CVF-NEWS

E-voting reform in the U.S.: progress report & ten things elections officials can do to secure the vote this November

August 26 , 2004

Hi Folks,

The November election is fast approaching, and all over the country people are wondering if the results produced by paperless, electronic voting machines will be reliable.

This issue of CVF-NEWS provides a progress report on states that are improving election security, and suggests ten ways election officials across the nation can act now secure the vote this November.

The good news is that many jurisdictions have chosen to stick with paper voting systems rather than purchasing e-voting machines. After the 2000 election, many were predicting that by now half the nation would be voting on paperless e-voting machines. Instead, the rate is about 25 percent. The majority of election officials have stuck with transparent and verifiable voting systems. Several have demonstrated strong leadership to advance voting system security:

• In Nevada, Secretary of State Dean Heller is implementing Sequoia touchscreens with a voter verified paper record, to be unveiled in Las Vegas on August 28. See the Secretary of State's announcement for more details. (FYI, I'll be attending and reporting on this demonstration). Nevada is the first state in the nation to implement a voter verified paper trail for a presidential election, and is the third jurisdiction in the country, following Sacramento, CA in 2002 and Southington, CT in 2003 to have voters cast electronic ballots backed up with a voter verified paper record in a binding, public election.

• In Indiana, Johnson County has decided to put their ES&S touchscreens away and use a paper voting system instead this November. County Clerk Jill Jackson said using a paper system was "the safest and surest thing to do." Johnson County made this decision after they learned that ES&S had installed uncertified software in their voting systems. The county gave ES&S a deadline to get their software certified, and ES&S failed to meet the deadline. (For more on this story see my Aug. 23 blog.)

• In Ohio, where a paper trail will be required in 2006, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell announced on July 16 that no counties would be purchasing new equipment prior to November. "I will not place these voting devices before Ohio's voters until identified risks are corrected", Blackwell said his news release. Instead of there being possibly 36 counties in Ohio using e-voting machines, there are now five.

• In California, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley banned Diebold's TSx voting machine, requiring four California counties -- San Diego, Kern, San Joaquin and Solano -- to use paper voting systems instead. He is also requiring the ten counties that use paperless e-voting machines to give voters the option to vote on paper if they choose, and that the vendors' source code be provided to his office for review. (A list of these 23 requirements is available online.)

The bad news is that paperless, electronic voting systems will be used in many jurisdictions throughout the country, including in several key Presidential election "swing states", such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, New Mexico, Louisiana and Tennessee.

There have been a number of recommendations made in recent weeks to improve election security in advance of the November election. The Election Assistance Commission issued a "Best Practices" toolkit. The Brennan Center for Justice and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights also recently issued a report proposing numerous reforms to improve election security.

The California Voter Foundation has a new set of recommendations to add to the mix. “Ten Things Election Officials Can Do To Secure The Vote This November” is a new CVF publication. These ten steps, while no replacement for the voter-verified paper trail, will, if implemented help reduce real and perceived paperless e-voting risks.

-- Kim Alexander, California Voter Foundation

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This page was first published on August 26 , 2004 | Last updated on December 9, 2004
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