The balloting unit has a very simple user interface: a series of buttons with candidate names and symbols.I have been working on the security of electronic voting systems for more than 15 years, and, along with other colleagues, have been interested in understanding how a nation can tally that many votes cast over such a long period.An Indian election official displays a sample paper record of an electronic ballot during a demonstration of how the equipment works. Then the paper is dropped into a locked storage box.Indian voters line up outside a polling booth in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 29, 2019. (Photo:AP)How does it work?When a voter arrives at the polling place, she presents a photo ID and the poll officer checks that she is on the electoral roll. (Photo:AP) 

New Delhi: About 600 million Indian citizens are expected to cast their votes over a period of 39 days ending May 19, in the ongoing election for their country’s parliament.3 billion people registered to vote, the Indian national election is the world&48 Cavity-Preform Mould Factory39;s largest democratic exercise.After polling concludes, India’s electronic voting machines are sealed with a very old-fashioned technology. However, because no technology can be tamper-proof, each election outcome should be verified by a manual audit, to ensure that the results are correct, whatever they may be.Indian men stand in queue to cast their votes at a polling booth in Bardhaman east constituency, West Bengal state, India, Monday, April 29, 2019.) Opposition parties have asked the Supreme Court to order audits of half of all electronic voting machines, but that may not happen with this year’s election. (This means about 1 per cent or 2 per cent of each constituency’s machines will be tested. With 900 million of India's 1.After the election period is over and it’s time to tally the votes, the electronic voting machines are brought out, the seals opened and the vote counts for each control unit are read out from its display board. 

(Photo:AP)As I and others have observed, when the machines are being made, there are a number of opportunities for someone to physically tamper with an electronic voting machine in ways that preelection device testing might not detect. (Photo:AP)Security protections – and concernsThe Indian electronic voting machine primarily runs on specialized hardware and firmware, unlike the voting machines used in the U.The Election Commission has not made public any independent security evaluations, so it’s unclear exactly what is – or isn’t – possible., which are software-intensive. In particular, the simplicity of the design allows for simple attacks, such as intercepting and modifying the signal carried over the machine’s cable.A woman tests an electronic voting machine in India in advance of that country’s national elections.The whole system runs on a battery, so it does not need to be plugged in.Different areas of India vote on seven different days, over the course of a 39-day election period. To vote, the voter simply presses the button next to the candidate of her choice. Election workers hand-tally these individual machine totals to obtain the election results for each constituency.After each button press, a printer prints out the voter’s choice on paper and displays it to the voter for a few seconds, so the person may verify that the vote was recorded correctly.

About 600 million Indian citizens are expected to cast their votes over a period of 39 days ending May 19, in the ongoing election. The Election Commission # should certainly continue to improve testing and provide public reports of independent testing. The voting over seven phases ends May 19, with counting scheduled for May 23. (This article featured in 'Global Perspective- The Conversation'). In earlier versions of the machine, the chip manufacturer also wrote the machine code into the chip; today the electronics companies do it themselves. Now they’re used in elections throughout the country, which happen on different days in different areas. Testing can reveal only some problems, and the absence of problems during testing does not mean that problems do not exist.When it’s time for the polling place to close at the end of the voting day, each electronic voting machine device and paper-record storage box is sealed with wax and tape bearing the signatures of representatives of the various candidates in that election, and stored under armed guard.An elderly Indian citizen is assisted by a polling staff as she prepares to leave after voting at a polling center during the fourth phase of general elections in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 29, 2019.The Election Commission of India argues that any manipulation or error would be detected because the electronic voting machine is tested frequently and candidate representatives have opportunities to participate in mock elections immediately before a machine is used in a real election. The Election Commission of India has repeatedly claimed that the electronic voting machines are tamper-proof. India uses a domestically designed and manufactured electronic voting machine – as many as 4 million of them at 1 million polling places, at least some in extremely remote locations.

This design does offer some protections against possible tampering with how votes are recorded and tallied.While the electronic voting machine system is useful and functional, officials and observers shouldn’t assume there’s no way to tamper with the results.In each constituency, five electronic voting machines will have their results audited by comparing a manual count of the printouts with the electronic tallies. A 2013 Supreme Court directive asked the Election Commission to create that process to protect the integrity of the balloting process. It is intended for the single purpose of voting and specially designed for that, rather than relying on a standard operating system like Windows, which needs to be regularly updated to patch detected security vulnerabilities. India uses a domestically designed and manufactured electronic voting machine – as many as 4 million of them at 1 million polling places.The first version of the Indian electronic voting machine debuted in the state election in Kerala in 1982.At any time during manufacture, testing and maintenance, it may be possible to introduce counterfeit chips or swap out other components that could let hackers alter the results. However, it is possible to make changes that will not be detected.Auditing the machines’ resultsThere is, however, a mechanism for detecting attacks – that printed-out paper bearing the vote and stored securely with the electronic equipment. Parties that lose elections often suspect malfeasance and question the equipment. There are roughly 900 million eligible voters, and the country has typically seen about two-thirds of them turn out to polling places.S. However, a scholarly study has demonstrated there are ways to rig the machinesThe chips for the machines are manufactured outside India. Indians were voting Monday in the fourth phase of a staggered national election. 

The machines’ software is designed, written and tested at two electronics companies owned by the government of India: Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited.Each machine requires only a connection between a balloting unit and a control unit; there are no provisions to connect an electronic voting machine to a computer network, much less the internet – including wirelessly. When it’s her turn to vote, a polling official uses an electronic voting machine’s control unit to unlock its balloting unit, ready to accept her vote.The balloting unit has a very simple user interface: a series of buttons with candidate names and symbols.I have been working on the security of electronic voting systems for more than 15 years, and, along with other colleagues, have been interested in understanding how a nation can tally that many votes cast over such a long period.An Indian election official displays a sample paper record of an electronic ballot during a demonstration of how the equipment works. Then the paper is dropped into a locked storage box.Indian voters line up outside a polling booth in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 29, 2019. (Photo:AP)How does it work?When a voter arrives at the polling place, she presents a photo ID and the poll officer checks that she is on the electoral roll. (Photo:AP) New Delhi: About 600 million Indian citizens are expected to cast their votes over a period of 39 days ending May 19, in the ongoing election for their country’s parliament.3 billion people registered to vote, the Indian national election is the world&48 Cavity-Preform Mould Factory39;s largest democratic exercise.After polling concludes, India’s electronic voting machines are sealed with a very old-fashioned technology. However, because no technology can be tamper-proof, each election outcome should be verified by a manual audit, to ensure that the results are correct, whatever they may be.Indian men stand in queue to cast their votes at a polling booth in Bardhaman east constituency, West Bengal state, India, Monday, April 29, 2019.) Opposition parties have asked the Supreme Court to order audits of half of all electronic voting machines, but that may not happen with this year’s election. (This means about 1 per cent or 2 per cent of each constituency’s machines will be tested. With 900 million of India's 1.After the election period is over and it’s time to tally the votes, the electronic voting machines are brought out, the seals opened and the vote counts for each control unit are read out from its display board. (Photo:AP)As I and others have observed, when the machines are being made, there are a number of opportunities for someone to physically tamper with an electronic voting machine in ways that preelection device testing might not detect. 

Security protections – and concernsThe Indian electronic voting machine primarily runs on specialized hardware and firmware, unlike the voting machines used in the U.The Election Commission has not made public any independent security evaluations, so it’s unclear exactly what is – or isn’t – possible., which are software-intensive. In particular, the simplicity of the design allows for simple attacks, such as intercepting and modifying the signal carried over the machine’s cable.A woman tests an electronic voting machine in India in advance of that country’s national elections.The whole system runs on a battery, so it does not need to be plugged in.Different areas of India vote on seven different days, over the course of a 39-day election period. To vote, the voter simply presses the button next to the candidate of her choice. Election workers hand-tally these individual machine totals to obtain the election results for each constituency.After each button press, a printer prints out the voter’s choice on paper and displays it to the voter for a few seconds, so the person may verify that the vote was recorded correctly.About 600 million Indian citizens are expected to cast their votes over a period of 39 days ending May 19, in the ongoing election. The Election Commission # should certainly continue to improve testing and provide public reports of independent testing. The voting over seven phases ends May 19, with counting scheduled for May 23. (This article featured in 'Global Perspective- The Conversation'). In earlier versions of the machine, the chip manufacturer also wrote the machine code into the chip; today the electronics companies do it themselves. Now they’re used in elections throughout the country, which happen on different days in different areas. Testing can reveal only some problems, and the absence of problems during testing does not mean that problems do not exist.When it’s time for the polling place to close at the end of the voting day, each electronic voting machine device and paper-record storage box is sealed with wax and tape bearing the signatures of representatives of the various candidates in that election, and stored under armed guard.An elderly Indian citizen is assisted by a polling staff as she prepares to leave after voting at a polling center during the fourth phase of general elections in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 29, 2019.

The Election Commission of India argues that any manipulation or error would be detected because the electronic voting machine is tested frequently and candidate representatives have opportunities to participate in mock elections immediately before a machine is used in a real election. The Election Commission of India has repeatedly claimed that the electronic voting machines are tamper-proof. India uses a domestically designed and manufactured electronic voting machine – as many as 4 million of them at 1 million polling places, at least some in extremely remote locations.This design does offer some protections against possible tampering with how votes are recorded and tallied.While the electronic voting machine system is useful and functional, officials and observers shouldn’t assume there’s no way to tamper with the results.In each constituency, five electronic voting machines will have their results audited by comparing a manual count of the printouts with the electronic tallies. A 2013 Supreme Court directive asked the Election Commission to create that process to protect the integrity of the balloting process. It is intended for the single purpose of voting and specially designed for that, rather than relying on a standard operating system like Windows, which needs to be regularly updated to patch detected security vulnerabilities. India uses a domestically designed and manufactured electronic voting machine – as many as 4 million of them at 1 million polling places.The first version of the Indian electronic voting machine debuted in the state election in Kerala in 1982.At any time during manufacture, testing and maintenance, it may be possible to introduce counterfeit chips or swap out other components that could let hackers alter the results. However, it is possible to make changes that will not be detected.Auditing the machines’ resultsThere is, however, a mechanism for detecting attacks – that printed-out paper bearing the vote and stored securely with the electronic equipment. Parties that lose elections often suspect malfeasance and question the equipment. There are roughly 900 million eligible voters, and the country has typically seen about two-thirds of them turn out to polling places.S. However, a scholarly study has demonstrated there are ways to rig the machines

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