The recently published "MERGE" protocol is designed to be used in the prototype CAC-vote system. The voting kiosk and protocol transmit votes over the internet and then transmit voter-verifiable paper ballots through the mail. In the MERGE protocol, the votes transmitted over the internet are used to tabulate the results and determine the winners, but audits and recounts use the paper ballots that arrive in time. The enunciated motivation for the protocol is to allow (electronic) votes from overseas military voters to be included in preliminary results before a (paper) ballot is received from the voter. MERGE contains interesting ideas that are not inherently unsound; but to make the system trustworthy--to apply the MERGE protocol--would require major changes to the laws, practices, and technical and logistical abilities of U.S. election jurisdictions. The gap between theory and practice is large and unbridgeable for the foreseeable future. Promoters of this research project at DARPA, the agency that sponsored the research, should acknowledge that MERGE is internet voting (election results rely on votes transmitted over the internet except in the event of a full hand count) and refrain from claiming that it could be a component of trustworthy elections without sweeping changes to election law and election administration throughout the U.S.

翻译：最近发布的"MERGE"协议旨在用于CAC-vote原型系统。该投票终端和协议通过互联网传输选票，然后通过邮寄方式传输选民可验证的纸质选票。在MERGE协议中，通过互联网传输的选票用于统计结果并确定获胜者，但审计和重新计票则使用及时送达的纸质选票。该协议阐明的动机是允许海外军人的（电子）选票在收到选民（纸质）选票之前纳入初步结果统计。MERGE包含一些本身并非不合理的创新理念；但要使该系统值得信赖——应用MERGE协议——需要对美国选举管辖区的法律、实践以及技术和后勤能力进行重大改革。在可预见的未来，理论与实践之间的差距巨大且无法弥合。作为该研究项目资助方的DARPA机构的研究推广者应当承认，MERGE本质上就是互联网投票（除非进行全面人工计票，否则选举结果依赖于通过互联网传输的选票），并且应当避免在未对美国选举法律和选举管理体系进行全面改革的情况下，声称该系统可能成为可信选举的组成部分。