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1title: Chaos Computer Club takes legal proceedings against the voting computer in Hesse
2date: 2008-01-07 00:00:00
3updated: 2009-04-18 19:12:41
4author: webmaster
5tags: update
6
7With the aid of a voter in Hesse, the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) has filed for an injunction with the State Supreme Court of Hesse against the use of voting computers in the forthcoming state election.
8
9<!-- TEASER_END -->
10
11The use of the insecure NEDAP voting computer which has proven to be
12susceptible to manipulation is not contested in Hesse only.
13
14By taking this step, the CCC is attempting to bring about a voting
15procedure that is reliable and plausible for all voters before the state
16elections on 27th January. Recourse to the court has become necessary
17since the Hesse state government evidently does not have the required
18expert knowledge to understand the technical security and transparency
19flaws of the voting machines, nor the will to act accordingly.
20
21Following the issue, on 6th December, of the use permit by the Hesse
22Ministry of the Interior, only eight cities and districts have decided
23to allow voters to vote with the computerized voting system. The voters
24of Alsbach-Hähnlein, Bad Soden, Lampertheim, Langen, Niedernhausen,
25Niestetal, Obertshausen and Viernheim being forced to entrust their
26votes to the questionable computers.
27
28“There is a growing resistance stirring among the population against the
29use of the NEDAP voting computer, known to be vulnerable to
30manipulation”, said CCC spokesman Dirk Engling. “After a virtually
31identical voting machine from the same manufacturer was recently
32completely rejected in the Netherlands, more and more concerned citizens
33have turned to the CCC. The voters do not understand why the same
34rejection cannot also be drawn in Germany. The legal path which has now
35been chosen is the last chance to save the transparency of the elections
36in Hesse.” \[1\], \[2\]
37
38With the CCC's authoritative support, an application for an injunction
39has therefore been submitted to the Hesse State Supreme Court to
40prohibit the use of the computer-assisted voting procedure.
41
42Following the publication of press releases and discussion in scientific
43publications of the severe weaknesses of the NEDAP Voting Computers, the
44Hesse Ministry of the Interior has decreed the use "security measures"
45that do not address the fundamental problems with the voting machine
46system.
47
48The CCC has watched these attempts to patch a broken system in December
49at a test election in Alsbach-Hähnlein.
50
51"The new security measures planned in Hesse which should prevent
52election fraud can only be seen as a time-wasting and expensive foolish
53act." commented Engling. “The voter doesn't know if software or hardware
54has been manipulated”. Some counties in Hesse have decided not to
55participate in the test elections and storage procedures and have gone
56back to the paper based voting system. Others have given up the use of
57voting computers citing financial or reliability reasons.
58
59Thousands of anxious citizens have supported the CCC initiative, which
60is financed by the Wau Holland Foundation. “We were surprised that not
61only have 45,000 people joined the petition to dispose of voting
62computers, but also that many of them chose to financially support the
63campaign against the voting computer”, said Engling \[3\], \[4\].
64
65For more information please contact presse\@ccc.de and, if applicable,
66give a telephone number to be contacted on.
67
68### Links (mostly German)
69
70- \[1\] [Wahlcomputer ausgemustert: Niederlande wählt wieder auf
71 Papier](/updates/2007/wahlcomputer-ausgemustert)
72- \[2\] [Wahlcomputer sind nicht
73 sicher](/press/releases/2007/20070609/)
74- \[3\] [Anti-Wahlcomputer-Petition endet mit großem Erfolg.
75 Weltweiter Trend gegen Wahlcomputer](/updates/2006/petition-ende)
76- \[4\] [The campaign against the usage of voting machines asks for
77 funding and support](/updates/2007/wahlcomputer-spenden)