Voters approved the Dryden schools' EXCEL capital project yesterday by a 421-76 vote. 86% of spending will be covered by state aid, and there will be no increase in taxes. Projects include a security system for the entire district, plus a new PA and clock system, upgrades to phones, roof repairs, lighting, accessibility, and energy improvements at the middle school/high school.
The Journal's editorial picks up the question of military ballots, calling for what I think is the right answer:
The federal government could implement a secure electronic voting process for our soldiers. A process was tested in recent years but was found to be insecure. Now, as computer technology improves every day, it is time for the federal government to invest in a system that will work, hopefully by the time we elect a new president in 2008.
Closer to home, New York's Legislature needs to realize we live in an electronic age. Our home state is one of only five states or territories that doesn't allow any electronic transmission of voting information, whether it be applying for and receiving a ballot via fax, or actually voting in an election via e-mail, according to U.S. Department of Defense Federal Voting Assistance Program. New Yorkers serving in the military will be better served if the Legislature passes a law that will allow them, at a minimum, the ability to apply for and receive a ballot via fax. Perhaps voting via e-mail can come later, though some states are now allowing it for their citizens who are soldiers.
By allowing a local ballot to be posted in PDF or another form on the www.votetompkins.com Web site, for example, time and resources would be saved and the election process for our soldiers, their families and Board of Elections employees will become that much simpler.
In the Life section, an article on disaster preparation includes a sidebar noting Dryden's last tornado, an F0 (40-72mph) on August 21st, 1994 at 8:15am that caused $500,000 in damage but at least didn't injure anyone.
Posted by simon at April 4, 2007 8:21 AM in Ithaca Journal
Email voting is a disaster because it can't be made secure without losing the secret ballot. I'm a computer programmer; I'm not kidding here.
With any form of electronic voting, you have two choices: abandon the secret ballot; or abandon accurate vote counting and allow pretty much any clever person to steal the election (which is what has been done recently).
Email voting has all the problems of electronic voting machines plus many more. The states which allow email voting for soldiers are either handing the soldiers' votes over to any criminal organization which cares to steal them; or they're abandoning the soldiers' right to a secret ballot, and allowing their commanders to order them to vote a "preferred" way. Totally unacceptable.
http://www.bradblog.com/ is currently following the effort to get rid of the dangerous electronic "voting" machines.
In contrast, allowing the blank absentee ballots and related paperwork to be downloaded & printed, or received by fax, is a no-brainer; this should have been done long ago.