ICTE ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION IN VOTER-VERIFIED ELECTIONS AND REFERENDUM

[Colm MacCarthaigh]

ICTE ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION IN VOTER-VERIFIED ELECTIONS AND REFERENDUM

[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]

Irish Citizens for Trustworthy Evoting welcome this week's elections and
referendum, which will be voter-verified, and we encourage everyone who is
eligible to vote to cast their vote. "Although we do not yet have the benefits
of trustworthy Evoting, the ballots in this week's polls will be verified by
voters prior to being cast. We will have a voter-verified audit-trail for this
election" said Colm MacCárthaigh, a representative of ICTE. 

"The only way any election can be secured from mass-fraud or error is to
provide such a trail visible in as open and transparent manner as it will be
this weekend," continued MacCárthaigh. "Although some votes will be spoiled in
this election, as several hundred were in the Evoting trials in Dublin and
Meath, it is important we remember that Evoting without a voter-verified
audit-trail is open to undetectable inaccuracy on an unprecedented scale," he
added.

Recognising the undeniable accessibility benefits of Evoting, ICTE will
continue to work towards achieving a trustworthy Evoting system in Ireland and
are calling on the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government,
Martin Cullen T.D. to meet with ICTE to discuss the issue. ICTE are also
calling for the publication of the full report by the Commission on Electronic
Voting, which is now possible due to the commencement of the Electoral (Amendment)
Act, 2004 [1].

Belying the criticisms that the results will now be slow and inaccurate,
MacCárthaigh said "citizens and residents of Ireland can now have confidence
that the results announced this weekend will not be subject to undetectable
tampering or accidental error and we encourage everyone with a vote to vote and
to cast their ballot clearly."

Speaking on the need for voter education, ICTE member Adrian Colley said "the
public needs to be informed how to mark preferences clearly.  It is clear
from previous elections that a simple misunderstanding causes many voters to
accidentally spoil their ballot papers," and added "a significant number of
voters would benefit from seeing examples of valid and spoiled ballots.  It
seems inexplicable that there has been no such voter education programme, given
that the `spoilproof' Evoting machines were believed to need an intensive and
expensive promotional campaign." 

"Voters must mark their votes clearly with numbers, using digits, in the order
of preference. Or in the case of the referendum, voters should mark their
choice with an X." MacCárthaigh added.

[1] See Written Question #359, Dáil Éireann, June 1, 2004.

[ADMINISTRIVIA]

A number of ICTE members and representatives will be present in various
count-centres around the country over the weekend performing tallies,
scrutinising ballots and observing the count. All are available for comment and
a list is attached. 

ICTE are also aware of number of other people involved in the campaign, who --
though not members of ICTE -- are prepared to comment on the issue, and their
details have also been included.

[END]

Colm MacCárthaigh is a representative of ICTE and will be at the RDS
from early Saturday;

	email: colm at stdlib.net

	phone: 087 657 8226

Adrian Colley is a member of ICTE and will be at the RDS from early
Saturday;

	email:	aecolley at spamcop.net

	phone:	087 246 7858

Ciaran McLochlainn is a member of ICTE and will be at Galway Leisureland
and Tuam Town Hall;

	email:  ciaran17 at eircom.net

	phone:  086 819 1201


Joe McCarthy (not a member of ICTE), Fellow of the ICS and Chartered Engineer
and pioneering Evoting campaigner will be at the RDS;

	email:	joe.mccarthy at arkaon.com

	phone:	086 245 6788

Andrew Ó Baoill (a member of the "At what cost" campaign) will be in
Galway-City;


	email:	andrew at funferal.org
	phone:	087 241 7003


Ryan Meade (Green Party Councillor and ICTE member) will be at the
RDS:

	email:	ryan at meade.net
	phone:	086 817 6657


Shane Hogan (Labour Party member and co-author of 2003 Labour Party report
on Evoting, "A threat to democracy?") will be at Ballinteer;

	phone:	086 817 2454

Stan Nangle (Green Party candidate and ICTE member) will be at the count
in Waterford City;

	email:	stan at voyager.ie

	phone:	087 610 8079

Catherine Ansbro (ICTE member and Green Party candidate) will be at the 
Co. Roscommon count centre in Hyde Centre, Roscommon.

	Email:  cansbro at eircom.net
	Phone:  087 204 7625

[ABOUT ICTE]

Irish Citizens for Trustworthy Evoting (ICTE) is a group of ordinary citizens
who believe that no electronic voting system can be trustworthy unless it
includes a voter-verified audit trail.

ICTE has a website available at

http://evoting.cs.may.ie/

ICTE's main goals are:

    * to ensure that any electronic voting system introduced in Ireland
      meets the following criteria

        o it includes a Voter Verified Audit Trail (VVAT),
	
        o a booth is used, analogous to the traditional polling booth,

        o all development uses formal methods,

        o all source code is open to public scrutiny and audit.

    * to prevent the use of the Nedap/Powervote system in Irish Elections 
      until it meets said criteria

    * to prevent the purchase of any more equipment or software from
      Nedap/Powervote by the Irish Government unless the system being
      purchased meets said criteria.

-- 
Colm MacCárthaigh                        Public Key: colm+pgp at stdlib.net