Slashdot Mirror

Simply vote, it prints your ballot, and you slip it in a box.

Such a thing exists. It is used in voting jurisdictions which use scantron ballots. Individuals who have disabilities or general issues filling out the scantron use the Automark instead to complete their ballot, and then drop it in the box.

Essentially, your proposal is to have everyone fill out their ballot using the Automark. As far as I know, no jurisdiction does it, but by all means, we've got the technology.

Here's one link
and here's another.

Of course, some people would say that gerrymandering is a cheat code as well.

Let people fill in an optical scan ballot by hand OR give them a touch screen that will mark the ballot for them.

This technology does indeed exist and is required in counties where optical scan ballot is used in order to comply with the disability requirements of HAVA.

Hypothetically, of course, such a system could be used where everyone marks their ballot on such a device. I have not heard of a county that does it that way though.

He proposes having a touchscreen computer to make all of your ballot selections and when you are done and hit vote it prints out a piece of paper with your sslections.

This exists and is sold by a major voting machine manufacturer. They sell it more for the purpose of helping disabled voters vote in jurisdictions that use scantron-like ballots. But nothing stops you from having all voters use the machine. (I can't recall if any jurisdiction has adopted it that way however.)

If BlackBox is worried about people saving a list of exploits for a zero-day attack they can put their software through a strict accreditation process before they reveal their final release.

Actually, BlackBoxVoting.org is an organization that is fighting for change in electronic voting systems. ES&S is the company in question. I agree with what you're saying, but I think you got a little mixed up there. :P

. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_comp any.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/m ain632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004 /03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitraki s/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.

http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=New s&file=article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.ph p

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.

http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.ht m
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel 27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.

http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates /pfindex.html

10. Diebol

One would think that the state would require the sourcecode for due diligence...

My county (Franklin County, Ohio) expressed a "strong preference" for their voting machine vendor to provide the source code to a 3rd party elections systems assessor.

It was not a requirement, but the fact that Diebold wouldn't, but ES&S would was one of the reason why Franklin County chose the ES&S system.

Keep in mind, there was no directive from the Ohio Secretary of State on this issue, nor a law from the General Assembly requiring it. Franklin County probably has the most concerned and intelligent leadership running its board of elections, and in that regard, establishes great precedence for the other 87 counties, but they are certainly not under obligation to follow its lead.

20 Amazing Facts About Voting In The USA
by Angry Girl of Nightweed.com

Did you know....

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S. http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry. http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers. http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_comp any.html http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/m ain632436.shtml http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines. http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004 /03/03_200.html http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitraki s/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee. http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=New s&file=article&sid=26 http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.ph p

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates. http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.ht m http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel 27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes. http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters. http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates /pfindex

Did you know....

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_comp any.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/m ain632436.shtml
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004 /03/03_200.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitraki s/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.

http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=New s&file=article&sid=26
http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.ph p

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.

http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.ht m
http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel 27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.

http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/ 042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates /pfindex.html

It looked like they used this machine to scan it: www.essvote.com

Very clean. The number of votes was called in and double checked against the smart card inside which connects by modem. Results 20 minutes after the polls closed and a paper trail if needed. Great stuff.

Okay, I work as one of two computer consultants responsible for overseeing the election tabulation process in my county. Yesterday's election was the first time we used the new electronic voting machines (iVotronic).

Things went off without a hitch. We began tabulating at about 6:30 and were done by 8:00. We used to use punch cards, and would normally get done around 11:00. So you can see why a lot of government officials are praising these things. They are faster, easier to use, and less prone to voting mistakes. Last year there were dozens of cards punched backwards or upside-down, hanging chads, and whatnot. That really slows things down a lot.

That said, I don't like these machines. There's a fundamental flaw in the construction that makes the whole thing insecure. Given the incentive ($$$), it would be incredibly easy for an employee of the manufacturer to slip some deviant code into the machine that said, "on election day make every fifth vote go towards this candidate".

I think the best analogy was one I heard on NPR the other day (I believe it was David Dill). The current process with electronic voting is akin to walking into a booth and telling your vote to a person on the other side of a curtain. Did he write down what you told him to? Who knows.

I am working on the specification for a suite of programs called "OpenDemocracy" consisten for now of "OpenPolicy" and "OpenVote"...these programs will allow for the distributed discovery of policy and for Internet based voting.

I am certain slashdotters see the future of democracy is the net...and that open source software is the key to increasing the amount and quality of democracy [I posted an article about the first use of Internet voting in an election in North America which will take place in Markham, Ontario - just north of Toronto - in November, in my slashdot blog - the software is from Elections Systems and Software which raises very serious concerns as this is a private, for-profit company and the source code is unavailable for scrutany]].

I am also certain that the high-tech companies who create and maintain the infrastructure that is the Internt would be interested in supporting such an effort. Here's my plan so far [read my blog here to get the latest updates.]

1. A white paper describing OpenDemocracy.

I am working on this now, and I will table it at the next slashdot meetup here in Toronto at the end of this month.

2. Start a sourceforge project.

I will do this after I have gotten initial feedback about the white paper.

3. Start speaking about the project.

I will contact all the high-tech groups here in Toronto [there are more than 30] and ask to speak to them about Internet democracy.

4. Speak to potential sponsors.

I will contact all the high-tech firms with offices in Toronto, and give them the same presentation and ask for money. Money to form a non-profit corporation and to pay a small core of programers to work on the project fulltime.

5. Seek government money.

Same as #4, but government instead of industry.

"The corporations don't count the votes"

Except for this one and this one and this one.

Flamebait?

What, you think I'm making this stuff up?

Here:

Election Systems and Software

and an article about them

Who is Voter News Service?

Votescam

Is this all a bunch of conspiracy theory nonsense? Maybe. But then who IS counting the votes?

Show me.

I know for a fact that you do not know what you are talking about. I work for Election Systems and Software. There are many components and software applications that make up a complete registration, tally and reporting system for voting. It is a lot harder than some of you are making it out to be.

The iVotronic that was used in the election does use a proprietary OS, and not Windows 95 as you are suggesting; the OS needs to be tight and compact. There is no web server, Crystal Reports and SQL Anywhere running on this machine. I simply presents a ballot (graphic or text) to the voter and utilizes complex voting rules to ensure that the voter does not over vote. They cannot vote until they have gone through the review screen, which allows them to go back and change any under votes or mistakes they made earlier.

There are over 700 voting precincts in Dade County, and each ballot could be different from the one in the next precinct because of different items on the ballot. Oh, did I forget to mention that the ballot has to be presented in 3 languages and allow them to vote for the party of their choice in the primary. In California, the election will require 7 languages including Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, which are not Roman languages.

I have been reading these articles and have come to the conclusion that most of the people who seem to be responding are more eager to spout off than do a little research. Could you build one? Well if you guys are half as good as you sound, then surely you could be part of the team. But, don't think you are going to crank one out in an all-nighter.

Actually, had the machines been allowed to complete the process of loading the ballots (6 minutes for normal machines, and 23 for machines that presented the ballot in audio form for visually impaired), they ran extremely well considering that we had 7,200 units just in Miami Dade County alone and a major thunderstorm that knocked out power to several poll locations. Our battery backups in each machine were designed to keep the machines up for about 3 hours, but the power was out for longer than that at some places. The effect of the poll worker yanking the PEB out before the ballot was loaded, is the same as yanking the floppy out when loading any other application or data. I don't know think many systems and applications, open or closed, handle that kind of user error very well.

Can we make improvements? We are and we will, just like you would on any of your projects. But, you are wrong about the information you are providing to the readers of this site. In fact, there has been a whole lot of miscommunication on this site, which does not speak well for our profession as a whole. We give the press a bad time about not getting the facts right, but you guys are supposed to be able to speak knowledgably about these things, and do some research when you don't know.

You can read more about the machine by going to our website and selecting the products link.