BBV: Nevada decides on new voting machines (Sequoia)

[Paulie]

Dec. 11, 2003 | Secretary of State Dean Heller said Wednesday that Nevada has become the first state to demand a voter-verifiable receipt printer on new touch-screen voting machines being purchased for the 2004 elections.

Heller picked Oakland, Calif.-based Sequoia Voting Systems over Diebold Election Systems of North Canton, Ohio, as the supplier of the new direct-recording electronic voting machines that will be bought with federal funds.

Heller also decertified all punch-card voting machines in Nevada as of next Sept. 1, just before the state's primary, saying it's his duty "to provide voters with the highest level of confidence that elections in this state are fair, unbiased and secure."


http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2003/12/11/nevada_vote/index.html


PROBLEM: How do we know the votes in the machines MATCH the paper? What's the real counted ballot, the paper or the machine?

[david_vincent]

1. A. You don't know. There is *no* way to be sure

B. Diebold's HQ may be in Ohio, but its factory is in Texas (McKinney, I think).

[DRoseDARs]

2. Wow...he actually listened to us who called his office or went to the meet

...ing held last thursday at the Washoe County Commissioner's Chambers. Not one person from the public got up to support the LACK of a public papertrail. The things, we were told, already included a papertrail, but not one that the voter could verify that it had recorded the intended votes. This is what we were demanding and now seems that's what we're getting.

[RedEagle]

3. Again, the Paper is the ballot of record

The paper ballot can be used in audits, recounts, or counted instead of the machine count.

Random audits are a must.

You don't know if the optical scan systems counted the paper ballots correctly, either. And what we've found with Diebold, is just as many problems with the optical scan.

We must have healthy audits of the elections. That and exit polling will be the only way to check up on the machines.

The voter verified paper ballot from the touch screens makes auditing and recounts possible.

Without it, no one knows if the machine is correct or not.

[GregD]

4. We heard a rumor

that the state asked the IT folks at the Nevada Gaming Commission what to do. They said Diebold was insecure...

I guess the ad campaign would go "even gamblers won't bet on Diebold".

Catchy, huh?

[dusty64]

5. A good start.

x

[RedEagle]

6. There was a good piece...

...a while back on how much more intense the certification process is for gambling machines than voting machines.

Kick!