Interesting People mailing list archives
more on elections
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 14:58:47 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: L Jean Camp <ljean () ljean com> Date: June 9, 2006 11:41:48 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] more on electionsGosh, maybe we should design and buy systems that are suitable for the partisan under-funded volunteer-staffed election system that we _have_.
There must be some reason not to do this, because so many people buy machines and then try to redesign the entire practice of democracy to fit the machine. Then declare the failures "not technical".
Here are some proposed best practices from a couple of years ago: • The Power of Hybrid Electronic-Paper Voting SystemsPaper and electronic systems each have unique and potentially complementary strengths. Electronic systems can provide fast counts, suitable ballots, and ease the vast logistics problems of voting. Paper provides auditable counts, ease of use, and voter confidence. Emphasis on accurate vote counting must be balanced with speed – a tally can be quick or rigorous, but not both.
• Focus on The Human ElementWith improved technologies, the people who administer elections matter more, not less. More training, additional incentives and improved remuneration for poll workers is needed immediately.
• Technically Appropriate ProcessesProcesses should be designed to address the unique strengths and weaknesses of particular voting systems. Process design should assume that failure will occur and address the possibility of failure before an election. There should be agreed-upon rules for resolution of uncertainty before the conflict occurs.
None of these are rocket science.Or just continue to design for fairy land and then hope nothing bad occurs. If something bad occurs call it "not a problem with the system" because it's "not technical". Not technical - just part of core requirements assumptions.
harrrumph. -Jean On Jun 7, 2006, at 12:32 PM, David Farber wrote:
From: Steven Hertzberg <stevenstevensteven () gmail com> Date: June 7, 2006 12:27:09 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: lynn () ecgincc com Subject: RE: [IP] electionsYes, we are seeing this situation across the entire country. We're trying to understand how much of this failure is due to the skill of the Pollworker- their acumen with the technology, the training they receive, or themachine reliability itself. Right now, we don't have a really good handleon this.
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