Re: WI to require paper ballot, open-source voting systems

[Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Jan 04, 2006 at 03:56:56PM -0700, Joe Pezzillo wrote:
Thanks again, Joe!

But first note the error in the headline, and this "Subject:"...

http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=2585

 Please correct your headline, as it is in error. As the text of the
 article makes clear, this will NOT require that the voting machine
 code be open source. It requires only that it be available for
 audit. Open source refers to software which you are allowed, not only
 to examine, but to modify and redistribute freely. This is a huge
 distinction.

To be specific:

http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=2585
 ...  But of this bill's provisions, perhaps the more influential in a
 wider sense 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.

Hurrah!!

Neal McBurnett                 http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/
Signed and/or sealed mail encouraged.  GPG/PGP Keyid: 2C9EBA60