Finland Certifies Election, Despite 2% Of Votes Lost Due To Computer Issues

from the what's-1%-here-or-there? dept

Tue, Feb 3rd 2009 9:13pm — Mike Masnick

In the latest sad saga concerning e-voting mishaps, it appears that Finland's courts have agreed to certify a recent election, despite approximately 2% of the votes not being counted (found via Slashdot). Also, there were additional problems as it's been discovered that despite the requirement for an "anonymous election" the voting software stored identifying information, along with how each voter voted. Oops. Once again, we're left wondering why various governments keep trusting such questionable equipment?

Filed Under: e-voting, elections, finland

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Overcast, 3 Feb 2009 @ 9:53pm

Ehh, what harm could a little computer error be anyway?
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2009 @ 10:28pm

It seems we are going to just have to wait till the older generation is replaced with younger people that know technology, the good and the bad of it.
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Leena, 3 Feb 2009 @ 10:41pm

Finland's elections
The e-voting was experimented in 3 Finnish municipalities and the amount of lost votes was 232.
Maybe the uncounted votes would have changed the local councils by one person but very probably would not have affected the seats for the parties.
Also I think the equipment is not the only thing to blame. People can't use them!
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Feb 2009 @ 10:53pm

Re:
It seems we are going to just have to wait till the older generation is replaced with younger people that know technology, the good and the bad of it.

Except a lot of them just don't care. As long as they've got a party to go to this weekend, they're happy. I'm surprised at the number of commenters over on slashdot that see nothing wrong with these kind of election results.
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PaulT (profile), 4 Feb 2009 @ 1:54am

What was the difference in resulting votes between the parties? If there was a 1 or 2% difference, then there's room for concern and this is a major controversy. If one party thrashed the other by an 18% margin, I can see why the Finn aren't worried about this specific result, though I hope it does still raise serious questions before they're used again.
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Andy, 4 Feb 2009 @ 4:17am

Re: Finland's elections @ Leena
Surely the fact that people can't use a computer system which has replaced a manual system that almost anyone can use means that the system is at fault. That's the principle tenet of system design - it has to be usable...
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Ben (profile), 4 Feb 2009 @ 6:04am

a reason why governments might like e-voting
"Once again, we're left wondering why various governments keep trusting such questionable equipment?"

this may be a tin-foil hat thought but

... perhaps because they know something we don't about how they might make use of the equipment and its vagaries for their own ends?
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Overcast, 4 Feb 2009 @ 1:08pm

... perhaps because they know something we don't about how they might make use of the equipment and its vagaries for their own ends?

Naa, that's my suspicion too - really. How can a company that makes ATM's that almost never, ever miscount cash - not be able to count votes properly? At least in a lot of cases, that is true.

It seems that the system required the voter to insert a smart card to identify the voter, type in their selected candidate number, then press "ok", check the candidate details on the screen, and then press "ok" again. Some voters did not press "ok" for the second time, but instead removed their smart card from the voting terminal prematurely, causing their ballots not to be cast.

On an ATM for instance - on the last part; it will ask you to confirm too - but it's nice and clear.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2009 @ 8:16pm

Before you make fun of the technology, get real.

Look at the debacle that happened in Minnesota. How many paper ballots did they find under someone's seat? How long did it take to get that election settled? (oh, that's right, it still isn't)

On a national note, I was happy to see Obama nominate a republican for his cabinet. I guess in 3 weeks, we will learn that Republicans don't pay their taxes either.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Mar 2009 @ 4:01pm

Re:
technical harm...the lil. computer being unable to connect to the server.
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