http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=2585
QUOTE
Electronic voting machines must be open-sourced
By WTN News • 01/04/06
Madison, Wis. — Among the 15 bills governor Jim Doyle signed into law on Wednesday will require the software of touch-screen voting machines used in elections to be open-source.
Municipalities that use electronic voting machines are responsible for providing to the public, on request, the code used.
Any voting machines to be used in the state already had to pass State Elections Board tests. Electronic voting machines, in particular, already were required to maintain their results tallies even if the power goes out, and to produce paper ballots that could be used in case of a recount. The new law also requires the paper ballots to be presented to voters for verification before being stored.
But perhaps more influential in the long term is the requirement that municipalities provide source code, and the more general condition that "the coding for the software that is used to operate the system on election day and to tally the votes cast is publicly accessible and may be used to independently verify the accuracy and reliability of the operating and tallying procedures to be employed at any election."
The bill passed the Assembly 91-4 and the Senate 29-2.
By WTN News • 01/04/06
Madison, Wis. — Among the 15 bills governor Jim Doyle signed into law on Wednesday will require the software of touch-screen voting machines used in elections to be open-source.
Municipalities that use electronic voting machines are responsible for providing to the public, on request, the code used.
Any voting machines to be used in the state already had to pass State Elections Board tests. Electronic voting machines, in particular, already were required to maintain their results tallies even if the power goes out, and to produce paper ballots that could be used in case of a recount. The new law also requires the paper ballots to be presented to voters for verification before being stored.
But perhaps more influential in the long term is the requirement that municipalities provide source code, and the more general condition that "the coding for the software that is used to operate the system on election day and to tally the votes cast is publicly accessible and may be used to independently verify the accuracy and reliability of the operating and tallying procedures to be employed at any election."
The bill passed the Assembly 91-4 and the Senate 29-2.
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=4317492
QUOTE
State scraps new voting machines
by Chief Capitol Correspondent Mark Davis
(Hartford-WTNH, Jan. 4, 2006 Updated 5:10 PM ) _ There likely will not be a high-tech voting machine in your future this year. After announcing late last year that Connecticut's 3,300 mechanical, lever-style voting machines could no longer be used, the secretary of the state reversed herself. It's all about a big foul-up by companies bidding for Connecticut's business.
The familiar clunking sound of the mechanical, lever style voting machines will be heard once again this fall in all voting places because of the foul-up.
"I am stopping the purchasing process for electronic voting equipment in Connecticut," Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz. "The state will use lever voting machines in the 2006 election."
After a much publicized, public testing of modern electronic voting technology late last year, it was determined that none of the high-tech devices met all of the requirements of new state and federal rules. In addition to being user friendly for those with disabilities, voters must be able to see the entire ballot all at once and there must be a voter verifiable paper record of their vote. Not even one of the machines tested qualified.
So the secretary of the state announced the process must start all over again.
At our invitation, two professors of computer science from a group called True Vote Connecticut watched. They had tried to raise the red flag on the electronic machines. Their complaints were dismissed last month by Secretary Bysiewicz, but today they learned that their observations were right on the money.
"Yes, exactly, so they came to the right conclusion, and I commend her for that," said Dr. Michael Fischer, Yale University.
The professors had also said all of these machines had reliability and integrity problems.
"These issues have been playing out in other states as well, that's why we need to go slowly here and really look at these systems carefully," says Prof. Ralph Morelli, Trinity College.
Both men had endorsed optical scanning type machines, already in use in some Connecticut towns, as more reliable because the paper ballot can always be recounted if there's a failure.
Bysiewicz announced that all types of machines will likely be considered this time.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says the feds are okay with this move because the state made a good faith effort to get new voting machines. All of this is because of the disputed 2000 presidential election and the subsequent Helping America Vote Act.
by Chief Capitol Correspondent Mark Davis
(Hartford-WTNH, Jan. 4, 2006 Updated 5:10 PM ) _ There likely will not be a high-tech voting machine in your future this year. After announcing late last year that Connecticut's 3,300 mechanical, lever-style voting machines could no longer be used, the secretary of the state reversed herself. It's all about a big foul-up by companies bidding for Connecticut's business.
The familiar clunking sound of the mechanical, lever style voting machines will be heard once again this fall in all voting places because of the foul-up.
"I am stopping the purchasing process for electronic voting equipment in Connecticut," Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz. "The state will use lever voting machines in the 2006 election."
After a much publicized, public testing of modern electronic voting technology late last year, it was determined that none of the high-tech devices met all of the requirements of new state and federal rules. In addition to being user friendly for those with disabilities, voters must be able to see the entire ballot all at once and there must be a voter verifiable paper record of their vote. Not even one of the machines tested qualified.
So the secretary of the state announced the process must start all over again.
At our invitation, two professors of computer science from a group called True Vote Connecticut watched. They had tried to raise the red flag on the electronic machines. Their complaints were dismissed last month by Secretary Bysiewicz, but today they learned that their observations were right on the money.
"Yes, exactly, so they came to the right conclusion, and I commend her for that," said Dr. Michael Fischer, Yale University.
The professors had also said all of these machines had reliability and integrity problems.
"These issues have been playing out in other states as well, that's why we need to go slowly here and really look at these systems carefully," says Prof. Ralph Morelli, Trinity College.
Both men had endorsed optical scanning type machines, already in use in some Connecticut towns, as more reliable because the paper ballot can always be recounted if there's a failure.
Bysiewicz announced that all types of machines will likely be considered this time.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says the feds are okay with this move because the state made a good faith effort to get new voting machines. All of this is because of the disputed 2000 presidential election and the subsequent Helping America Vote Act.