Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment

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Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE) was an experiment by the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) to allow military personnel and overseas citizens covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) to vote in elections in the United States via the Internet.[1][2] While called an experiment, SERVE included participation from 51 counties including up to 100,000 voters and ballots cast would have been counted toward actual election results.[3][4] According to the SERVE security report, there were "two groups of eligible voters: (1) American citizens living outside the U.S., and (2) military personnel and their dependents, regardless of whether they reside in the U.S. or overseas."[5]

The project was contracted by FVAP to Accenture, who in turn subcontracted Avenade, Hart InterCivic, Hewlett-Packard, VeriSign, election.com, and others.[6][7]

The project was cancelled in 2004 after a report critical of the program was published.[4] Accenture, who acquired election.com in 2003,[3] has received criticism for its role in SERVE and other failed and cancelled electronic voting and registration projects.[8]

  1. ^ Boyle, Alan (2003-06-03). "Pentagon launches Internet voting effort for overseas Americans". NBC News. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-17. Retrieved 2013-10-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ a b "The Ultimate Question: Article detail < Related writings". Archived from the original on 2013-10-15. Retrieved 2013-10-12.
  4. ^ a b Schwartz, John (21 January 2004). "Report Says Internet Voting System is Too Insecure to Use". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Jefferson, David; et al. (January 21, 2004). "A Security Analysis of the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE)" (PDF). servesecurityreport.org. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  6. ^ "Hart InterCivic Joins Accenture, VeriSign and Others in Department of Defense Contract Award". Archived from the original on 2013-10-15. Retrieved 2013-10-12.
  7. ^ "Accenture Helps Department of Defense Develop Secure Internet Registration and Voting Demonstration for 2004 Election". Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  8. ^ "Accenture Epitome Of Incompetence". Retrieved March 16, 2016.