William Kelleher, author and Internet voting advocate, calls OVF solution “silly”

Etopia News recently published, in their entirety, comments opposing the use of remote Internet voting for uniformed and overseas voters from Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, President and CEO of the Overseas Vote Foundation. Herewith is a response to these comments by William Keller, a strong supporter of using the Internet for this purpose, and the author of Internet Voting Now!:

“In my view, their ‘solution’ is silly. Why wait three days, assuming the best of circumstances, for delivery of a voted ballot? When professionally set up and operated, Internet voting can reduce the voting and ballot return time to minutes.

“How is the US Postal Service going to pick up voted ballots in remote mountain locations, or hot war zones? It isn’t going to happen. Military personnel in harm's way deserve the right to vote more than any of us in our comfy homes.

“OVF suffers from failing to follow its own advice. They rely exclusively on ardent anti-Internet voting activists as their source of proof that the technology is insecure. Yet, they must disregard the plain facts of Internet voting successes in West Virginia and around the world. They have failed to do their ‘homework.’ The existence of these systems also shows that OVFs claim that ‘nearly every computer scientist or cyber security expert’ is against Internet voting is false. Scores of these professionals are out there doing what a minority of vocal opponents say can’t be done. It’s a classic case of Nervous Nellie Luddites making up facts and telling scary stories to validate their scientifically unsound fears.

“Finally, OVFs solution entrusts the professionals at FedEx and the Post Office to carry voted ballots. But the more humans are involved in the transportation of paper, the higher the likelihood of human error resulting in the loss of votes. There are also the threats of accident, natural disaster, or enemy attack that could cause a loss of voted ballots.

“As long as we must entrust professionals, we might as well do what Natalie Tennant does in West Virginia – trust the Internet voting professionals.”

Crystal Brown at GLACVCD talks about preventing the spread of West Nile Virus

Crystal Brown, Public Information Officer at the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District (GLACVCD), talks about ways to prevent the spread of the West Nile Virus, recorded from Santa Fe Springs, California, on August 23, 2011.

Rod MacGregor talks about EOR using GlassPoint technology

Listen to Rod MacGregor, CEO of GlassPoint, talk about using his company's solar thermal technology to replace the need for burning natural gas in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), in a remotely-recorded video interview conducted on Friday, August 19, 2011.

Peter Meisen talks about the World Resources Simulation Center

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Peter Meisen, Executive Director of the Global Energy Network Institute (GENI), talks about the origins, operations, and goals of the World Resources Simulation Center (WRSC), recorded from San Diego, California, on August 4, 2011

Janice Thomson at Involve on the European Citizens' Initiative

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Janice Thomson, EU Public Engagement Advisor at Involve, talks about the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) as a means of building public participation in European Union governance, recorded from Brussels, Belgium, on April 28, 2011

Bruno Kaufmann on activation of ECI

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Bruno Kaufmann, President of the Institute for Initiative and Referendum-Europe, talks about the coming into force on April 1, 2011, of the European Citizens' Initiative, which allows a minimum of one million citizens in a minimum of seven countries in the European Union to propose EU legislation, recorded from Falun, Sweden, on March 30/31, 2011

Senator Simitian’s pending RPS bill gets support from Assemblymember Gatto

While SB x1 2, California State Senator Joe Simitian’s bill to establish a 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard for the State of California, remains pending in the California State Assembly, Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D-43rd Assembly District) has strongly endorsed the bill, saying in a statement:

“I get a little angry when the local or national debate becomes a discussion on ‘global warming,’ because seeking renewable energy is about so much more than climate change. To me, renewable energy means clean air and water, blue skies, and fulfilling our generational duty to pass along a planet that is in the same or better shape as we found it. For all of these reasons, I support SB x1 2.”

Etopia News was lucky to get a statement from Assemblymember Gatto about the bill, given the stress under which Assemblymembers are now operating. A request for comment from the Speaker of the Assembly garnered this response:

“As far as a comment from Assembly Speaker Pérez, we are completely inundated with budget issues and negotiations right now, making it difficult to focus on much else.”