Australia: AEC is ‘not ready’ for electronic voting | iTnews.com.au

The Australian Electoral Commission does not currently have the internal capability to test electronic voting at the next federal election, according to its acting chief Tom Rogers. In a hearing of the parliamentary committee investigating electoral matters today, Rogers said he was not confident the AEC had the capacity to roll out such a major reform. “I would be worried by any large-scale trial of electronic voting before the next election,” he told the committee. “We would not have the internal capability now to do that.”

Australia: Push to trial “bring-your-own-device’’ i-vote at federal poll | The Australian

The Communications Department has told the federal parliamentary committee examining electoral matters that it backs a limited trial of electronic voting. The department suggests using the myGov portal — a secure website used by about three million Centrelink, child support and Medicare customers — for any trial. Abul Rizvi, the department’s deputy secretary for the digital economy, yesterday told the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters it was inevitable Australia would embrace online voting. … He said computer equipment was now cheaper and electronic voting at polling stations could be done through a “bring-your-own-device’’ model. “You are still voting physically at a physical polling place but are voting using an electronic device that is connected to a local system using your own device that you’ve brought in,’’ Mr Rizvi said. “Yes there are security issues … but those can be addressed, and that I would suggest reduces your costs quite considerably.’’

Australia: Controversial MyGov login could be used as e-voting ID | ZDNet

The Department of Communications has floated the possibility of using the government’s new controversial MyGov identification system for Australians to trial electronic voting. … The MyGov so-called one-stop-shop for identity verification has faced criticism in the past few months after vulnerabilities were found in the website, including the ability for one researcher to hijack the accounts of registered MyGov users, according to a Fairfax report. Rizvi said there would be risks associated with testing electronic voting, but these would have to be weighed up against the risks associated with the traditional paper-based voting method, which resulted in Western Australia having to go back to the polls earlier this year to re-vote the WA Senate election.

Australia: AEC warns against e-voting trial before next election | ZDNet

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) does not have the internal capabilities to safely carry out an e-voting trial prior to the next federal election, according to the acting Electoral Commissioner, Tom Rogers. Rogers, who spoke today at a parliamentary committee hearing investigating electoral matters, said that he was not confident the AEC could safely introduce electronic voting. “I’m concerned about our ability to introduce some form of electronic voting, safely,” he said. “We could introduce something, but we may end up back in a WA sort of situation if we’re not careful, in a short space of time. “I would be worried about any form large scale adoption before the next election, even a trial. We would not have the internal ability now to do that. We would have already had to have started that process,” he said. “I’m concerned, as the acting commissioner, about whether I can tell you faithfully that we can implement a safe solution.”

Australia: Electoral Commission proposes electronic vote counting for federal elections | ABC

Future federal elections should use electronic vote counting to improve the accuracy of results, the ACT Electoral Commission has said. A joint parliamentary committee has been considering election methods after almost 1,400 votes went missing in Western Australia during the federal election. The problems led to a fresh Senate poll being held in WA and the resignation of Australian electoral commissioner Ed Killesteyn. ACT electoral commissioner Phil Green told the committee there were miscounts in every division in Western Australia. “Hand counting and hand sorting by using humans alone is an error-prone thing,” he said. “I think if you look at the result of the recount in Western Australia you can see that hand counting even a single first preference on a ballot paper is something that human beings aren’t very good at, but computers are very good at it.”

Australia: Compulsory ID a first for Queensland vote | SBS News

The state Liberal-National Party government said it introduced the law in May to reduce voter fraud. Opponents said it will deprive some of the most marginalised groups, including Indigenous and ethnic communities, of their democratic right. “Voter fraud has been an issue in the past and there does continue to be an issue of people voting multiple times or voting as other people,” said the LNP Stafford candidate Bob Andersen. “It’s not too much to ask just to produce ID and verify who they are and then give their one vote and make it count.” The LNP has presented no evidence of systematic fraud in Queensland elections. “The last time this was thoroughly looked at, the court of Disputed Returns in Chatsworth went through 20,000 votes and the instances they found of double voting were very, very minor,” said Labor’s Queensland state secretary Anthony Chisholm. “So there is no justification for this and they’re just trying to advantage themselves and stop people voting and they’re the people that need a voice the most.”

Australia: Government rejects Senate order to disclose Electoral Commission software code | Sydney Morning Herald

The government has rejected a Senate demand to disclose the Australian Electoral Commission’s secret computer code used to electronically count Senate preference votes. The motion, passed by the Senate last week, was prompted by the AEC’s refusal to comply with a freedom of information request made by digital activist Michael Cordover. He wanted to scrutinise the source code for the EasyCount application, but the AEC’s chief legal officer Paul Pirani instead declared him “vexatious”. The Senate motion, introduced by Greens senator Lee Rhiannon, called on Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson to table the source code, as well as correspondence and documents relevant to the decision to have Mr Cordover declared a “vexatious” applicant and the assertion he “colluded” with another activist to “harrass” the AEC. … Mr Ronaldson said the government would not table any documents or correspondence relating to Mr Cordover’s FOI request, because the matter would soon appear before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. He also refused to publish the source code for the Senate counting system.

Australia: Electoral Commission bucks Senate on voting source code | Computerworld

The Australian Electoral Commission has refused a Senate order to reveal the underlying source code of the EasyCount software used to tabulate votes in upper house elections. A motion moved by Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon on 10 July directed Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson to table the source code as well as correspondence between Ronaldson’s office and the AEC relating to a freedom of information request for the source code. In October, following the fraught outcome of the Senate election in WA, Hobart lawyer Michael Cordover filed a freedom of information application with the AEC requesting the release of the source code and documentation of any data formats used by the software. The AEC rejected the FOI application, citing section 45 of the FOI Act, which exempts “documents that disclose trade secrets”.

Australia: Voter ID push: opponents say laws would disenfranchise the disadvantaged | The Guardian

A Liberal party push to roll out voter identification laws across Australia has sparked warnings that the move would make it harder for disadvantaged groups to have their say at the ballot box. Party delegates at the Liberal federal council meeting in Melbourne at the weekend passed a motion calling on Coalition governments at all levels to change the law to ensure people must present identification containing a name and residential address when voting. The resolution, passed resoundingly after it was promoted as a “sensible” way to prevent electoral fraud, indicates a mood for such changes within the Liberal party but is not binding on the federal or state Coalition governments.

Australia: Electoral Commission promises upgraded procedures for re-run WA Senate election | ABC

The Australian Electoral Commission says it has improved its security and procedures to ensure that no votes go missing in Saturday’s re-run of the WA Senate election. The election is being held again after results from last September’s Senate election were declared void when about 1,400 ballots disappeared during a vote re-count. AEC spokesman Phil Diak said the commission had re-examined all of its security procedures in the wake of the vote loss and subsequent inquiries into it by former Australian Federal Police chief Mick Keelty and a joint parliamentary committee.

Australia: Australia Post offers to assist digitisation of federal elections | Post & Parcel

Australia Post has said it could be more heavily involved in the federal elections process within Australia, particularly in the digitisation of the voting process. The self-funding state-owned company told a Parliamentary inquiry into the 2013 federal elections that its existing role as a communications platform could be usefully expanded, particularly as Australians progress towards a “digital society”. Australia Post submitted evidence to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters to underline its experience, public trust and other credentials to support new directions and innovations in the nation’s electoral process. Its suggestions included providing voter ID authentication, managing the electoral roll and public access to it, and supporting the move towards secure electronic voting. “We are driven by the desire to evolve our role as the nation’s most trusted intermediary – to continue to be relevant to the social, commercial and civic fabric of Australia,” the company said.

Australia: Anti-coal protestors rated top threat to Australian e-voting | The Register

Sarong-clad anti-coal hippies have been marked as a chief threat to online voting at the election scheduled to take place in 2015 in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). The protestors are identified as a threat in a report penned by CSC for the NSW government. The Reg has seen a copy of the report, which suggests developers feared protesting farmers and fire fighters could launch an attack against New South Wales’ iVote online ballot system in objection to various coal mining projects across the state. “Anti-coal lobby groups could lead to the targeting of the SGE (state government election) in 2015,” the document read. The document also outlines scenarios in which protestors could launch denial of service attacks, knocking out the ability for 250,000 remote and blind users to vote online.

Australia: New South Wales Electoral Commission inks deal to use online voting technology in 2015 | ARN

NSW voters could soon be spared the trip to the polls on election day after a deal was struck to use online voting technology in the 2015 State Election. The NSW Electoral Commission has selected Syctl to provide online voting technology in the 2015 State Election to support its iVote Core voting Sytem. Scytl has developed election-specific cryptographic security technology, protected by more than 40 international patents. The online voting technology will be the cornerstone of the the iVote system, and will enable secure, accessible, transparent and auditable elections to eligible citizens across NSW. The technology will help the NSWEC realise its goal of using the iVote system to deliver a remote voting channel to eligible voters in NSW, and possibly to other jurisdictions in Australia and New Zealand.

Australia: Electoral commission failed to heed warnings about ballot paper security | The Guardian

he Australian Electoral Commission failed to adequately respond to warnings about the transport and storage of ballot papers made years before the West Australian Senate debacle. An Australian National Audit Office report into the security of ballots during last year’s federal election is scathing of the AEC, saying it failed to react to recommendations made in 2010. The AEC has been under fire over its botched handling of the poll; the loss of 1370 ballot papers forced a fresh WA Senate vote in April. The 2010 audit by the audit office found the AEC needed to improve the security of ballot papers during transport and storage.

Australia: Dozens to recast vote due to ballot box problem in Western Australia Senate election | ABC

Dozens of people at an aged care facility in Perth will have to vote again in the WA Senate election re-run because of a problem with a ballot box. The latest voting bungle comes despite the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) promising improved security and counting procedures. The election re-run is being held because 1,370 votes were lost in the September poll and the High Court declared the election void. The AEC has now investigated the handling of about 75 ballot papers cast earlier this week at the Merriwa Estate RAAF retirement village in Perth’s northern suburbs.

Australia: Scytl wins New South Wales iVote tender | Sydney Morning Herald

The NSW Electoral Commission has chosen Spanish vendor Scytl to provide electronic voting software for the 2015 NSW election, on what could be the first occasion the public is allowed to vote via the internet. The commission introduced an electronic voting system, known as iVote, at the 2011 state election, for citizens with vision impairment and other disabilities. A draft report from a joint parliamentary inquiry into electoral matters due to be tabled in Parliament this week calls for access to iVote to be extended to all voters. Inquiry chairman Liberal MP Gareth Ward says the measure would be an Australian first and would make it easier for people to participate in the democratic process. Concerns about security and fraud have been raised on a number of occasions with electronic elections, although a number of other countries have reported few such problems.

Australia: Internet vote on the card for next state poll | Sydney Morning Herald

New South Wales voters could cast a ballot at the next state election without leaving home under proposed changes that would alleviate the Saturday rush for polling booths. A joint parliamentary inquiry into electoral matters said the so-called iVote system, which allows electors to vote using the internet, should be introduced for all council and state elections. It called for the measure in a draft report obtained by Fairfax Media, saying it would help boost voter turnout. The report is due to be tabled in Parliament on Thursday. However, voting experts say the system is open to abuse by hackers and should be used with caution.

Australia: Communications Dept seeks electronic voting trial | ZDNet

As the Australian government returns to an honours system that will see new Australian Knights and Dames, the Department of Communications has suggested that there should be a trial of electronic voting in the 2016 election. The proposal came in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry in the 2013 Federal election. The issue of electronic voting was first raised after the election by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull as a way for dealing with informal votes, but gained even more attention after the Australian Electoral Commission lost 1,375 ballot papers in the WA Senate election, forcing voters in the state to head back to the polls for a second time on April 5. The Department said in its submission that trials of electronic voting in the ACT and New South Wales have been a success, with the ACT system in operation since 2011, built on Linux open source software that is made publicly available prior to the election to improve transparency.

Australia: Uncertainty continues after South Australia poll | The Australian

South Australia’s election outcome remains uncertain as the major parties continue to lobby two key independents amid the likelihood of a hung parliament. It could be the end of the week before the count is finalised with the Australian Electoral Commission only beginning to tally up to 260,000 pre-poll, postal and absentee votes on Tuesday. Independents Bob Such and Geoff Brock have again vowed to take time to decide who they will support, either individually or collectively, if neither of the major parties can secure a majority. With 69 per cent of the vote counted, Labor is on course to win 23 seats in the 47-seat lower house, the Liberals 22, with the independents to hold two. But there remains 10 seats where the margin is less than 1000 votes, suggesting the situation could change quite dramatically.

Australia: Senate vote debacle: Recycling banned at polling centres as AEC introduces reforms | Sydney Morning Herald

The Australian Electoral Commission has ordered a suite of changes prior to the re-run of the WA Senate election, including increased tracking of ballot papers and a ban on recycling at polling centres. Acting Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers told Parliament’s electoral matters committee on Wednesday that the debacle over the loss of 1370 ballots “is certainly the worst period in our history”. Mr Rogers said the AEC had made several changes in response to an investigation by former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty and those changes would be in place for the fresh WA Senate election on April 5. Mr Keelty’s investigation identified numerous breakdowns in the handling and storage of ballots and he has said “poor leadership” contributed to the “disastrous result” that has forced Western Australians back to the polls. It has been estimated that the Senate re-vote in WA will cost $20 million.

Australia: West Australian election recount a ‘disaster’: Keelty | Sydney Morning Herald

Former federal police chief Mick Keelty has described the handling of the West Australian Senate election recount as a “disaster”. Parliament’s electoral matters committee is investigating how 1370 ballots went missing in a recount of the 2013 Senate election in WA and measures to ensure it does not happen again. The loss has resulted in a court-ordered re-run of the WA Senate election on April 5, which could affect the Abbott government’s delivery of key election promises. Mr Keelty was hired to find out what went wrong, but was unable to put his finger on one specific fault or criminality. “This was a disaster,” he told the committee in Canberra on Wednesday.

Australia: Two more enquiries to be held into Australian Electoral Commission following lost vote debacle | Sydney Morning Herald

After the humiliation of losing more than 1300 votes and the resignation of top officials, the Australian Electoral Commission faces yet more pressure with the Auditor-General launching a major investigation into the electoral body. Fairfax Media can reveal the national audit office is pursuing two audits of the AEC after the 2013 WA Senate election result was declared void by the High Court. Due in part to the AEC’s loss of the ballot papers, West Australians will vote again on April 5 for a re-run of last year’s election, at a cost of around $20 million. The ballot debacle, which was blamed on “lax supervision” and a “complacent attitude” within the AEC in an investigation by former Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty, resulted in the resignation of the AEC’s electoral commissioner Ed Killesteyn and state manager Peter Kramer.

Australia: Electoral Commission agrees to refund $2000 nomination fee for botched WA Senate vote | Sydney Morning Herald

Voters in Western Australia will be confronted with the biggest ballot paper they have seen after the Australian Electoral Commission bowed to pressure and agreed to refund nomination fees for minor parties that contested the botched Senate vote in September. A number of grassroots parties had written to the AEC complaining they would be unable to run again if the $2000 deposit they paid per candidate nomination were not returned to be used again for the April 5 election. Most minor political parties paid a minimum $4000 for two candidates to qualify for ”above the line” voting and take part in the preference swap deals that provide their only hope of election.

Australia: Senate election re-run to cost $20 million | Sydney Morning Herald

The re-run of the West Australian senate election will cost taxpayers as much as $20 million, nearly double initial estimates of $10-13 million. And the Griffith by-election that saw Labor’s Terri Butler edge out the LNP’s Bill Glasson to take former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s former seat of Griffith cost taxpayers another $1.194 million. Acting electoral commissioner Tom Rogers told Senate estimates late on Tuesday night that the lower estimates for the statewide by-election had been merely been an early estimate of the cost of heading back to the polls. Mr Rogers said the Australian Electoral Commission was still finalising estimates but the bill could run to about $20 million for taxpayers.

Australia: Federal Police investigating multiple voting | SBS News

Australian Federal Police are investigating numerous instances of voters casting more than one ballot in last September’s election. The Australian Electoral Commission has revealed that almost 2000 people have admitted voting more than once, and some have been referred to the AFP for investigation. And the AEC says almost 19,000 letters have been sent to other electors who had multiple marks recorded beside their names. So far, Federal Police are investigating 128 cases where Australians voted more than once at the 2013 federal election. One person is believed to have voted 15 times. Australian Electoral Commission spokesman Phil Diak says the AEC routinely scrutinises the vote count and works with the Australian Federal Police to investigate cases of multiple vost casting.

Australia: Electoral Commissioner Ed Killesteyn resigns after bungled WA Senate vote | Sydney Morning Herald

The head of the Australian Electoral Commission, Ed Killesteyn, and his most senior colleague in Western Australia have quit in the wake of the state’s bungled Senate election. Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson announced on Friday that Mr Killesteyn had formally tendered his resignation to Governor-General Quentin Bryce. The High Court this week declared last September’s West Australian Senate result void – paving the way for a fresh election in the state – after more than 1300 ballot papers went missing during the counting process. Mr Killesteyn is currently on personal leave and will remain on leave until his resignation takes effect on July 4. Deputy electoral commissioner Tom Rogers will act as commissioner. ”Events in Western Australia mean that the Australian Electoral Commission must regain the confidence of the community,” Senator Ronaldson said in a statement. ”The government will in due course announce a new electoral commissioner who will be charged with the restoration of that confidence.”

Australia: Electoral Commission boss resigns over WA Senate vote | News.com.au

The boss of the Australian Electoral Commission has resigned in the wake of the fall-out over the bungled West Australian Senate recount that has prompted a new election costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Commissioner Mr Ed Killesteyn today wrote to the Abbott Government stating that he had formally tendered his resignation to Governor-General Quentin Bryce. Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson said Mr Killesteyn had a long and distinguished career in the public service and he wished him well for the future. “Events in Western Australia mean that the Australian Electoral Commission must regain the confidence of the community,’’ Mr Ronaldson said.

Australia: New vote for Western Australia as court voids razor-sharp contest | Reuters

Voters in Western Australia are headed for a rerun of last year’s federal Senate race, after the High Court on Thursday voided the election over 1,370 ballots that disappeared during a recount of the tight contest. The ruling could have an impact on conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s agenda. His Liberal-National coalition won a strong majority in the lower house of parliament in last year’s poll, but lacks a majority in the upper house, or Senate. Justice Kenneth Hayne invalidated the race because the lost ballots far exceeded the margins of error in two of the senate races, one of which came down to as few as 12 votes. Senator Michael Ronaldson, the Liberal Party minister responsible for the Australian Electoral Commission, warned the agency over a replay of the debacle in the new vote, which could take place within weeks.

Australia: Fresh Senate poll likely in Western Australia | Perth Now

West Australians could go back to the polls as early as March after the High Court could not declare who was elected to the Senate because of lost votes. The Australian Electoral Commission petitioned the court for the election to be declared void, after it lost 1375 votes during a recount for the September 2013 election. The initial count declared the Liberals and Labor winners of the first four of six seats. The final two seats went to Zhenya Dio Wang of the Palmer United Party and Labor Senator Louise Pratt. But the recount narrowly gave the final two seats to the Australian Sports Party’s Wayne Dropulich and the Greens’ Senator Scott Ludlam.

Australia: High Court Judge indicates Western Australia likely to go back to polls for fresh Senate election | ABC

The Court of Disputed Returns has given a strong indication that Western Australia will go back to the polls for a new Senate election. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) asked for the Senate election to be declared void after 1,370 ballot papers were missing for a recount. Justice Kenneth Hayne has ruled that the loss of those ballot papers meant the electors were prevented from voting. He also ruled that Greens senator Scott Ludlam and the Australian Sports Party’s Wayne Dropulich were not duly elected.