On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 4:02 PM, Adam Nelson <adam@varud.com> wrote:

...

On this list, there is a strong bias towards "Kenyan solutions" or "Kenyanborn". Aside from finding this kind of offensive, it's also just petty and backwards. The reason IEBC exists is not to support the local ICT industry, it's to facilitate a trustworthy platform on which Kenyan elections can take place. In addition, there are hundreds of elections a year around the world and for Kenya to have a one-off system that has never been used elsewhere and will never be used elsewhere is neither efficient nor high quality. Maybe the local word processor and spreadsheet apps should be "Kenyanborn" too?

@Adam, your comments have stuck in my mind for a while, caused me to do a bit of research here and there.

It appears that each of the states in US have some leeway in how they conduct elections, at least some of the elections, so my (trick) question to you is: which of the vendors of e-voting systems in US are not "USA solutions" or "USAborn"?

My point being; there is absolutely nothing wrong with any country desiring to have locally made solutions to a problem. Infact, I could think of a number of security, economic and national pride reasons why this should and is encouraged all over the world.

The fact that a working solution exists does not invalidate the desire to copy it, improve it, or even come up with a completely new solution.