[chapter-delegates] e-voting system for ISOC board

[James M Galvin]

Franck,

E-voting is hard.  I know this.  I'm a technologist and I've devoted 
considerable resources to understanding the problem and the potential 
solutions.

Consider the issue of identity.  In a physical voting system we accept 
certain flaws in identifying people because we apply procedures commonly 
referred to as "check and balances".  These procedures include things 
like witnesses, physical signatures, and physical presence among other 
things.  We know the system is not perfect but it is pretty good and in 
general it is extremely difficult to bias or swing an election.  In 
essence, there exists a trusted infrastructure within which the election 
takes place.

That trusted infrastructure does not exist on the Internet.  It might be 
possible to create it, but then you will find it is not possible to have 
one that works everywhere, all the time.  People expect ISOC to ensure 
that it reaches out to everyone, all the time.  We certainly do try but 
you have to admit it can be difficult some times.

Even without that issue, it is a significant undertaking to build a trust 
infrastructure.  It is not something that you can just "turn on" one day. 
It will take time, perhaps years, for it to include a majority of our 
members.

My request for proposals was not a trick.  It was a serious question.  I 
have read all the suggestions to date but I simply do not have the time 
to respond to each and every one.  I was hoping that someone would feel 
really excited about their suggestion and they would want both to repeat 
it and to fill out some of the details.  Principles always sound like 
good ideas until you get into the implementation details.  Besides, I may 
have overlooked something so getting help is a good thing.

Jim

PS.  Consider too, that if e-voting were easy, everybody would already be 
doing it.  And by that I mean a system that scales to tens of thousands 
of people with little if any manual intervention and works everywhere in 
the world.




--On Wednesday, March 16, 2005 11:54 AM +1200 Franck Martin 
<franck at sopac.org> wrote:

> James,
>
> Nice trick ;)
>
> I know it too. It is called send back the work to the person who asked
> for it..
>
> So here is my trick:
>
> Please review the whole thread because numerous propositions were made
> on how to make a free member vote. You may have missed all these
> discussions but hey, we have an archive! ;) ( I give you a hint,
> because I'm really nice with you, it has to do with the indonesia
> chapter)
>
> And here I pull the rabbit from the hat:
> As VP Chapters and I'm sure there is a VP membership, the onus is on
> YOU to propose us a system. Members give objectives to the board and
> the board implements them (not the other way). I think there is
> sufficient literature out there for you to come with an acceptable
> system, where a member will be identified (not by money) and given a
> right to vote for one or more representatives.
>
> We are making progress...  :)
>
> Cheers
> PS: Assume you are lucky, because I did not ask you to do a state of
> the art in e-voting and explaining the advantages and disadvantages of
> each system in regards to ISOC
>
> James M Galvin wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > --On Wednesday, March 16, 2005 10:25 AM +1200 Franck Martin
> > <franck at sopac.org> wrote:
> >
> >> the heart of the problem is that! one member = one vote
> >
> >
> >
> > So, let's explore this.  In detail.
> >
> > If you have a suggestion for how we can achieve this let me ask that
> > you do the following.
> >
> > Please start a new message with a relevant subject line for each
> > suggestion.  I will promise to participate in a detailed discussion
> > of  each suggestion so we can explore whether or not it will work for
> > ISOC.
> >
> > Jim Galvin
> > VP Chapters