today i saw got to see one of the original dunlap broadsides as part of the declaration of independence road trip. i was really impressed with the way the organization running the tour presented it. instead of just reducing it to a simple patriotic moment they used it as an opportunity to urge people to become politically involved.
ironically enough in the middle of the exhibit they had something that got me all fired up: electronic voting machines. the idea is to provide a user-friendly way to cast your ballot the problem is that unless they're physically printed out it's extremely easy to tamper with the votes. you are literally at the mercy of the company who designed the machinery (one is also left wondering about any allegiances the manufacture might have formed in the process of wining the contract to provide the machines). below is the letter i sent to my representative, congressman wu, who spoke at the opening.
Posted by drewish at September 20, 2003 01:32 PMToday I had the pleasure of seeing Congressman Wu speak at the Oregon Historical Society's presentation of the Declaration of Independence. I've written and called several times about various issues but this was the first time I'd seen the Congressman speak. Every time I've seen his views in print I've been pleased to discover that they mirror mine. I'm proud that him as my representative.
I'm writing today about an issue that is central to democracy, the right to have your vote counted. After viewing the Declaration of Independence I came to a set of computerized voting machines donated by Elections Systems and Software. Currently, I'm a college student at PSU studying Computer Engineering. Prior to that I spent four years working in the industry so the equipment interested me professionally and academically.
The machines are designed around an LCD touch screen used present the voter with a description of the ballot item and small blurbs for and against the item. It was a well-designed interface that made the voting process simple and understandable. After making their choices the voter clicks a vote button and is left to assume that their ballot was cast. The problem with the device is that there's no voter verifiable record of the vote. At least with the punch card ballots the voter can inspect their choices and get to see it go into a ballot box. In a purely electronic system the voter can only hope that their vote was recorded correctly (and for that matter recorded at all).
A better solution that is supported by most computer professionals�at least those who aren't selling voting machines�is to use the device as a ballot printer (for more details see http://www.acm.org/usacm/Issues/EVoting.htm). The voter selects their choices on the computer and then after reviewing their choices, their votes are recorded electronically and printed onto a sheet of paper that the voter can review before depositing it into a ballot box. The electronic results can be used to speed the initial counting but the paper ballot is a permanent and record available should the need for a manual recount arise.
As I said earlier this issue is central to the successful functioning of democracy. Citizens don't need another excuse to think that their votes don't count. Say what you will about the debacle in the 2000 Florida election but at least a recount was possible. In a computerized election you're left with only the unverifiable word of the company that produced the machinery. Congressman Russ Holt introduced HR 2239 to remedy these problems. I hope you will join with him in supporting this bill.
Respectfully,
Andrew Morton
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