Electronic voting in Israel
 
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Background

(עברית)

On 23 September 2008, Israel's ministry of interior published a law proposal on the topic of 'electronic elections in local municipalities'. The proposal deals with the implementation of a new electronic voting system in the upcoming January 2009 local election. This is a first step of a more ambitious plan, whose goal is to adopt an electronic voting system for Israel's general elections. The law proposal will be presented for approval to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, and then to the 'Knesset'. All of this will be done in 'halich mezoraz' (accelerated legislation process) in order to enable deployment in some of the regional councils that will participate in the January 2009 local election.

The problem

We think that the electronic voting system considered by the Israeli government, as well as its underlying design philosophy, are fundamentally flawed. The central problem with the proposed system is that there is no way for anybody, including political parties and judges, to verify the correctness of the tally unless they completely trust the honesty, and/or competence, of the designers and implementors. The source of the problem is that the system is computer-based in its entirety. In particular, there is no alternative, "non-software-based", way to recount the votes. As a consequence, anybody with the appropriate skills and access privileges is capable of completely forging the results of the election in a totally undetectable and unrecoverable way.

Our goals

So far, the transition to electronic voting in Israel has not been administered appropriately. It has taken place behind closed doors, without public discussion, and without having seriously consulted experts in the subject. Our goals are to convince the government and the legislators (the Knesset) to reject the proposed change in the law, and to encourage the authorities to employ a more open process in the adoption of any future electronic voting system. To this end, we have drafted a letter, to be signed by experts that agree with our position.

What can you do to help?

If you feel that the process of moving to electronic voting in Israel has not undergone the public scrutiny it deserves, take action and sign the letter. Here is a list of the people that have signed so far. To add your name to the list, please send an email with your name and affiliation to israelevoting@gmail.com. In case you feel that you need to learn more about the issue before you sign, we recommend that you start by reading about the chain of events that has led us to this point. Then, read about the system designed by the Israeli government, and on why we think that this system is problematic. Finally, you should also get informed through newspaper articles and alternative sources.

This site was created by Alon Rosen and Amnon Ta-Shma, with help and advice from many others.