more on Voter verifiable touchscreen voting machine to be demonstrated Thursday

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 10:27:06 -0800 (PST)
From: Karl Auerbach <karl () cavebear com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Voter verifiable touchscreen voting machine to be
 demonstrated Thursday
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>


By-the-way, I'm part of the OpenVoting Consortium and I will be giving
part of the demo tomorrow.

There will be four software components, each on a distinct computer (3
pc's, one Mac.)  Most of the software is written in Python and is
reasonably portable.

I'll be demoing software that reads-back the paper ballot to the voter so
that he/she can verify that the bar code printed on the ballot properly
reflects the textual votes that are printed on the ballot.  This also
allows sight impaired voters to validate their ballots before casting
them.

The four components to be demoed are:

  - A touch-screen voting mechanism that results in a printed ballot

  - An audio system that allows sight impaired voters to make their
    choices.  Again this results in a printed ballot.

  - An audio system that reads-back the paper ballot to the voter.

  - A reconciliation system that validates and reconciles the counts at
    the end of the day.  (The counts include not only good ballots but
    also spoiled ballots and other data.)

The machines are not networked together - all information flow is explicit
on physical media.

This system builds on traditional paper voting systems.  As a society we
have had a lot of experience with such paper voting systems - such systems
have many virtues and we know most of their flaws.  The OVC system is a
conservative enhancement that addresses some of those flaws.  The OVC
system applies computer support only in a limited way, and preserves the
integrity and auditability that is are necessary for voters to retain the
faith that their votes do matter.

It is our expectation that this system will not only be far more auditable
than any of the Direct Recording (DRE) systems being sold commercially,
but will also cost far less.  Rather than using special one-purpose
equipment, the OVC software can, if desired, run on outdated (i.e,
inexpensive) commodity PC's (in appropriate security enclosures) without
paying a tithe to Microsoft or any other vendor of non-inspectable closed
source software.

The OVC system is not a panacea - it still requires that elections be well
planned, that precincts be staffed with trained people, and that voters
come out and vote.

                --karl--

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