Alan,
This is a complicated subject. Few people are informed well enough
to make a decision. There are a whole range of intertwined electoral and
technical issues, and the more a I read/learn, the more layers of
complexity I see.
I suggest we be cautious.
Therefore, I suggest for Boulder County what Al Kolwicz of
CAMBER is suggesting:
1. In the short term (i.e. 2004, possibly 2005), we should opt
for hand-marked paper ballots, preferably identical to the absentee
mailed ballots, all read by the same optical scanning devices Boulder County
already owns and has been using for years.
2. That buys some time to acquire in the future computer/voter
interface machines (whether touchscreen or other) capable of multiple
ballots, multiple languages, second chance voting, a voter verifiable paper
ballot, and audio capability for the one ADA-compliant machine mandated
per precinct by HAVA.
3. There should be NO digital balloting at all unlessl all
technical security and privacy issues have been thoroughly hashed
out to the satisfaction of a whole range of independent testers and
experts. Establishing the specifications, testing, reviews, etc., will
almost certainly take several years.
kell
Alan <Alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Ok,
for everyone that attended the meetings in Boulder regarding
the
Electronic Voting machines currently being considered for Boulder
county
(and for others that are generally informed on the subject), what
is your
favorite system?
I personally feel that some of the sales
people were bold face lying in
their presentations and some were
deliberately misleading in their answers
to certain questions. There are
to many security concerns and proprietary
software issues with any of the
systems. This decision is like which flavor
of mud do you like best. If I
were to choose today I believe I would still
go with Advante due to their
embracing the voter verifiable paper ballot.
In many ways I am
suspicious of the whole effort to use DRE's in the voting
process. I
personally feel that we should mark a paper ballot and then
place it in
the "v! ote reader" scanner. When the display verifies that the
ballot
scan reflects the voters intentions then the ballot is transfer to
the
ballot box. That way we have a check and balances system and
paper
ballots for a recount.
What are your
thoughts.
Alan
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