Kuro5hin.org: Why Electronic Voting Software should be Free Software

Jason Kitcat, founder of the FREE e-democracy project, offers up this discussion of why electronic voting software must be Free, citing observability, security, freedom from dependencies, and freedom from cost as key issues.

" The electronic voting market is exploding... numerous existing and start-up companies have identified the huge revenue potential that the private and public markets offer, resulting in a raft of products and services being offered.

There has been considerable discussion both on- and off-line regarding the merits of electronic voting as whole, in addition to controversy over the validity of different technologies. However there seems to be little public debate over whether proprietary software is the appropriate way to provide electronic voting in public elections nor whether it's use makes the best business sense in private implementations.

Before the electronic voting community and its onlookers make hurried assumptions over how this market should develop I am keen to put forward the arguments for a non-proprietary model: Free Software."

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