Electronic Electoral System: Simple, Abuse Free, Voter Friendly

By Dr. Reza Rezazadeh

For more information about the author and his publications visit www.democracywhere.com

The simplicity, validity and security of the electronic electoral process presented here rest on introduction of a unique Electronic Identification card (EID) issued by the Social Security Administrations (SSA) local offices to each eligible voter based on the information available in its central database. On the elections day, the voter inserts the card in any computer with connection to Internet, at any place in the world, the voters eligibility is checked by the computer, through a software, against the information in the SSA database, and then allowed to enter a National Electoral Website to vote in national, state and local elections, guided step by step by the computer. It totally eliminates the problematic voter registration process and absentee ballet problems. It eliminates over-voting and under-voting, and voting more than once for any office. It saves to the taxpayers at least 80 percent of the present electoral costs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 12, 2003
• ISBN: 9781465331946

Dr. Reza Rezazadeh

Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin System, and a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Reza Rezazadeh is a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural, and multi-lingual scholar with three doctoral titles in political science, law, and economics (J.D., Ph.D., S.J.D.) and a post-doctoral title in international law and economics. He is fluent in five languages and has elementary knowledge of four more. He is also a technologist, with background in mechanical engineering with patented inventions. In addition of being the author of five books and several scholarly articles, he is also an artist, a poet, and a musician, with over forty-five years of academic career, research and travel experiences in many countries.

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Copyright © 2003 by Dr. Reza Rezazadeh.

Library of Congress Number: 2002096887

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Contents

PREFACE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dedication

Dedicated to all democratic minded voters, in the United States and the rest of the world, who have been denied their voting rights by a variety of obstacles created by the instruments of power in government.

PREFACE

OVER 39,000 MATERIALS has been published about the electronic electoral system. This illustrates the incredible interest that exists in finding a way to full Internet voting system which would be abuse free, secure and simple with no cost to voters and minimal cost to the governments-national, state and local-in the United States as well as other countries with developed electronic information-communication system.

At least two major problems have been obstacles toward achieving this goal. First, registration and security of identification. As it will be presented later, a variety of methods have been devised by different voting companies to guarantee the accuracy and security of this step. Nearly all of these have been complex and costly and not so appropriate for a worldwide Internet voting. Our proposed system totally eliminates the voter registration process as we know it replacing it with an abuse free Electronic Electoral Identification card (EID) determining the eligibility of each voter and allowing him/her to vote in his/her place of legal residence from any place in the world.

Second, a National Electoral Website (NEWS) with a properly incorporated software, guarantees the uniformity, integrity and security of the electoral process at every level of government. This website is to be used by every state in national, state and local elections. No human hand except those of the voters are involved in this electoral process, eliminating countless abuses associated with the human involvement in electoral process. It represents a very simple voting process which the voters will become acquainted from their very first participation. Once they become familiar with the system they will not change it for anything else.

These two unique devices not only would provide for an accurate voting and simple participation without any need of being present at any voting station, it will induce, by its independent and leisurely voting process, more people participate in voting including many traditional non-voters.

One of the most important aspects of the proposed system is its minimal cost to governments holding the election. The total cost of establishing the new system for each state, with all of its equipments and required services, will be less than the cost of one presidential election. The cost of running the election will be less than 10 percent of the present traditional system.

Finally, whether we like it or not, the total Internet electoral voting system is going to be established in all countries with developed Internet system, in a very few years, extending not beyond 15 years. For the majority of politicians and interest groups including major political parties, who would lose their political base if the proposed system is established, this should be a warning. Their opposition to passing an appropriate legislation to establish this new system would not stop its eventual use. The sooner we accept the system the better off the voters will be. For the first time we are talking about a true democracy where only the voters dominate with overwhelming majority participation. It is the system which may cause the realization of the American ideal of government by the people, for the people and of the people.

CHAPTER ONE

UNFAIR AND UNJUST STATE OF THE PRESENT ELECTORAL SYSTEM

Citizens Without Vote

AS CONGRESS CONSIDERS reforming the electoral process, the members are facing the ugly truth that for millions of Americans the cherished ideal of one person one vote has been an empty promise.

1950s and 60s witnessed the abolition of poll taxes, literacy tests and other registration and voting hurdles that used to keep blacks and other minorities from reaching the polls, yet today,millions of Americans are deprived from voting by an array of less obvious or invisible obstacles. The presidential elections of 2000, ultimately decided by just 537 votes in the pivotal state of Florida, exposed many of these undemocratic means aimed to deprive voters from casting a proper vote. In Florida alone, many thousands, mostly democrats, were denied access to the polls and from those who voted over 100000 ballots were invalidated because of flows in voting process. After a detailed study of the Florida elections by different groups these flaws became undeniable making them harder than ever to ignore.

The notion of America being a free and open democracy falls far short of reality by the revelation of these systemic ills depriving a decisive number of citizens from their vote. In fact, all Americans are at some risk by having their right to vote sabotaged by the underlying weaknesses in the nations election process such as outdated and poorly maintained ballot counting systems, failure in registration process, error-ridden voter eligibility rolls burdensome and inadequate voting procedures.

It may be virtually impossible to determine how many votes go uncounted in a national elections, however, various studies have estimated the results ranging from hundreds of thousands to as many as several million nationwide. Despite the fact that this is just a very small fraction of the 100 million votes cast in the 2000 presidential elections, it represents more than enough to change the outcome of a close presidential race as well as a substantial number of state and local contests. In fact in some occasions that have been studied, thisfraction of uncounted votes has been quite substantial. For example, in Chicago, a study by the local Board of Election Commissioners found that from 12.8 percent to 36.7 percent of ballots cast in 125 precincts did not register a vote for president. It was mostly attributed to problems with the punch-card system or ballots filled out incorrectly by voters who received inadequate help from poll workers. In Georgia, voting equipment functioned so poorly that 95,000 ballots, constituting of 4 percent of the total cast, did not tally a vote for president.(1)

Rich vs. Poor

In recent times, particularly since the elections of the year 2000, wherever the elite nations have gathered to discuss global issues, protesters from many nations have gathered in the streets to object to the way the elite is embracing or establishing global policies that protesters consider utterly detrimental to meager opportunities remaining to the overwhelming majority of global population who