Pssssssssssssssssst! Dutch will count all election ballots by hand to thwart hacking

[malaise]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/02/dutch-will-count-all-election-ballots-by-hand-to-thwart-cyber-hacking
<snip>
Ministers want no repeat of US-Russia controversy in the March poll that could see Geert Wilders’ far-right party win power
Dutch authorities will count by hand all the votes cast in next month’s general elections, ditching “vulnerable” computer software to thwart any cyber hacking bid, a senior minister has said.

“I cannot rule out that state actors may try to benefit from influencing political decisions and public opinion in the Netherlands,” interior minister Ronald Plasterk said in a letter to parliament on Wednesday.

On 15 March, the Netherlands kicks off a year of crucial elections in Europe which will be closely watched amid the rise of far-right and populist parties on the continent.

Dutch officials are already on alert for signs of possible cyber hacking following allegations by US intelligence agencies that Russia may have meddled in November’s US presidential polls to help secure Donald Trump’s victory.

Plasterk told parliament that fears over “the vulnerabilities of the software” used by the country’s election committee “had raised questions about whether the upcoming elections could be manipulated”.

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The election hacking is getting way more coverage outside of the US

[SoCalNative]

1. To be fair

it's far easier for the Dutch to do, being a country of only 17 million people. But the municipalities are already pushing back about this:

COUNTING BALLOTS BY HAND TOO EXPENSIVE, UNRELIABLE: DUTCH MUNICIPALITIES

http://nltimes.nl/2017/02/02/counting-ballots-hand-expensive-unreliable-dutch-municipalities

[malaise]

2. India has a massive population

Their elections last three days - sometimes democracy is more important than instant gratification.

[SoCalNative]

3. Yes..but with the hooligans currently in charge

there is no way they will do anything that might actually make elections fair and honest.

[malaise]

6. True

but Dems could and should have made more noise

[LanternWaste]

4. Yet the NVVB conveniently leaves out its sources and citations for the allegations

Yet the NVVB conveniently leaves out its sources and citations for the allegations of unreliability it claims.

[brooklynite]

5. The Netherlands won't be voting for 10 separate offices and 25 referendums/initatives

Flipping actual machine votes in the US is still an unsupported theory.

[madokie]

7. The whole purpose of the system we use

is its hackability. Otherwise none of it would be found anywhere close to an election here.

[malaise]

9. +1,000

Bradblog changed me

[spanone]

8. K&R...

[Calculating]

10. This is really just paranoia

Unless actual proof of our machines getting hacked exists.