On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:27:07 -0600 Kathy Dopp wrote:
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:02:44 -0400
From: Dave Ketchum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [EM] Why We Shouldn't Count Votes with Machines
Federal certification? The many horror stories tell us either:
Equipment is failing that has never been "certified" or
The certifiers are signing off without bothering to look
seriously for the many defects in the offered systems,
The second scenario is true, and there are loopholes in the standards
which allow systems to be certified despite not meeting the standards.
Thus the certification process needs overhauling.
Yes, but certifying voting systems is a fundamentally flawed concept
anyway, because if the software is changed at all, then it is not
certified any longer and many states require that only certified
software is used. This makes it legally impossible to do security and
bug fixes because it can take a year (or perhaps more, but a really
long time) to get a new voting system software federally certified.
Smart State Election Officials are beginning to see that federal
certification is not a good idea, but many states would have to get
the legislatures to change state statutes to no longer require federal
certification of their voting machines.
I accept that what has passed as certification is demonstrated as
fundamentally flawed.
However, there is need for someone other than the producer to verify
quality of what is produced.
Bug fixes, etc., do not deserve a free pass, though expedited
processing of them makes sense.
And open source can ensure both better quality programming and
quicker finding of most bugs.
The state with one of the best, most economical voting system is
Oklahoma who programmed their own paper ballot voting system rather
than buying one from a vendor so OK uses standard optical scanners to
count their paper ballots. I would think that this means that OK
could possibly have an open source voting system. I heard that OK
decided to forgo taking Help America Vote Act funds for a new voting
system.
I doubt that what they have would be usable everywhere, but they might
be able to offer some useful guidance.
Cheers,
Kathy
--
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Dave Ketchum 108 Halstead Ave, Owego, NY 13827-1708 607-687-5026
Do to no one what you would not want done to you.
If you want peace, work for justice.
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