VVPAT spoilage (was Re: AP on hearing in DC)

[Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks, Margit.  Here are some direct links from the writings of
experts on these issues, and a few juicy excerpts.

-Neal

E-Voting, Up Close  Wednesday September 6, 2006 by Ed Felten
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1061 

 Election Science Institute released a fascinating report on real
 experience with e-voting technologies in a May 2006 primary election
 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio (which includes Cleveland).
 http://www.cuyahogacounty.us/bocc/GSC/pdf/esi_cuyahoga_final.pdf

 In about 10% of the machines, the paper record was spoiled: the paper
 roll was totally blank, or scrunched and smeared beyond
 reconstruction, or broken and taped back together, or otherwise
 obviously wrong.


On Thu, Sep 28, 2006 at 11:34:21AM -0600, Margit Johansson wrote:
>    [1]http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/15630238.htm
> 
>    Congress hears about electronic voting issues with elections near
>    DAVID HAMMER
>    Associated Press
> 
>    WASHINGTON - The chairman of a House committee and several witnesses
>    at a hearing Thursday punched holes in the idea that paper records of
>    voters' selections will solve a slew of problems with new electronic
>    voting machines.
> 
>    The criticism comes a little more than a month before most of the
>    country uses new computerized balloting.
> 
>    Rep. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., chairman of the Administration
>    Committee, adopted the "Got paper?" catchphrase of activists calling
>    for paper audits of votes.
> 
>    Ehlers pointed to a photo of a poll worker in the 2000 Florida
>    recount, his one eye appearing massive as it peered through a
>    magnifying glass at a punch-card ballot.
> 
>    "You can see this man has 'got paper,'" Ehlers said. "Simply saying
>    let's use paper does not mean the problems go away."
> 
>    Keith Cunningham, elections director in Allen County, Ohio, and the
>    former leader of the Ohio Association of County Elections Officials,
>    testified that a recount of the paper records in Cuyahoga County,
>    which includes Cleveland, showed massive failure of the printouts.
> 
>    A bill proposed by Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., and backed by more than
>    200 lawmakers, would require paper audit trails for all new
>    electronic voting machines, which will be used by about 80 percent of
>    voters in the coming Nov. 7 elections.
> 
>    The election will determine whether Democrats can take control of the
>    U.S. House, and 33 U.S. Senate races and 36 governor races are on ballots.
> 
>    But activists have filed lawsuits in at least nine states contending
>    the new electronic voting machines are not secure and prone to as
>    many errors as punch cards and other mechanical voting methods.
> 
>    One of the witnesses Thursday was Princeton University Professor
>    Edward Felten, who said computerized voting machines made by
>    Ohio-based Diebold Inc. could be hacked easily.
> 
> References
> 
>    Visible links
>    1. http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/15630238.htm