Election Software
Channel: linux conf au 2017 - Hobart, Australia
Date: 21/01/2017

Vanessa Teague
http://linux.conf.au/schedule/presentation/22/
Australian elections rely increasingly on software to compute outcomes and even to record and transfer votes.  Like any other software, election software can be buggy, insecure, mistakenly configured, or running on a platform not controlled by those who think they control it.

So how do Australian voters and scrutineers get evidence of the accuracy of our election results?  What's the role of open source software?  Should we be voting over the Internet?  

Victoria has an open-source end-to-end verifiable pollsite e-voting system.  NSW has a closed-source not-verifiable Internet voting system.  Other states and territories have a variety of approaches.  Don't even ask for the Senate counting code.

Where are our elections headed?  And how can people who understand computers try to help?