Computers in Election Vigils - take two

[Toby Thain]

On 2015-10-12 2:51 PM, Jecel Assumpcao Jr. wrote:
> Paul Koning wrote on Sat, 10 Oct 2015 11:44:58 -0400:
>>> On Oct 9, 2015, at 5:39 PM, Jecel Assumpcao Jr. wrote:
>>> [noticed voter ID terminal had cable to voting machines!]
>>
>> That's not the real problem.
>
> Indeed, not *the* problem but just *a* problem I noticed while still in
> line to get into the voting station.
>
>> The real problem is that you had no way to be sure, no way to verify,
>> that the machine was recording your vote and would accurately report
>> it later.  It might just as easily report numbers that someone had told
>> it to report, not connected to any reality.  How would you know?  If
>> anyone were to question this, how would you prove that the count is
>> honest?
>
> This issue was raised, so the third time these machines were used in a
> national election there was a pilot with modified machines that printed
> their results so that the voter could see (but not touch) and then
> dropped the paper version into an urn. Observers from all the different
> parties could use the paper trail to verify the numbers presented
> electronically by the machines. After that single trial, TSE declared
> that the result was that a paper trail was proved to be unnecessary and
> caused delays and added expense, so those machines were never seen again
> and elections in Brazil have been paper free ever since.

Leaving the vulnerability.



>
> There are several aspects of voting culture in Brazil that are quite
> different ...
>
> -- Jecel
>
>