Voter Verification Newsletter (Verified Voting tracks fix BBV efforts)

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Voter Verification Newsletter
Volume 3, Number 1, on February 08, 2005

NOVEMBER 2004 ELECTION ROUNDUP

Election Incident Reporting System (EIRS) Report

In Spring 2004, Verified Voting Executive Director Will
Doherty decided that we needed a better way to track reports
on problems with e-voting machines more effectively. He made
a proposal to other verified voting organizers at a meeting
sponsored by the Quixote Foundation in Chicago. Out of the
recognition that Election Protection groups needed a similar
tool for tracking election incidents of all types was born
the Election Incident Reporting System (EIRS).

Developed by many dedicated volunteers and a few paid staff
within several months and in partnership with the Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility, EIRS was already
in operation by the Florida primary in August 2004.

EIRS had a profound impact on election protection activities
in general, and scrutiny of the problems with electronic
voting in particular. EIRS supported about a thousand public
hotline operators and election protection managers (almost
all of them volunteers) who received about 175,000 calls in
about two dozen national call centers, legal command centers,
and field operations headquarters across the country. During
peak hours on Election Day, these volunteers entered
thousands of reports per hour into the EIRS database, which
now contains nearly 40,000 individual cases. EIRS data was
published immediately on a public website, where it was used
extensively by various organizations, the media, and the
general public, while protecting the privacy of incident
reporters. EIRS benefited voters who needed immediate help,
election protection organizations who used it to prioritize
their responses, and researchers who are now using its data
to help prepare legal cases and legislative recommendations.
After the election, Verified Voting Foundation staff and
volunteers used EIRS to compile summaries of widespread
electronic voting problems that were publicized on the web
and via press conferences and media releases summarized on
the VerifiedVoting.org website. For more information, see http://verifiedvoting.org/eirs

The Verified Voting Foundation is seeking volunteers and
funding to continue EIRS and our work with partner
organizations. We have plans to improve EIRS not only for
analyzing and publishing 2004 election data, but also for
use in elections in 2005 and beyond. To help, join VVF and
indicate that you want to volunteer for EIRS at
http://verifiedvoting/join/

TechWatch

TechWatch was another important program for the Verified
Voting Foundation. We recruited more than 1300 technology
professionals as volunteers and trained hundreds of them to
assist with the election. We assisted partner organizations,
particularly those involved with the +1-800-OUR-VOTE
nationwide Election Protection hotline, in preparing for
voting technology issues, especially for detecting
electronic voting machine failures or fraud. We also
deployed professionals to Logic and Accuracy testing of
election equipment prior to Election Day in more than a
dozen states. As e-voting election incidents occurred on
Election Day, we were able to dispatch technology
professionals immediately, in more than a dozen states, in
cooperation with Election Protection Coalition operations.
For more information, see
http://verifiedvoting.org/techwatch/


NEW FEDERAL VVPB LEGISLATION

Senator Ensign soon plans to introduce the "Voting Integrity
and Verification Act of 2005", which is identical in content
to a similarly-titled bill (VIVA 2004) that he introduced
last year (S. 2437). VIVA 2005 will not be issued a Senate
bill number until it is actually introduced. In the
meantime, you can effectively review the bill summary and
text for VIVA 2005 by looking at the corresponding
information for last year's VIVA 2004 (S. 2437).
VerifiedVoting.org supports the VIVA 2005 bill and encourages
all members of the Senate to become cosponsors.

The "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of
2005" (H.R. 550) was introduced on February 2, 2005, by
Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey. This is an updated and
expanded version of a similar bill (H.R. 2239) that Rep.
Holt introduced in the previous session. VerifiedVoting.org
supports this bill and encourages all members of the House
to become cosponsors.

VerifiedVoting.org will continue to work tirelessly towards
passage of voter-verified paper ballot (VVPB) legislation in
the 109th Session, which is now underway. To monitor pending
federal and state VVPB legislation please check our
Legislation Page often at http://verifiedvoting.org/leg


STATE-BY-STATE LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

1. Connecticut - Last October, in collaboration with a local
group of Connecticut voters, the Verified Voting Foundation
submitted a package of documents to Connecticut's Secretary
of the State, Susan Bysiewicz, recommending that Connecticut
consider the full range of HAVA compliant voting systems
when preparing its Request for Proposal (RFP) for new
voting systems. These documents provided both technical and
economic arguments demonstrating that a precinct-based
optical scan system, augmented by accessible marking
devices, would provide the best replacement system for
Connecticut's aging lever machines. Connecticut issued its
RFP in December 2004 asking voting systems vendors to supply
bids only for Direct Record Electronic (DRE) aka e-voting
machines. The Verified Voting Foundation is working actively
with our supporters and the state-based TrueVoteCT.org to
broaden the scope of the RFP so it includes all
HAVA-compliant voting systems. For more details, see
http://verifiedvoting.org/stateview.php?area=7

2. Indiana - Verified Voting participated in voter education
in Koskiusko County, distributing a targeted email campaign
intended to stave off the premature purchase of voting
machines that do not provide a voter-verified paper trail.
See the Indiana action alert listed on the state page at
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/stateview.php?area=15

3. New York - By a vote of 11 to 4, the The Tompkins County
Legislature passed a resolution on January 18 calling for
New York State to adopt paper ballots/optical scan/ballot
markers as the state's voting equipment. This is the first
resolution of its kind in New York State. While non-binding,
this shows state officials who will be making equipment
decisions that the counties are concerned about adopting
e-voting machines and want an alternative. Bo Lipari, of New
Yorkers for Verified Voting (NYVV), wrote: "It took many
meetings and education sessions with the Legislature, budget
committees and board of election officials to convince them
of the benefits of optical scan. The source material,
arguments, and feedback Bob and Pam (of VerifiedVoting.org)
provided me throughout this effort was invaluable in winning
the day." VerifiedVoting.org salutes Bo and NYVV for their
excellent work in New York.

4. Ohio - Last September, VVF submitted written testimony to
legislative hearings in Ohio, offering suggestions on how
Ohio could best meet the voter-verified paper ballot
requirements established last year by that State's
legislature. In that testimony, VVF argued that deployment
of a precinct count optical scan system augmented by
accessible ballot marking devices, would provide the most
verifiable and cost-effective solution. On January 12, 2005,
Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell announced that
Ohio will deploy a precinct count optical scan system
statewide. In addition, to meet the accessibility needs of
voters with disabilities, one accessible voting device will
be deployed at each polling place. For more details, see: http://verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=5510

5. West Virginia - In November, VerifiedVoting.org
Legislative Analyst Bob Kibrick was invited by the Interim
Subcommittee of the Joint Senate and House Judiciary
Committees of the WV State Legislature to make a
presentation on HAVA-compliant voting systems. Kibrick
stressed the need for any new voting systems in WV to
provide a voter-verified paper ballot (VVPB) and cautioned
legislators about the numerous problems with paperless
e-voting machines. The following day, Kibrick and
representatives from several local civic organizations met
with WV's Secretary of State-elect, Betty Ireland, who has
publicly committed to supporting VVPBs for WV. Later that
month, during the Interim Session, the legislature passed a
bill to freeze any further spending of WV's State HAVA funds
on new voting systems until the terms of a VVPB requirement
are settled. For more details, please see our West Virginia
state page: http://verifiedvoting.org/stateview.php?area=50

6. States Overview - For other state-by-state news, see the
January update on state legislation across the country at http://verifiedvoting.org/states


VOTING SYSTEMS RATING GROUP ESTABLISHED

The Voting Systems Performance Rating (VPSR) is a new group
focused on measuring the performance of voting systems.
Previously, the only group seriously developing standards
was the 'IEEE P1583' group, criticized for being
vendor-dominated and for having a closed standards
development process. VPSR brings together a group of experts
from a number of voting-related fields, including Verified
Voting Foundation founder David Dill and VerifiedVoting.org
Legislative Analyst Bob Kibrick. To find out more, see
http://vspr.org


CELEBRATE VERIFIED VOTING'S NEW OFFICES

We couldn't be happier than we are with our new offices in
San Francisco! We've moved out of our temporary quarters
(after many thanks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation!)
and have found space in an exceptional building with room
for a much larger team.

Housewarming Gifts? We have the basics but are still
looking for: laser printers, copy machine, fax machine,
laptop projector, office chairs, a small storage cabinet,
small refrigerator, dishes, flatware, and cups, microwave,
VCR, telephones, phone system, and TV Monitor. If you have
any of those items you'd be willing to donate or loan to us,
please contact Verified Voting.

RECEPTION: We're having an informal reception to celebrate
our office opening from 6:00-10:00pm on Thursday, February
10. Join us for delicious healthy snacks and refreshments
in the penthouse suite of our beautiful dot-com-style
office building in San Francisco's Mission Neighborhood.

To RSVP and for complete invitation and details, see http://verifiedvoting.org/reception


WE'RE HIRING A DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

There is one position currently open in San Francisco:
Development Director (fundraising).

This is a full-time positions with good benefits. If you're
not available but know someone who is, we appreciate your
referrals.

For more information on the position or to apply, visit http://verifiedvoting.org/jobs


INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Are you a student living in or traveling to the San
Francisco Bay Area with an interest in helping make
democracy work? If so, we'd like to hear from you!

Currently, Verified Voting is ramping up an internship
program for students with an interest in voting, elections,
computer science, policy, or activism. Apply your efforts to
important election reform projects and gain new skills and
experience at the same time. For more information and to
apply, see http://verifiedvoting.org/interns