2008 Woodie Awards
Technology meets democracy
First in a four-part series on voter awareness
Kate Giglio
Issue date: 10/7/04 Section: Features
- Page 1 of 2 next >
In the 1970s, almost anyone in the United States could construct a "voting machine" and sell it to local election officials.
Most state governments had no guidelines for testing or evaluating these types of devices, and local officials had the option of either trusting the manufacturer or going by word of mouth that the machine was accurate.
However, once stories of voting-equipment inaccuracies started to circulate, concerns about the integrity of the election system rose among people. According to Mary Bellis' article, "The History of Voting," a March 1975 report by the General Accounting Office's Office of Federal Elections concluded that one of the causes for computer-related election problems was "a lack of appropriate technical skills at the state and local level for developing ... written standards, against which voting system hardware and software could be evaluated."
Now, nearly 30 years later, people are raising the same concerns.
Some people view this year's election as one that will be controversial, as far as voting methods go, given its projected closeness. Many people view the United States voting system with disdain because they feel that the electronic voting system is not secure.
Rebecca Mercuri, Ph.D., founder of Notable Software Inc., is one of the most prominent computer security and electronic vote tabulation specialists. She said she feels that an entirely electronic voting system is not secure.
"I am adamantly opposed to the use of fully electronic or Internet-based systems for use in anonymous balloting and vote tabulation applications," Mercuri said. "All election officials should refrain from procuring any system that does not provide an indisputable paper ballot."
There are some electronic voting machines, however, that do provide a paper printout of votes cast. Last month Dean Heller, Nevada secretary of state, helped institute a system that allowed primary voters across the state to cast their votes on machines that printed out paper records. Will Doherty, executive director of VerifiedVoting.org, said that he thinks all electronic voting machines should be able to provide tangible records, and that those machines that do not have the capability will be subject to scrutiny.
Most state governments had no guidelines for testing or evaluating these types of devices, and local officials had the option of either trusting the manufacturer or going by word of mouth that the machine was accurate.
However, once stories of voting-equipment inaccuracies started to circulate, concerns about the integrity of the election system rose among people. According to Mary Bellis' article, "The History of Voting," a March 1975 report by the General Accounting Office's Office of Federal Elections concluded that one of the causes for computer-related election problems was "a lack of appropriate technical skills at the state and local level for developing ... written standards, against which voting system hardware and software could be evaluated."
Now, nearly 30 years later, people are raising the same concerns.
Some people view this year's election as one that will be controversial, as far as voting methods go, given its projected closeness. Many people view the United States voting system with disdain because they feel that the electronic voting system is not secure.
Rebecca Mercuri, Ph.D., founder of Notable Software Inc., is one of the most prominent computer security and electronic vote tabulation specialists. She said she feels that an entirely electronic voting system is not secure.
"I am adamantly opposed to the use of fully electronic or Internet-based systems for use in anonymous balloting and vote tabulation applications," Mercuri said. "All election officials should refrain from procuring any system that does not provide an indisputable paper ballot."
There are some electronic voting machines, however, that do provide a paper printout of votes cast. Last month Dean Heller, Nevada secretary of state, helped institute a system that allowed primary voters across the state to cast their votes on machines that printed out paper records. Will Doherty, executive director of VerifiedVoting.org, said that he thinks all electronic voting machines should be able to provide tangible records, and that those machines that do not have the capability will be subject to scrutiny.