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IS ELECTRONIC VOTING SAFE?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published October 25, 2024
In the last years the Florida
Legislature was all gung-ho with allowing electronic voting in
community associations [FS 718.128, FS 719.129 and
FS 720.317) now allows electronic voting.
But nobody has still answered the
important question: IS ELECTRONIC VOTING ACTUALLY SAFE?
Does electronic voting guaranty election integrity?
Personally, I’m not sure about it. So
far, experiences with electronic voting have been a mixed bag.
Many experts have talked about serious security risks even in
general elections, which are in my opinion a lot better
protected than simple elections in community associations.
Don’t forget, electronic mail isn’t
considered proof of service is guaranteed. Even electronic
documents are not considered fool-proof. Why should it be
different with electronic voting?
No matter what you do and how
“well-protected” the electronic voting system the association is
using may be, there are always humans in play – humans who might
be willing to cheat. Controlling electronic voting is pretty
difficult – and proving election fraud will even be more
difficult. What about election arbitration in the future? Do we
expect the arbitrators not only to know the laws, but do they
now have to be IT specialists with cybersecurity experience?
We haven’t even figured out how to
prevent election fraud with common methods, now we are daring to
trust electronic voting to create ELECTION INTEGRITY?
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community associations. |
He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website:
http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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