Open Source Could Fix E-Voting Flaws, California Secretary of State Says Network World (09/25/08) Brodkin, Jon
as it appeared in the September 26, 2008 edition of ACM TechNews.
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen says open source software could help fix some of the flaws in electronic-voting systems. Bowen says e-voting software would benefit from greater scrutiny, noting that privileged information about voting software flaws is not easily examined by the public or even the county workers tasked with purchasing voting machines. She says that in many cases the people purchasing the machines cannot verify their reliability. "We're basically asking a county IT professional, who may or may not have any experience in crypto-security, to purchase a system," Bowen says. "In most cases, the person who does the purchase has no legal right to review the software, even if they knew what they were reviewing." Bowen says open source software could help design more effective ballots. A review of California's voting technology found security flaws in every voting system, including touch-screen machines and machines that scan paper ballots. Bowen wants to move away from direct-recording e-voting machines, which typically require voters to use touch screens to vote, because they lack a means to independently verify results. Instead, Bowen favors optical-scanning machines with paper ballots, which can be hand counted if necessary. Click Here to View Full Article
