Department of Computer Science at UH

University of Houston

Department of Computer Science

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Mohammed Awad

Will defend his dissertation proposal

RThe Ballot's Future: A Study in E-voting and Internet Voting

Abstract

In the past, suffrage was a privilege limited to a small subset of US citizens. Today, thanks to Civil Rights activists and suffragettes, all eligible citizens may participate in the electoral process provided they have reached their eighteenth birthday. Voting systems have evolved over the years. While the main purpose was to provide ease and comfort to the voters, many incidents showed that this was not the case. In 2002, the Help America Vote Act's (HAVA) multibillion-dollar budget facilitated the transition towards electronic voting machines in many states. This transition resulted in many unanticipated outcomes. In this proposal, we will discuss in detail a variety of previously and currently used election systems. Additionally, we will propose a new voting system that we believe will be able to solve many of the existing problems present in current voting systems.

Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Time: 2:30 PM
Place: 550-PGH
Faculty, students, and the general public are invited.
Advisor: Prof. Ernst L. Leiss