I have been very critical of Americans Elect’s rules and procedures for conducting its nomination process, including its use of the Internet for voting.  William Kelleher, who is generally a supporter of Internet voting, wrote to Americans Elect to ask if they have a secret ballot for their Internet voting process.  Here is the response he received.

*Dr. Kelleher & Andrea,

Thank you for the security questions.  I hope my answers will be sufficient.

1. Each vote is tied to name. Necessary so we can audit the convention afterwards. This is not a secret vote (like the general election is).

2. Only our technology team has access to the server which is led by Josh Levine. Each round of voting will be followed up by an audit. Per our rules:

5.4       Independent Candidate Vote Integrity Compliance. The voting integrity audit shall be conducted by an independent auditor in accordance with standards published by the Technology Integrity Committee to be completed within 48 hours after any Candidate Votes, or such additional time as the Board may allow for good cause. The Board shall have the ability, on recommendation of the independent auditor, to declare any vote a nullity in the event of a material breach of voting security and to order a re-vote upon email notice to all Delegates.

Alice M. Skelton

Americans Elect

National Engagement Director

What remains unclear at this point is whether AE will mail paper receipts showing how people voted to AE voters, a move which can facilitate vote buying.