Open-source voting consortium to demo software, San Jose, 04/01

[carols]

I have personally been in touch with these guys and they have a fantastic idea for open source, paper receipt software. The project includes some of the most brilliant minds on voting software in the country. Their solution addresses software for the visually impaired - they barcode the results so your vote is private and the vote you cast is not only bar-coded, but read back to you through earphones. Time to call your election supervisor and tell them that there IS an alternative to Diebold. If you are in the San Jose area, please support these guys. They are on our side:
Press release...
Edited to fix link...

[Nlighten1]

1. Sweet!

That looks awesome...too bad this wasn't around 2 years ago.

[Eric J in MN]

2. Public hand counts will always be the best method.

Public hand counts will always be the best method. Let people see their votes being counted.


How Elections Should be Conducted

People enter the room they're voting in, and there is a large, transparent ballot box on a table in plain view.

People who show up early can see that the transparent box is empty.

Poll workers hand voters a sheet of paper for the major races, and the voters put X's next to the candidates of their choice.

Poll workers also hand voters a supplemental ballot book for the minor races with an optical-scan (SAT-style) ballot.

Voters fill out the ballot for the major races, fold it in half, and drop it in the transparent ballot box. They fill out the optical scan ballot for minor races, give it to a poll worker who puts it through a machine which checks that all the ovals are filled out completely, and if so counts that ballot and deposits it in a separate ballot box.

Any voter who wants to wait around after voting and watch the transparent ballot box is welcome. Any voter who wants to return in the evening and watch the counting of the votes can do so.

MORE AT
www.moveleft.com

[gristy]

3. Nice

Very nice. I do want to see the BBV movement move in this direction: a well thought out solution to the problem.
on edit: I really like the transparent ballot box. It brings to tangible reality the "transparent" metaphor.

[Eric J in MN]

4. Reading about issues with electronic voting machines gradually led me to

Reading about issues with electronic voting machines gradually led me to the conclusion that public hand counts for the major-races would be the best. I realize that if there are 100 referendums, then an additional ballot (opical-scan) for minor-races would be necessary.

Some people in Georgia on March 2, 2004 wanted to vote for the Democratic Presidential nominess, and only got to vote for a state-flag. They used expensive Diebold machines.

In Minnesota, we used plain pieces of paper fot the Democratic primary, and I got to write "Kucinich" on mine.

[carols]

5. Agreed, but if they insist on electronic voting, this is really good

Linux-based, paper-receipts and - at least in the case of my Secretary of State (a Jeb Bush tool, for sure) - a very populist answer to her whining about the technology for affordable paper receipts not being available. In your face, Glenda Hood!
Geeks rule :-)
Carol

Edited to take out drunken sentence construction.

[Eric J in MN]

6. even if the basic software is open-source, how do we know that

Even if the basic software is open-source, how do we know that it will be setup properly, with each precinct having to make adjustments for local elections?

Voting on paper, letting any citizen watch the counting, is the way to go.

[BeFree]

8. Paper Ballots - The only Way to Vote

Yep. Paper and pencil. Simple and precise. That's how 40 or so of America's Presidents have been elected. Why quit now?

[gristy]

10. Paper Records. Not Paper Receipts.

A receipt you take with you. A paper record stays behind for use in any audit recount.

[Nlighten1]

7. I agree!

[Woodstock]

9. This is excellent - it's what many programmers have been wanting

And the way it should have been done. If anything should be opensource, it should be voting software.

[Andy_Stephenson]

11. Ya'll calling for paper...

Make me proud! YOu have learned well!