Re: Boulder County sets voting system public hearing

[Evan Daniel Ravitz <evan@xxxxxxxx>]

I think "voter verifiable" is misleading. Sure you can verify that
your choices are printed on your ballot. But you can't verify that the
ballot is counted, correctly or at all.

As long as the state and US laws say that recounts are done same as
counts, that piece of paper might as well not exist at all -nobody can
ever touch or count it to verify that the secret, proprietary software
counted correctly, except by a rare court order. Evidence of fraud
which might convince a judge to so order is nearly impossible to
obtain because of the secrecy and lack of cross-checking.

That's why I've argued for hand-counting. But, failing that, the
software must be public -to everybody. Like in Australia.

If they go thru with this, we accomplished LESS than nothing -they
will produce pieces of paper which verify NOTHING, AND people who
haven't investigated this or who don't understand will have their
worries soothed by the meaningless pieces of paper. PURELY a waste of
trees.

Evan

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004, kellen carey wrote:

> All Good Citizens:
>  I think we need to examine this recommendation to purchase Hart
> InterCivic equipment.
>  It's certainly good that Boulder County (after considerable public
> prodding) decided to base our voting system on voter verifiable
> paper ballots and delay any decision on purchasing DREs.
>  But I wonder why the rush to buy instead of lease?  Seems that with
> the industry in such flux, with no standards yet decided by NIST,
> and with no pending deadlines (there never were any deadlines, that
> was all nonsense), we ought to lease so we don't lock ourselves into
> a costly mistake.
>  Also, what about software disclosure, verifiability, a new RFP for
> new circumstances, and the thinking that went into the decision?
>  This might be a great decision or not; let's examine it on its
> merits.
>  Let's not be bashful or dilatory; this is the most significant
> voting system decision Boulder County has made in thirty years.
> Our input thus far has been instrumental in directing Boulder County
> in the right direction.  Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians,
> Greens, and Independents all agree voting system integrity is as
> nonpartisan an issue as it is crucial.
>  What do folks think?
>  kell
>
> Alan Crandall <ipix@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 8 January 2004
>
> Contact: James Burrus, Media Information Officer, 303-441-1622
>
> County sets vote tabulation system public hearing
>
> The Boulder County Commissioners will hold a public hearing with
> Clerk and Recorder Linda Salas at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 22 to
> discuss her recommendation that the county purchase a new election
> system from Hart InterCivic for use in future Boulder County
> elections, including the 2004 primary and general elections. Voters
> would go to polling places or request an absentee ballot and mark
> that paper ballot with pen or pencil. The ballots will then be
> deposited in a sealed ballot box at the precinct on election day (or
> mailed back to the clerk's office, in the case of an absentee
> ballot) and then taken to the clerk and recorder's office where the
> Hart InterCivic system will tabulate the votes. The system is not an
> optical scan device, but instead captures a digital image of each
> paper ballot and tabulates the votes from the image. In the case of
> a questionable mark on a ballot, the ballot image can be projected
> onto a wall for viewing by election judges to determine voter
> intent. If there is a need to check the actual ballot against the
> digital image, the paper ballots will allow that. The Hart
> InterCivic system also allows election officials to print
> replacement ballots on demand, as opposed to printing thousands of
> ballots that may not be used. Salas will make her recommendation to
> the commissioners, who are responsible for approving the purchase,
> and Hart InterCivic Vice President and General Manager Neal McClure
> will give a presentation on how the system operates and answer
> questions. If the commissioners approve the purchase, negotiations
> will then begin as to price. Salas said she did not yet have an
> estimate of what the system will cost because, in addition to the
> Hart system, Salas said she would be asking for several pieces of
> additional equipment to augment the system including extra
> projectors, printers, copiers, computers and scanners. -30-
>
> James Burrus Boulder County Media Information Officer w)
> 303-441-1622 h) 303-444-7933 pager) 303-441-3851, #5806
>
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