12/5 Rocky Mountain News: Boulder panel wary of electronic voting

[Doug Grinbergs <saule@xxxxxxxxx>]

<http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_2479310,00.html>
Boulder panel wary of electronic voting 
Berny Morson
Rocky Mountain News
December 5, 2003 

BOULDER - County commissioners waded into a national fight over electronic voting Thursday, saying that they are skeptical about systems that don't produce a hard-copy ballot.

At issue are systems in which votes exist only electronically, with no paper trail. Critics fear that the results could be altered by hackers.

"I for one would be very uncomfortable with having anything but a paper ballot," said Paul Danish, commission chairman.

Danish's comments and concurring views by the other two commissioners came after a presentation by a group concerned about hacking.

"We don't want votes stored electronically," said Joe Pezzillo, spokesman for a group called Citizens for Verifiable Voting. "No paper ballots equal no voter confidence."

A blanket rejection of a purely electronic system would make Boulder a flash point in a national controversy that has arisen as states try to avoid the problems Florida had in the 2000 presidential election.

Boulder is in the process of buying a new election system. A committee headed by the county clerk is expected to choose a preferred bidder Dec. 12, said Tom Halicki, county elections director. The commissioners would have to OK the purchase.

Rejection of electronic voting in Boulder could spark a similar stance elsewhere, Pezzillo said.

He said his group isn't against casting votes by computer, which helps handicapped voters. But the machine must spit out a paper ballot that is placed in a ballot box, he said. The ballots can be counted electronically, he said.

Pezzillo said that his group was started by members of the area's technology community. They fear that the county isn't considering the security issue. The group also includes people who reject technology entirely, Pezzillo said.

Members are concerned that the software behind off-the-shelf voting systems is the property of the manufacturer and may not be disclosed to election officials.

Group member Neal McBurnett, a computer security consultant, said that the commissioners should put off buying a new system until they can find one based on open-source software.

Halicki said that no such system has been approved by groups that certify election systems. He declined to comment on the issues raised by Citizens for Verifiable Voting.

Commissioner Tom Mayer said that open-source software "should be part of the consideration." He said he doesn't want to prejudge what the selection committee will recommend next week, but that he is concerned about voter confidence in any system.

Commissioner Ron Stewart said he has a "real preference" for paper ballots, but that he will approach the committee's recommendation with an open mind.