Pentagon scraps e-voting plan

The Pentagon has pulled the plug on an Internet voting program scheduled for this year's presidential election because of concerns about the system's security.

The Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment will not be used to cast live absentee votes in the election, although testing will continue. The decision was made Jan. 30, said Defense Department spokeswoman Air Force Maj. Sandra Burr.

"It was done in view of the inability to ensure the legitimacy of votes that would be cast in Serve, thereby bringing into doubt the integrity of the election results," Burr said.

Accenture Ltd. of Hamilton, Bermuda, won a contract to develop Serve in 2002.