VotingNews™ Briefs

November 14, 2003


VotingNews Brief #9:

Datakey President Tim Russell Explains the Not-So Mysterious Mysteries of CACs, Smartcards, Digital Certificates, and All That

Minneapolis, Minnesota
November 14, 2003

By Marc Strassman
Voting Technology Reporter
The Latest VotingNews

The SERVE system relies on Common Access Cards (CACs) to guarantee the security of the remote Internet voting process. CACs are a specific application of "smartcards," credit card-sized pieces of plastic containing microprocessors and memory space that make them very small computers that become useable when plugged into smartcard readers or other computers.

In the VotingNews Briefs interview linked to below, Tim Russell, President/CEO of Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Datakey clearly explains the basics, the applications, and some of the issues, including personal privacy, of this technology for providing groups with security and individuals with privacy.

Hear Tim Russell of Datakey explain the workings of the Common Access Card (CAC) used in the SERVE remote Internet voting system.

Visit the Datakey homepage.


VotingNews Brief #8:

Remote Internet Voting is Coming—From the Department of Defense

Washington, D.C.
November 14, 2003

By Marc Strassman
Voting Technology Reporter
The Latest VotingNews

Surprising but true, when remote Internet voting finally hit the big time, it was under the auspices of the US Department of Defense. Click below to read an important report from 2001 on the earliest tests of the prototype SERVE system in 2000 (when 84 voters used it). This report serves as the basis for the expanded SERVE program of 2004.

Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Federal Voting Assistance Program, Voting Over the Internet, Pilot Project Assessment Report, June 2001


VotingNews Brief #7:

United States House of Representatives Uses State of the Art 1980s Technology for its Own Voting

Washington, D.C.
November 14, 2003

By Marc Strassman
Voting Technology Reporter
The Latest VotingNews

Having appropriated $650 million dollars in 2002 for the "Help America Vote Act," the U.S. House of Representatives seems not to have anything left to meet its own electronic voting needs. "The cobbler's son and so on."

The Congress should lead, not follow, in adopting the best possible technologies and procedures for its own voting, setting an example and creating a model for all the voters, precinct officials and registrars of voters throughout the country. Instead they've chosen to be technological sticks in the mud.

Read our e-mail of inquiry to the Clerk of the House

Visit the official House of Representatives "Electronic Voting Machine" page, see a picture of the device, and read their explanation of how it works.

Learn about the Help America Vote Act of 2002



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