In the House of Representatives elections in March next year, an additional verification is needed to guarantee the integrity of the elections. That argues the Foundation Against Hackable Elections, which was founded by security researcher Sijmen Ruwhof.
The Electoral Council is open to this, but says that the question is still how this can be carried out.
In the Ruwhof foundation are well-known experts in the field of computer security, such as professors Herbert Bos (VU), Michel van Eeten (TU Delft) and Bart Jacobs (Radboud University). Ruwhof has been warning against the dangers of counting votes by computer for some time.
‘Computers not safe enough in elections’
In a report that the foundation today brought out, it is stated that the sum of the votes must not only be determined by a computer, but must also be counted manually. Parties involved such as municipalities, the Electoral Council and the Ministry of the Interior do not consider this necessary, according to the report. “While only in this way will possible hacks and manipulations come to light.” The foundation states that “computers are not secure enough to rely on in an election”.
The foundation further warns that “foreign intelligence agencies have advanced hacking capabilities, a lot of budget, and well-thought-out plans to access even the most shielded military computer networks if they really want to.”
D66 MP Kees Verhoeven announced today via Twitter that he would like an explanation from the cabinet:
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