Last updated on December 17, 2013

The government responded quickly to the vulnerabilities identified by “We do not Trust Voting Computers.” MOIKR Minister Atzo Nicolaï announced a number of ad hoc measures for strengthening the security of voting machines and requested Dutch intelligence service AIVD, the General Intelligence and Security Service, to conduct independent testing of the voting machines.

Short-term measures for strengthening the security of the voting machines prior to the November general elections included replacing memory chips with non-reprogrammable ones, sealing all of the machines and improvements to physical security procedures. These were proposed by the government and approved by the Parliament. 

Testing by AIVD discovered the possibility for intercepting radio emissions from the NEDAP machines and compromising secrecy of the vote to be relatively remote, and identified an easy solution – the removal of diacritical marks from the names of political parties. Three out of the four types of the NEDAP voting machines passed the test. Because the fourth type was no longer used, the minister felt it was not necessary to withdraw approval for the NEDAP machines. However, the AIVD also tested the SDU machines and found a more serious problem related to intercepting radio emissions. The voting computer used a different signal per candidates list, which could be recorded at a distance of tens of meters. AIVD determined the SDU machines, therefore, were not adequately secure for use in the elections. 

In reaction to the AIVD findings, Minister Nicolaï withdrew his approval for the SDU machines on October 30, just three weeks prior to the elections. One-thousand and two-hundred voting machines were affected by the decision. Several large cities had to either revert to pencil and paper voting, as Amsterdam did, or switch to the NEDAP machines. 

At the same time, Parliament requested the government to establish two independent commissions after the elections to consider the past and future of electronic voting.

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Netherlands: Commissions of Inquiry