Loudoun HOA eVoting: just say no

Every HOA member in all elections and legal matters has a right to a paper ballot to vote via the U.S. Postal Service. When offered a HOA eVoting option, homeowners should just say no. Here is why.

A decade ago, the Virginia legislature riding a wave of e-everything, allowed its HOAs to begin using eVoting as an alternative to paper ballots submitted through the USPS. It made utterly no sense because the voting is local, the HOA records are kept by postal address, paper ballots are cheap, trusted and easy for everyone to use; and the processes are secure and auditable.

Using eVoting even a decade ago was known to be costly, untrusted, and easily corrupted – by accident or intention. However, eVoting was pushed by HOA contractors to create an additional revenue opportunity for themselves – usually through sole source contracts with third party vendors with whom they have a relationship.

The eVoting services marketed to HOAs are completely unregulated, uncertified, and unmonitored. It is a “Wild West” that is permeated with scores of vendors operating out of storefronts or with dubious existence - who market seriously flawed Software as a Service (SAAS) platforms and services on remote cloud server platforms to unknowing HOAs or management contractors. They almost all use free “zero identity trust” digital certificates for their e-Voting sites – which the FBI has warned against.

Most frequently, the eVoting company’s actual service is collecting homeowner information to process and resell for marketing services – hidden behind ownership chains or transactional handoffs and in the fine print of the service and faux privacy agreements that are unlawful, not understood or even read. The voting platform architectures and security are opaque and non-existent. The software code has unknown origins and is passed around worldwide.

Notwithstanding the pervasive national concerns about voting corruption even with paper ballots, a few of the major HOAs in Loudoun County incredulously and irresponsibly continue to promote eVoting for both their elections and changes to their HOA provisions. There are numerous well-known eVoting vulnerabilities which are almost impossible to protect against by HOAs – yet are dismissed by HOA management contractors attempting to garner some additional revenue.

Until the Virginia legislature remedies its mistake and demonstrates the same concern for HOA election integrity as it does for State and national elections, HOA members should emphatically “just say no” to eVoting options and demand their paper ballot.

--The author is with the non-profit Center for Internet Security which operates the Elections ISAC, and heads a task force on voting security in a major security global standards body.