Fake votes show security problems in French digital election

A French news website says it was able to cast "fake" votes in France's first digital election by registering under different names. To register a vote in the opposition UMP party's "open primary" to select a candidate for next year's mayoral election in Paris, voters were required to provide a name, address, date of birth and credit card payment of three euros ($3.90). But website Metronews said it used the same card to pay for multiple votes and even registered once as ex-President and UMP leader Nicolas Sarkozy, the BBC reported Monday. Web security expert Graham Cluley said concerns about the security of electronic voting systems have been raised in recent years. "The old method of casting votes is really in the stone ages in many ways, but the reason why they have stayed is that they are systems people trust," he told the BBC Servers and software used in any digital election need to be completely secure, he said. "There's a lot of demand for speed in revealing the result, which favors electronic voting, but if you're going to hold one you better be darned sure it works," he said.