Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2016, 6:30 PM. (Note early start time!)
Location: Danbury Hospital Auditorium
Presenter: Dr. John R. Patrick
Election Attitude: How Internet Voting Leads to a Stronger Democracy
When Internet pioneer Dr. John R. Patrick spoke to us in May about Net Attitude, he hinted he was also thinking about how elections could be improved with Internet voting. So we asked him if he could be ready to speak to us about this topic in time for the Fall 2016 elections. We were thrilled when he said yes! Indeed, John got to work and wrote another book during the summer.
In his new book Election Attitude: How Internet Voting Leads to a Stronger Democracy, John explores how we register and vote in the United States, and how this system can be modernized and made more convenient, while maintaining Internet security and voting verifiability.
His previous two books included Health Attitude, about computers and Internet usage in healthcare, and Net Attitude, about the Internet. He utilizes the same principles in his research for Election Attitude. First, he looks at what is wrong with the current system. Then he looks at how these things can be made better with a new system. And he considers how this can be accomplished in a manner consistent with security, authentication, privacy, and verifiability.
John should know. He was a founding member of the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT in 1994, a founding member and past chairman of the Global Internet Project, and a Fellow of the IEEE. He is retired from IBM, where he was Vice President for Internet Technology. John has degrees in electrical engineering, law, management, and health care.
John knows how the Internet works, and he thinks a lot about how it will evolve and how we will utilize it. He is a guru who thinks ahead of his time. We have heard John’s comments in his presentations in past decades, and we have seen his predictions come to pass in following years. John has long focused on systems that are ripe for computerization, and he is now looking at our election systems. He wonders: “Why has the mobile Internet permeated most aspects of our lives, except for voting?”
John recognizes problems in our current voting system:
- The United States has a low rate of voter participation. Voting is inconvenient, and many people do not make time for it.
- Millions of votes do not get counted, for various reasons. Some of these counting issues can be solved by improved technology.
- Most voter registration is performed with old non-computerized methods.
- Most voting is performed on old machines that run out-of-date software.
- “Physically going to a polling place is an old fashioned idea to millennials. They will begin to demand Internet voting.”
“In my research for the new book, I found the situation in American voting even more archaic than in healthcare. I began to think there must be a way Internet technology can make voting more convenient, increase voter participation, and produce a stronger democracy.”
John believes modernization, computerization, and Internet voting improvements are consistent with verifiable voting. He says that anti-Internet voting activists have convinced political leaders and election officials that the Internet is not good enough for voting. John points out how some states allow voting by US mail, where the risk of fraud is greater than with the Internet. John goes on to explain the details about how votes can indeed be authenticated, kept private, verified, and audited. Biometric methods can be utilized to identify voters. Modern blockchain technology can be utilized to assure secure vote recording.
John maintains a positive attitude about the steps needed to modernize registration and voting. He quotes Internet pioneer, Vint Cerf, who said: “We can do this.” There have already been pilot Internet voting projects in Arizona, Utah, and West Virginia.
John has graciously donated 20 copies of his new book, and we will give these copies to the first 20 DACS members who arrive. Additional copies will be for sale at a special DACS price of $10. John will be available at the break and after the meeting to autograph books. Check out John’s website at johnrpatrick.com to learn more about him, read his blog, and sign up for his weekly e-brief. Connect with him at john@johnpatrick.com or Twitter @johnrpatrick.
John has presented to us annually since the early 1990’s. We are thrilled this will be his 25th presentation to DACS!
DACS General Meetings are free and open to the public. Members and prior attendees are encouraged to extend invitations to anyone interested in this topic.
DACS holds its general meetings at Danbury Hospital in either Creasy Auditorium or the Robilotti Conference Center across the hall. There is plenty of free parking in the guest parking garage adjacent to the auditorium.
Related: Book Review: Election Attitude, How Internet Voting Leads to a Stronger Democracy
Related: As Elections Loom, Officials Debate How to Protect Voting From Hackers