Paper Vote Canada

The [California] Senate on Wednesday revived an effort to require a paper trail to ensure that electronic voting machines aren't tampered with and accurately record voter preferences.

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The [California] Senate ... approved a bill by Assemblyman Tony Strickland, R-Westlake Village, that would require all touch-screen voting machines used after Jan. 1, 2006, to give voters paper receipts verifying how they voted.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:39 pm (0) comments /

To summarise the responses to this item, I have now been able to confirm the story [4100 votes given to candidate in local Brussels election by computer error due to cosmic ray]. It was of course actually 4096 = 2^12 votes, as correspondent Robson and I expected.

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The event occurred in the election held on 18 May 2003. An expert review determined that as no software defects had been found on inspecting the source code and no test had been able to reproduce the error, it was probably attributable to a spontaneous inversion of a bit in the RAM of the PC (no explicit mention of cosmic rays). However the report concluded that even if the voting system under review was not perfect the totality of controls was sufficient to be confident in the overall result. I wonder.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 3:28 pm (0) comments /

Miami-Dade County elections officials said Friday they have found detailed electronic voting records from the 2002 gubernatorial primary that were originally believed lost in computer crashes last year.

Seth Kaplan, spokesman for the Elections Supervisor office, said the records were found on a compact disc in the office. "We are very pleased," he said.

A group of election-reform activists are demanding a Department of Justice investigation into the viability of touch-screen voting machines, after it was discovered that logs of votes cast on the machines in Miami-Dade County in a 2002 election were lost.

Elections supervisors blamed the loss on bad management, not on the machines. But the activists are nevertheless furious that the loss occurred eight months after the 2002 election, but was not publicized until after an audit was requested. Now the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition is demanding an investigation.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 3:23 pm (0) comments /

It was the biggest split between 'experts and the public he'd ever found. For example, 83% of the experts said e-voting is less or much less secure against election tampering than paper ballots, compared with just 19% of the general public.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 1:46 pm (0) comments /

Anne Delaney: Why wasn’t the emphasis simply just put into getting the electronic system right and verifiable?

Bruce Bimber: This is a classic case in my view of enthusiasm for technology and in particular enthusiasm for the notion that whatever technology is the latest must be the best. When we went through the crisis here in the United States in 2000 that was such a traumatic jolt to the political system that people rushed for what is best and the idea they had in mind is that surely the newest technology, the latest technology, must be the greatest.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 1:28 pm (0) comments /

An embarrassed state Republican Party apologized Thursday for a GOP campaign brochure that urged voters to use absentee ballots, undermining efforts by Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Glenda Hood to inspire confidence in new touch-screen voting machines.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 7:20 pm (0) comments /

US Democrats are piling on the pressure to make electronic voting machines accurate, secure and independently auditable.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 7:18 pm (0) comments /

On the floor of the Democratic convention, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Florida Senator Bob Graham if the state had solved the problem of hanging chads and punch-card ballots, which had caused such havoc in the last presidential election.

Graham noted that those problems had been solved, but pointed to another problem: about half of Florida voters will use electronic voting machines in November, even though "(We) do not have any verifiable backup in case one of those machines malfunctions or there's a challenge to the accuracy of the machines."

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 6:58 pm (0) comments /

Some states, worried about the potential for abuse with voting machines that leave no paper trail, have banned their use this November. But Florida, which may well decide the presidential race, is not among those states, and last month state officials rejected a request to allow independent audits of the machines' integrity. A spokesman for Gov. Jeb Bush accused those seeking audits of trying to "undermine voters' confidence," and declared, "The governor has every confidence in the Department of State and the Division of Elections."

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 10:37 pm (0) comments /

RIVERSIDE – Late Monday, word came that Mischelle Townsend, Riverside County’s Registrar of Voters, had abruptly quit her job mid-term. She said she wanted to spend more time with her family, and nurse her father-in-law through his impending knee surgery. Worthy sentiments, for sure. But she didn’t mention anything about a controversial March 2 election for county supervisor that was still being contested, and the recount that had become entangled in problems attributable, in part, to the county’s electronic voting machines. Nor did she mention anything about potentially explosive new details regarding the possible manipulation of those machines. Likewise, no mention of the big list of questions to this effect from Los Angeles CityBeat sitting on her desk since last Saturday.

Instead, the state’s most outspoken champion of e-voting machines, who was leading a lawsuit against Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to try to revoke a list of 23 improved voting security measures imposed last month, is stepping down and vanishing. Townsend leaves not only a mass of unresolved questions about the contested supervisor seat, but also about the fate of e-voting in this state.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 10:34 pm (0) comments /

CNN has posted a story to their site about electronic votes from Miami-Dade County's first widespread use of touchscreen voting machines that were lost due to a computer crash

A computer crash erased detailed records from Miami-Dade County's first widespread use of touchscreen voting machines, raising again the spectre of election troubles in Florida, where the new technology was supposed to put an end to such problems.

The crashes occurred in May and November of 2003, erasing information from the September 2002 gubernatorial primaries and other elections, elections officials said Tuesday.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 10:21 pm (0) comments /

As voters continue to express concerns about possible problems with November presidential election procedures, members of Congress are asking Secretary of State Colin Powell to make an official request for United Nations election observers, particularly for swing states.

Last week, a group of thirteen Congress members, headed by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), sent a letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, asking for observers. "As legislators, we should guarantee the American people that our country will not experience another nightmare like the 2000 presidential elections," Congresswoman Johnson said.

The letter also pointed out the "dangers" of paperless, electronic voting machines, saying that they "could become a standard to be exported and emulated [and] should be of concern to the United Nations and the international community as a whole."

The United Nations, however, turned down the request. "The policy and practice is that the United Nations responds to requests made by national governments, and not the legislative branch," said UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe, according to the Trivalley Herald.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 10:19 pm (0) comments /

California elections officials are poised Monday to approve a new Diebold electronic-voting system for Alameda, Los Angeles and Plumas counties that still leaves some published security holes unplugged and the fix for a troubling vote-counting problem unproven.

Electronic-voting critics wonder whether the state has become so eager to clear the three counties' use of the touchscreens for November that officials are overlooking potential flaws.

"These concerns are just completely glossed over," said Lowell Finley, an Oakland election lawyer handling two lawsuits that target Diebold e-voting machines. He discovered them Friday after filing public-records requests for testing reports on the new Diebold system.

"This thing is so fundamentally flawed that it can't be fixed by November," Finley charged.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 7:12 am (0) comments /

Paper has become a big issue in the controversy over electronic voting machines. So activists in 19 states dumped a lot of it on election officials Tuesday as they delivered petitions bearing 350,000 signatures asking officials to mandate voter-verified paper audit trails for touch-screen voting machines in their states.

The Computer Ate My Vote campaign, led by MoveOn, TrueMajority and six other organizations, urged secretaries of state to follow California's lead and adopt measures for improving the integrity of elections this November. They also wanted to rally support for federal legislation that would require a paper trail on voting machines nationwide, which has been stalled in Congress for more than a year.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 10:21 pm (0) comments /

Participants in "the Computer Ate My Vote" campaign said paperless voting systems are poorly programmed and prone to hackers, fraud and software bugs.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 4:23 pm (0) comments /

San Bernardino and Riverside counties, like O.C., will offer paper ballots as an option.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 7:49 am (0) comments /

Despite an electronic voting fiasco in 2000 and the furor over e-voting in the United States, Venezuela is using untested touchscreen computers for its recall referendum on Hugo Chavez's presidency.

Critics fear touchscreen voting machines in the August 15 vote could fail spectacularly

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 2:43 pm (0) comments /

I thought Aparita Bhandari's article presented a very good overview of the Canadian electronic voting situation and the issues associated with electronic voting.

Voting is at the core of our democratic process. It is critical that our voting procedures be completely transparent. Our system of paper ballots that are hand-counted in the presence of scrutineers is simple, yet provides rapid and verifiable results.

The key is not to assume that new technology is somehow inherently better. The key is "appropriate technology." For voting, paper and pen in public is the correct combination of technologies.

In Ireland, problems with voting machines were so severe that country shelved its plans for e-voting for the time being. In California, there is a huge legal fight to try to at least provide a paper trail from the electronic voting machines.

It is a bit ridiculous to create elaborate (and expensive) electronic voting machines, and then to have to retrofit paper audit trails onto them. In Canada we already have a paper-based system that works extremely well.

If we want to increase voter participation, one approach would be to have mandatory voting as in Australia, another would be simply to find more ways to engage apathetic voters.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 6:29 am (0) comments /

Cast your vote online

Surely the ultimate demonstration of e-government in action would be elections held electronically and online. Already voters in Belgium and Switzerland can vote from the comfort of their own homes, so how is the UK gearing up for e-voting?

To date, e-voting has been used only in council elections in the UK. In 2003, 17 local authorities provided e-voting facilities to 1.9 million voters, via internet kiosks, home PCs, text messaging and digital TV.

But the results were not encouraging, with only a marginal increase in voter numbers. Furthermore, technology think-tank the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) is far from convinced of the advisability of using these voting systems nationwide.

One of the leading concerns with e-voting is the lack of a paper trail, which allows you to go back and check the outcome of an election after the event. The FIPR warned that it would be impossible to prove afterwards that an election had been carried out correctly if a situation such as the need for a recount occurred.

To further underline how far we are from voting online in the next general election, the Electoral Commission advised the government against trialling e-voting in some areas for the June elections to the European Parliament, citing concerns over security and software development.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 7:14 am (0) comments /

I thought Aparita Bhandari's article "Is the future in line or online?" presented a very good overview of the Canadian electronic voting situation and the issues associated with electronic voting.

Voting is at the core of our democratic process. It is critical that our voting procedures be completely transparent. Our system of paper ballots that are hand-counted in the presence of scrutineers is simple, yet provides rapid and verifiable results.

The key is not to assume that new technology is somehow inherently better. The key is *appropriate technology*. For voting, paper and pen in public is the correct combination of technologies.

I have been monitoring the worldwide news about voting machines on my weblog, Paper Vote Canada, http://blog.papervotecanada.ca/ and again and again I have seen reports of problems. In Ireland, the issues raised were so severe that they shelved their plans for e-voting for the time being. In California, there is a huge legal fight to try to at least provide a paper trail from the electronic voting machines.

It is a bit ridiculous to create elaborate (and expensive) electronic voting machines, and then to have to retrofit paper audit trails onto them. In Canada we already have a paper-based system that works extremely well.

If we want to increase voter participation, one approach would be to have mandatory voting as in Australia, another would be simply to find more ways to engage apathetic voters.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 12:52 am (0) comments /

It took just one click. No paper ballots were used during last year's municipal and school board elections in 12 area municipalities of Eastern Ontario, in the counties of Prescott-Russell and Stormont Dundas and Glengarry. Instead, close to 100,000 voters were registered to vote either by telephone or to vote online, using the services of CanVote Inc., a company based in L'Orignal, Ont.

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Although most electronic voting advocates would like to see paper ballot voting as a thing of the past, there's a fair amount of debate over the subject.

The recent federal election was conducted the old-fashioned way: Voters drove up to polling stations and marked an X on a paper ballot. The ballots were counted and, before the end of the night, a Liberal minority was declared.

But electronic voting advocates say the voting process will soon catch up with technology.

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However, those opposed to electronic voting argue that voting cannot be compared with other gains made on the online scene, such as Internet banking. It's too important a civic duty, an entirely private and anonymous process, which stands to be compromised by technological innovations, they say.

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[CanVote company president Joe Church says] "The issue of recount just doesn't exist. In paper ballots, judgment calls have to be made when someone initials a ballot or marks it sloppily. But in online voting, you can't physically click more than allotted choices. You're asked to confirm your choice."

In Canada, election bodies such as Elections Canada have yet to give the go-ahead to electronic voting. A study commissioned by the agency in 1998 posits its stance on the issue, says spokesperson Hal Doran.

According to the study, "electronic voting is a next natural step in the introduction and application of new technologies to the electoral process." But, "for the foreseeable future, the act of voting will continue to be carried out by hand, at a polling station in a school or church hall, in a manner that is easily recognizable."

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"The way we operate right now isn't perfect, but at least we knew about the (hanging chad) and we could haggle over what happened because we could see the ballots," says [Bob McDermott, associate professor of political science at York University]. "It was open and accountable. But online voting isn't open to our scrutiny. Do we take this private company's word that there was no vote tampering?

"And if you really want (to increase voter turnout), you want young voters to participate, make policies that will appeal to them. Give them a reason to vote."

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 12:11 am (0) comments /

A noon rally on Tuesday [July 13, 2004] at the Statehouse is one of 17 nationwide to protest electronic voting.

The event is sponsored by CASE Ohio (Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections), Common Cause and other organizations. All events across the country are being held in conjunction with a National Day of Action under the theme "The Computer Ate My Vote.''

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 6:08 pm (0) comments /

The voter's paper receipt has become the security idée fixe of DRE skeptics, and a shibboleth identifying those who are on the 'right' side of the debate. This is because the paper trail is a concept easily understood and conveniently communicated. It also likely derives much appeal from the fact that it involves an object that one can hold in one's hand and examine, unlike the results of a strictly electronic process.

But it's far more security blanket than security measure. At the moment, there is so much wrong with DRE security that the paper record has become a harmful distraction.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 1:31 pm (0) comments /

Bev Harris has unearthed obscure arrest records, ties to conservative political groups and other embarrassing secrets of senior executives at voting companies.

Her conclusion: there will be so many problems with the more than 100,000 paperless voting terminals to be used in the November presidential election that the fiasco will dwarf Florida's hanging chad debacle of 2000.

"We have a train wreck that's definitely going to happen," Harris said. "We have conflict of interest, we've taken the checks and balances away, and we know the votes are already being miscounted fairly frequently. This is going to be huge."

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 4:07 pm (0) comments /

Civil rights advocates and computer experts today urged all counties planning to use DRE (direct recording electronic), or touch-screen, voting systems to immediately implement security precautions, including independent expert access to the systems' source code.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law issued a set of minimum essential security steps recommended by Eric Lazarus and a team of IT security experts, including Howard Schmidt, former cyber-security advisor to the White House.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 7:32 pm (0) comments /

Election officials in 14 California counties are busily piecing together plans to bring paper ballots back to polling booths for the November presidential election.

Under orders from Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, counties that had leaped to electronic voting must backtrack. Some must abandon their touch-screen systems for now; others can keep them if they supplement the electronic balloting with paper versions.

It's part of Shelley's mandate to ensure an accurate vote count so California isn't branded with the ignominious reputation that plagued Florida after the 2000 presidential election.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 7:22 am (0) comments /

The California secretary of state on Tuesday released the first standards in the nation for a voter-verified paper trail for electronic voting machines, in an effort to restore voter confidence in the devices.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 11:55 am (0) comments /

The League of Women Voters rescinded its support of paperless voting machines on Monday after hundreds of angry members voiced concern that paper ballots were the only way to safeguard elections from fraud, hackers or computer malfunctions.

About 800 delegates who attended the nonpartisan league's biennial convention in Washington voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution that supports "voting systems and procedures that are secure, accurate, recountable and accessible."

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 4:01 pm (0) comments /

If election officials want to convince voters that electronic voting can be trusted, they should be willing to make it at least as secure as slot machines. To appreciate how poor the oversight on voting systems is, it's useful to look at the way Nevada systematically ensures that electronic gambling machines in Las Vegas operate honestly and accurately. Electronic voting, by comparison, is rife with lax procedures, security risks and conflicts of interest.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 7:43 am (0) comments /

A battle over electronic voting is threatening the cohesion of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters, whose national leadership is refusing to endorse demands by hundreds of members for a paper trail to guard against fraud, hackers and malfunctions.

Some local chapters are so angry they are flouting regulations and planning to speak against the national stance today and Saturday at the league's biennial convention in Washington. They're threatening to nominate new board members and a new candidate for president who would rescind the league's support for paperless voting systems.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 4:40 pm (0) comments /

Electronic voting machines should print out ballots or include other security measures to ensure they work properly in the November presidential election, the top U.S. elections official said on Tuesday.

Elections Assistance Commission Chairman DeForest Soaries said local officials need to take extra steps to ensure that electronic votes do not fall victim to computer glitches or hacking attempts.

"The increased use of electronic voting devices has created security concerns that the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission must address," Soaries told a group of Maryland elections officials.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:28 pm (0) comments /

After more than a year of pressure from leaders like Computer Science Prof. David Dill, California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley banned the use of touch-screen voting machines in four counties last Friday and decertified all touch-screen voting systems in the state until security concerns have been resolved.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 6:34 am (0) comments /

Meanwhile, the Ohio secretary of state's office learned Monday that only four counties will use electronic voting machines in the November election. All will use Diebold equipment, provided a series of security requirements are met.

Thirty-one counties were eligible to use touch-screen machines this year, but most backed out after the state Controlling Board released $38 million to buy them. Those counties included Medina and Portage.

Uncertainty is the main reason so many boards of elections decided to wait, said Carlo LoParo of the secretary of state's office. County officials are worried about a new law requiring a paper record of every vote and they're worried about upgrading any machines they buy this year.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 6:33 am (0) comments /

By taking a tough stance on questions about electronic voting, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has gained a national profile — and made some enemies among local election officials along the way.

Shelley, who halted electronic voting in California in April and ordered counties to comply with a long list of improvements, said in an interview Monday that he was disappointed by the personal nature of some of the criticism. But some county registrars, who contend he's jeopardizing their ability to run a smooth and accurate election in November, say Shelley deserves the blame.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 6:30 am (0) comments /

A Telegraph investigation reveals flaws in the Government's postal voting system that leave this week's elections open to fraud, writes David Bamber

Britain's postal voting system, viewed by the Government as a key to improving electoral turnout, is open to wide abuse, an investigation by The Telegraph has discovered.


I was able to obtain fraudulently dozens of ballot papers without detection. A total of 36 ballot papers were sent to one address in London without local councils or the police discovering or investigating the ploy.


Postal voting was made easier by the Government in 1999 in an attempt to tackle low turnout on polling day.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:01 am (0) comments /

Eastern Ontario voters today were allowed to vote by Internet or telephone -- but not by paper ballot -- in what is being called the first all-electronic election of North America.

Despite e-voting security issues in the United States that have pitted some researchers, publishers and ISPs against Diebold Election Systems, the Linux-based voting system used in the Ontario election is as secure as or more secure than financial industry transactions, CanVote president Joe Church told TechNewsWorld.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 10:43 pm (0) comments /

"Security remains a primary concern," said Miriam Gennaro, an Elections Canada spokesperson.

The agency is reviewing e-voting practices around the world but for now, most voters see "a potential for fraud. The risk is just too great right now to facilitate e-voting at this time."

The idea of allowing electronic voter registration via the Internet was also been cast aside.

"The technology remains largely untested," Gennaro said.

So for Canadians, this election will be a lot like previous ones.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 10:06 pm (0) comments /

The saga of electronic voting in California is about to begin a new chapter as Secretary of State Kevin Shelley gets ready to recertify nearly all of the e-voting machines that he decertified last month.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 9:16 pm (0) comments /

Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman yesterday said all political parties and civil society members should unite in favour of introducing electronic voting system to ensure a smooth, sharp and reliable electoral system.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:22 am (0) comments /

As the U.S. Congress considers legislation to restrict the use of electronic voting machines, 13 House of Representatives members have ordered an investigation into e-voting security.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:21 am (0) comments /

Aviel D. Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University, summed up the testimony of several science witnesses when he criticized electronic voting systems as terrible and highly vulnerable to hackers.

"Not only have the vendors not implemented security safeguards that are possible, they have not even correctly implemented the ones that are easy," he said.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 7:18 am (0) comments /

"Electronic voting in its current form is like hiring a private company to count votes behind closed doors," said Stanford University professor David Dill, who publishes a Web site called Verified Voting.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 9:10 am (0) comments /

Am I the only one out there questioning the need for electronic voting machines at our polling places? Perhaps not.

I've noticed that more and more states are considering paper backups to the electronic votes. If we're going to have paper, why not just dispense with the computers? All this does is increases the complexity of the voting process. And what do we do when another close presidential election occurs and the e-vote count doesn't match up with the paper one?

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 9:03 am (0) comments /

Voting activists from 16 states urged the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to require electronic voting terminals to print out ballots as a way to avoid the recount battles that marred the last presidential election.

Electronic voting terminals, though easy to use, are vulnerable to glitches or manipulation and need a paper trail to ensure they are working properly, activists with the group Verified Voting said.

"Electronic voting systems produce a vote which can't be verified and can't be meaningfully recounted," said Pam Smith, nationwide campaign coordinator for the nonprofit group.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 9:00 am (0) comments /

No form of e-voting will emerge in Australia until at least the end of the decade, says Australian Electoral Commission election systems and policy director Tim Evans.

A proposal to begin an e-voting project, offering online access to those who would otherwise vote by postal ballot, has been rejected by the parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters.

The reason: the politicians don't trust the technology.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:57 am (0) comments /

As alarm mounts over the integrity of the ATM-like voting machines 50 million Americans will use in the November election, a new federal agency has begun scrutinizing how to safeguard electronic polling from fraud, hackers and faulty software.

But the tiny U.S. Election Assistance Commission says it is so woefully underfunded that it can't be expected to forestall widespread voting-machine problems, which would cast doubt on the election's integrity.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:54 am (0) comments /

The endeavour to introduce electronic voting has been a monumental mess.

There is no dressing this one up and the Government should do the decent thing and admit that electronic voting isn't going to happen not any time soon, probably never on these machines and certainly not using the current counting software.

Last Friday's report from the Independent Commission on Electronic Voting systemically sets out how it has been unable to vouch for the testing of the proposed system, its accuracy or its secrecy.

The report raises a whole series of concerns, many of them echoing the criticisms which have been voiced by opponents of the system since it was first proposed.

I suspect that once legal impediments are removed and the full detail of the commission's work is published, its findings will prove even more devastating.

Margaret McGaley, a Maynooth academic who had done her doctorate on e-voting, pushed on with a campaign of opposition to the proposed system. The taunt "luddite" had been thrown at those of us who had opposed the system before this. Now, however, here was a group from within the IT sector itself.

In fact this e-voting episode is above all else a tale of how this small group of determined technology experts and academics took on the Goliaths of politics and public relations and won the argument. They risked the initial ridicule of some in their own professions and in the media but gradually began to register their point.

Part of the reason for the success of McGaley's group, Irish Citizens for Trustworthy Voting, was that much of the planning and execution of their campaign was done on the web. Particularly interesting was an open discussion list on their website where each day they monitored media converge, discussed their strategy, developed refutations to the minister's case and even drafted their press releases. The transparency of their campaign contrasted sharply with the closed decision-making on the Government side. This was a broad-based campaign which they kept focused on the issues and particularly on their call for a voter-verified audit trail.

Also worthy of an individual mention is a tenacious man called Joe McCarthy. A computer consultant who is also a former expert tallyman, he combined an understanding of technology with a detailed knowledge of our complicated electoral regulations. As well as this mix of skills, he had a forensic approach and a good radio voice, all of which made him very effective in this debate.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:46 am (0) comments /

A Georgia elections official warned a federal commission Wednesday that a rush to back up electronic voting machines with paper ballots before the November election would create unnecessary confusion for voters and poll workers.

Manufacturers, such as Diebold, insist a paper trail isn't necessary, but say they will oblige states that want it when new federal standards are established. That's the job of the bipartisan commission, although the four-member panel lacks the power to enforce any standards it sets.

Chairman DeForest B. Soaries Jr. said he didn't expect the commission to issue national standards requiring paper ballots when it makes preliminary recommendations next week, followed by more detailed guidelines next month. The commission, the Republican said, will issue ``best practice'' guidelines for state and local officials, such as urging poll workers to keep a stack of paper ballots available in case electronic machines fail to operate.

"We will not decide on what machines people will buy,'' Soaries said at the commission's first public hearing Wednesday.

The commission has said it is woefully underfunded, with only $1.2 million of its $10 million budget appropriated. Its members have cautioned that they might not have the resources to immediately forestall widespread voting problems. Soaries has said the commission will need $2 million more this year and $10 million in 2005 to fulfill its mission of restoring public faith in electronic voting.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush indicated he's not concerned about using the paperless machines in November.

"I'm afraid a lot of the concerns about this are really to try to create a cloud of controversy during the election to motivate people to vote and there's got to be a better way to do that,'' Bush said. "You can talk about issues and ideas, maybe, instead of scaring people.''

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:38 am (0) comments /

New Brunswick's chief electoral officer is reviewing the possibility of using electronic voting machines on a wide basis.

The machines were used in a successful test run in Saint John during this week's municipal elections.

The province's training and employment development officer, Margaret-Ann Blaney, said the government is awaiting a report on the machines. She says there has been positive feedback about the electronic vote count.

NDP Leader Elizabeth Weir said the quick turnaround of vote numbers this year is a stark contrast to the last municipal election.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 12:31 pm (0) comments /

With the Indian Election Commission counting the votes Thursday, officials said the new electronic system would allow the results to be announced within hours — a process that took almost two days in past elections.

Still, critics said the machines were not foolproof.

There were nationwide reports of faulty starts, voter confusion and at least one known case of vote tampering. Some also question the reliability of machines developed by the government.

"A myth has been created that this machine is totally tested and beyond human manipulation," said Frederick Noronha, a founder of Bytesforall.org, a South Asian organization that campaigns for using technology to benefit the poor.

"I have been tracking the debate in technical circles. They are raising very valid concerns about this machine," he said.

More than 1 million electronic voting machines were used at polling stations across India in the five-phased elections from April 20 through Monday, the world's biggest democratic exercise.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 4:05 pm (0) comments /

Machines will produce 99.4% of the election results for the upcoming 2004 presidential election. With all the hoopla over voting machine "glitches," porous software, leaked memos, and the creepy corporations that sell and service these contraptions, and with all the controversy that surrounds campaign financing, voter registration, redistricting issues, and the general privatization of the election process--we are missing the boat on the biggest crisis facing our democracy.

Americans aren't really voting. Machines are. Call it faking democracy.

[Think of voting as a three-step process: marking, casting, and counting ballots. Once a machine is involved in any one of those steps, the result is hard evidence of the machine's output--and only circumstantial evidence of the voter's input.]

And no one seems to be challenging it. As far as I can tell from my own investigations and from discussions with law professors, attorneys, and others, there has never been a lawsuit that challenges the right of machines to be used in the voting process.

...

The only fix that will give Americans back their constitutional right to vote is to ditch the machines.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:48 am (0) comments /

Switzerland is planning to introduce eVoting through the Internet in a constituency of about 9,000 voters in Geneva as a first step to wiring the whole country.

Who would not like to sit in their favourite arm-chair sipping tea and render their service to democracy. eVoting may just be the answer.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 8:45 am (0) comments /

"We started out with a customer rather than a technology," said [CanVote creator] Church, referring to the local government. "We didn't have a lot of money or time. We were trying to figure out how to get phone, Internet, and go. We didn't want to go back to paper ballots. We wanted something different, something better."

And while security may be the biggest issue in general with election systems and software, Church said the local Canadians were more concerned with putting something in place in time for polling.

CanVote's Church readily acknowledged that the complexity and security needs for the local elections in Ontario pale in comparison to the initiative-laden, multiple-candidate, multiple-race elections that take place in the States. "Our elections are much lower profile elections," Church said. "The security thing is nowhere near as big an issue as it would be for Americans. In our case, it was kind of like, if a mayor doesn't get elected, nobody cares."

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 6:41 am (0) comments /

An effort to erase doubts about new ATM-style voting machines by backing up digital votes with paper records is gaining ground nationwide, as state officials heed warnings about security and potentially messy recounts.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 4:15 pm (0) comments /

Election Commission officials say this general election will be the last time that anyone will ever suffer the pangs of bogus voting. From the next round of elections — general or state — the Indian voter will gain protection from a national photo voter list. ...

To make more use of information technology to check fraudulent voting during elections, the Election Commission is exploring a proposal to use biometrics technology to identify the voter.

Biometrics uses the thumb or the pupil of the eye — both of which have unique characteristics — to identify the voter. “There can be no better method than this to identify the voter. It will need investments but will encourage more people to come to the polling stations,” said an Election Commission official.

The officials also said there would be special focus on harnessing information technology to ensure the compilation of quick and accurate results.

India will depend solely on electronic voting for the coming elections. Electronic voting machines are at present stand-alone devices and there is no plan to hook them up to a central server to speed up the process of counting.

Election Commission officials said there were problems associated with such a process but they were exploring options for future elections.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 10:29 pm (0) comments /

3:15 - 4:30 pm, Empire Ballroom
Plenary 12: Electronic Voting: The Great Paper Trail Debate

If your next vote is cast on a touch screen voting machine, how will you know that it was counted correctly? Many computer scientists and public interest groups argue that voter verified paper ballots are a necessary check for the integrity of our elections. Opponents of voter verified paper ballots counter that they unnecessarily complicate the voting process, add needless expenses, and make providing access for the disabled more difficult, without really improving the integrity of elections.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 7:01 pm (0) comments /

In December, Maryland Del. Karen S. Montgomery (D-Montgomery) drafted legislation to require voter-verified paper records. Voters would be allowed to correct errors they find on printouts of the votes they are about to cast. If the printout matches the voter's touch-screen decisions, the voter then would cast the electronic ballot, and the paper version would be stored for use in any recounts. Ms. Montgomery's measure also would require random checks of the paper records in 2 percent of election precincts against the computer records, to search for evidence of possible tampering. The technology exists and ought to be included in the voting system. A number of states, including California, have voted for requirements that would create paper trails

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 6:45 am (0) comments /

Has anyone considered the possibility that the security and privacy requirements for financial transactions may differ from those for on-line and telephone voting? Limited liability plays a big role in the security of financial transactions (in North America, anyway; I understand the U.K. is a bit different). Would it play any role in on-line voting? It isn't like a voter can point to an unbalanced cheque book at the end of the month when something goes wrong.

[permanent link] posted by rakerman : 6:19 pm (0) comments /