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

[Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Jan 04, 2006 at 09:28:20PM -0700, Neal McBurnett wrote:
> 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."
> 
> Hurrah!!

Alas - too good to be true, this time....  The web site later posted
this update:

 Correction: the original story was based on an official summary that
 referred to the bill as introduced and did not take into account
 certain amendments. Under the law as enacted, the source code would
 be placed into escrow with the elections board. It would be analyzed
 in the case of a recount, but not open to the public. WTN very much
 regrets the error and any confusion it may have caused.

It requires access during a recount for one person designated by each
party to the recount, under non-disclosure requirements.

As commentator Cori Schlegel noted, it also requires that the software
placed in escrow is the same used to count the votes, saying "The
verification procedure shall include a determination that the software
components correspond to the instructions actually used by the system
to count votes."

 "How they'll do that is undetermined, but at least there's an
 acknowledgment of the potential problem."

So Wisconsin has taken just a small step, but one that could produce
important revelations some day.

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

Here is the text of the relevant section:

 SECTION 4. 5.905 of the statutes is created to read:
 5.905 Software components.
 (1) In this section, software component includes vote counting source
 code, table structures, modules, program narratives and other human
 readable computer instructions used to count votes with an electronic
 voting system.
 (2) The board shall determine which software com-ponents of an
 electronic voting system it considers to be necessary to enable
 review and verification of the accu-racy of the automatic tabulating
 equipment used to record and tally the votes cast with the
 system. The board shall require each vendor of an electronic voting
 system that is approved under s. 5.91 to place those software
 compo-nents in escrow with the board within 90 days of the date of
 approval of the system and within 10 days of the date of any
 subsequent change in the components. The board shall secure and
 maintain those software components in strict confidence except as
 authorized in this section. Unless authorized under this section, the
 board shall withhold access to those software components from any
 person who requests access under s. 19.35 (1).
 (3) The board shall promulgate rules to ensure the security, review
 and verification of software components used with each electronic
 voting system approved by the board. The verification procedure shall
 include a deter-mination that the software components correspond to
 the instructions actually used by the system to count votes.
 (4) If a valid petition for a recount is filed under s. 9.01 in an
 election at which an electronic voting system was used to record and
 tally the votes cast, each party to the recount may designate one or
 more persons who are authorized to receive access to the software
 components that were used to record and tally the votes in the
 election. The board shall grant access to the software components to
 each designated person if, before receiving access, the person enters
 into a written agreement with the board that obligates the person to
 exercise the highest degree of rea-sonable care to maintain the
 confidentially of all propri-etary information to which the person is
 provided access, unless otherwise permitted in a contract entered
 into under sub. (5).
 (5) A county or municipality may contract with the vendor of an
 electronic voting system to permit a greater degree of access to
 software components used with the system than is required under
 sub. (4).