http://www.independent.ie/national-news/evoting-plans-hit-by-decision-in-dutch-court-1114882.html
Independent.ie
Wednesday October 03 2007
THE prospect of the State's 6,000 e-voting machines ever
being used has receded even further after a Dutch judge declared their use in
Holland illegal.
They are currently being stored at an army hangar in Co
Meath and in rented locations around the country at an annual cost of over
€700,000. However, a Dutch judge has ruled that the e-voting machines used in
his country's November and March elections were not adequately authorised and
that at least one type of machine was not certified. The machines were manufactured
by Nedap, the same company which won the Irish e-voting contract.
Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan said the decision
was a clear indication of the ineptitude of the Government on the e-voting
project. "The waste of €60m of public money on the machines is an
indication of gross incompetence by Ministers Dempsey, Cullen and Roche in
dealing with these matters over the years."
He said that the Government's failed attempt to introduce
the machines without the verification of the citizens' vote smacked of a
totalitarian regime.
"I am calling on Environment Minister John Gormley to
scrap the machines immediately."
The case was brought by a Dutch political action group,
"We Don't Trust Voting Computers," which had highlighted how many
Dutch e-voting machines could be hacked into electronically from 20 to 30
metres away. Future Dutch elections will now be held using the traditional
pencil and ballot paper method, until more secure machines are developed.
Nedap, which plans to develop a new generation of e-voting
machines, told the Register.co.uk techonology site that the Dutch court
decision would not affect its business.
The Department of Environment confirmed that plans to use
the e-voting machines had not been abandoned.
"The minister has already indicated on the record of
the House that he is at present considering the next steps to be taken in
relation to the electronic voting and counting project," a spokesman said.
Most of the 6,000 machines are being stored in purpose-built
containers in a hangar at the Army's base in Gormanstown, Co Meath. However,
the containers are not big enough to store the tables for the machines and they
are being stored separately in the hangar.
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