Election By Google?

I do not honestly care which OS each of you chooses to run. For some of you, it will be Windows, others OS X. And for a growing number of the remaining minority, your OS of choice will be one of the Linux flavors available today.

But how would you feel if Microsoft Windows was powering the voting booth in which you were to select important elected officials? Would you, knowing of Microsoft’s past security record, feel confident that using this OS and not being allowed to inspect the code, feel safe knowing that these machines could very well help to dictate the future of your perspective countries? Don’t feel guilty; I don’t really like it either.

New York Tells Proprietary Voting Options ‘No, Thanks.’ If Microsoft wants to fully disclose the code that powers these voting machines, then those who feel uncomfortable with the idea of closed source code powering their personal votes on these Windows powered machines, then I suspect that people in the know might be a little less reluctant to use what e-voting has to offer.

In reality, it’s a shame that there are not more laws like the one in New York preventing e-voting from becoming more popular. As a concept, it is just fine. However, it is the code that powers the e-voting system that has most people overly concerned.

Time for An Open Source Alternative? I do not believe that anyone out there has the financing or the desire to step up and offer a fully Open Source compliant e-voting solution. In the past, the idea has been explored to some limited extent, but the fact remains that it will need a very serious corporate player that can both gain instant attention along with carrying the needed bankroll to make this happen.

After giving it some thought, my logical choice for a corporate sponsor for such a concept would have to be Google. With the tenacity to pull it off and the desire to retain its reign in the information business, Google is definitely the logical choice.

AdWords Next to Your Electoral Selection? Tell me it wouldn’t be wild to have AdWords appearing next to your choices for say, the next President of the United States. To some of you, this may sound wild and implausible. But to Google, there could be a deal to be worked out here, especially if it is willing to release the source code to the public as Open Source.

The real battle would likely be with ratifying enough cooperation from the various Board of Elections from state to state to actually provide Open Source voting with a real shot in the arm. If we could get enough people to see that anything is better than closed code being trusted with our voting results, then it is totally worth pursuing.

Your Vote is All Too Important, Let’s Treat it As Such. Fully realizing that e-voting on Windows ‘feels’ more secure because the code that powers the process is secret to some extent, for any Open Source option to have a shot of changing Microsoft’s destiny in this area will largely depend on demonstrating that when kept in check, the community can provide safe, untampered code.

Once we can come to this point, then and only then will Open Source voting become a true reality.

This article has been republished with the kind permission of our friends at OSWeekly.com. For more computer news, go give ‘em a look or Subscribe to OSWeekly.com’s RSS Feed!

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[tags]election, evoting, election 2008[/tags]