A new voting system uses the Internet, cryptography, and "magic" ink to ensure that everyone's vote is counted.

Voting machines are one of the few areas where technology has decidedly taken us a step backward. The electronic voting ma­chines that one-third of American voters will be using in November are no more reliable than your home computer.

Direct-recording electronic voting machines are incredibly easy to hack; Princeton University security expert Ed Felten proved it by accessing a Diebold machine’s memory card with a hotel minibar key he bought online. In less than one minute, Felten was able to install undetectable vote-stealing software. Then there is the garden-variety computer error. Touch-screen machines in Sarasota, Florida, recorded an 18,000-vote undercount in a congressional race decided by fewer than 400 votes. Paper itself was never foolproof (remember those chads?), but a stolen, lost, or stuffed ballot box risks mere hundreds of votes while a hidden computer glitch risks millions. And since viruses can spread, one machine’s infection can quickly cross county lines. 

Unfortunately, our current digital democracy leaves massive fraud and massive error imperceptible and untrackable. And transparency—not just of the software code, but of the whole voting system—has never been more important. Each voter should be able to verify that his or her own vote has been counted correctly from the booth all the way to the final tally. But how can you lay bare the secret ballot without sacrificing the privacy that makes democracy work?

(Read more...)
http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/04-protecting-your-vote-with-invisible-ink

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Before casting your ballot, do you think you know the issues?  Regardless of your political preferences, it is increasingly important for us to understand what it means by environmental sustainability and how it could affect our economies and social well-beings in our societies.  If everyone of us would take the time to digest the information listed below, it could really serve our societies well...

The Business Case for Sustainability (55 mins)
http://www.sustainabilityadvantage.com/

The End of Suburbia (78 mins)
http://www.endofsuburbia.com/

A Green History of the World: The Environment & the Collapse of Great Civiliations - By Clive Ponting (Book) 
http://www.amazon.com/New-Green-History-World-Civilizations/dp/0143038982 (2007 Edition)
http://ecobooks.com/books/history.htm (1993 Edition)