of the International Voters Coalition, who originally called the article to my attention, called and talked to the manwho gave the speech. He reports that the Federal Election Commission official who made the remarks, Mr. Bill Kimberling, is a very relaxed man - very convincing, with a great sense of humor
Here's the article:
Federal Election Official Blasts Internet Voting
June 7, 2000
Web posted at: 9:47 AM EDT (1347 GMT)
ROCKY GAP, Md. (AP) -- A federal election official is calling Internet voting "a breeding ground for fraud" and a business-driven threat to democracy.
"The bottom line behind this push is money," said Bill Kimberling, deputy director of the Office of Elections for the Federal Elections Commission.
"The noise being made to begin Internet voting is vendor-generated because a lot of new software and hardware will be needed to make it happen."
He said his views were personal and did not reflect those of the FEC.
"I don't want to vote over the Internet and I don't want anyone else to either," Kimberling said Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Maryland Association of Elected Officials.
Last March, voters in Arizona used the Internet in the nation's first such ballots cast in a binding election for public office. Arizona Democrats were also allowed to vote early in the state presidential primary using computers.
The Voting Integrity Project sued to stop the online election, arguing that it would harm the voting rights of the poor and minorities who have less computer access than wealthier whites. A judge refused to stop the election.
Kimberling agreed with the organization, saying Internet voting could intensify the "digital divide," creating a less diverse democracy because minority groups have more limited access to the Internet.
Kimberling said intimidation and vote-buying would be more likely when someone votes away from a polling place. In addition, the sanctity of the secret vote would also be in danger if ballots are cast on the Internet, he said.
"The FBI finds out who has child pornography in their computer systems by looking at e-mail that your computer server keeps," he said. "Nothing is totally secure."
End of article from Rocky Gap, Maryland, as sent out by the AP wire service
The article speaks for itself, especially the phrases "a breeding ground for fraud" and "a business-driven threat to democracy." Mr. Kimberling could hardly make a stronger condemnation of voting over the internet: ""I don't want to vote over the Internet and I don't want anyone else to either."
The phrase "business driven" takes on urgent meaning when one reflects that the letter of intent signed by Reform Party Chairman Gerald Moan with eBallot.net Inc. states the the Reform Party will pay eBallot.net about $950,000 for "counting" the internet vote and the mail in vote.
There's apparently a LOT of incentive for companies like eBallot.net Inc. to push voting over the internet.
But WHY is the Reform Party falling for this unverifiable farce???
More tomorrow.
Jim Condit Jr.
Director, Citizens for a Fair Vote Count
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