Online voting

The Cincinnati Post

Online voting via the Internet has a certain superficial appeal. It's quick, simple and the convenience of voting from home might draw more people into the democratic process.

But none of those positives outweighs the potential threat to honest elections. Internet voting is vulnerable to hackers, worms and viruses, and there's no way to ensure the integrity of the ballots.

That's why it's disturbing that the Pentagon seems determined to push ahead full bore with an Internet voting system for Americans overseas, both military and civilians, despite warnings from four computer security experts that the system is indeed vulnerable to hackers, terrorists, criminals and foreign governments.

There are 6 million Americans living overseas, more than enough to swing a national election, and as Florida in 2000 showed, it takes only a handful of votes.

Internet voting is not worth the risk.