OVC Drupal -

Bruce Schneier on Voting and Technology

Fri, 30 Jan 2004 17:15:13 -0500

From http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0012.html#1 on December 15, 2000.

In the wake of last November's election, pundits have called for more accurate voting and vote counting. To most people, this obviously means more technology. But before jumping to conclusions, let's look at the security and reliability issues surrounding voting technology.

The goal of any voting system is to establish the intent of the voter, and transfer that intent to the vote counter. Amongst a circle of friends, a show of hands can easily decide which movie to attend. The vote is open and everyone can monitor it. But what if Alice wants _Charlie's Angels_ and Bob wants _102 Dalmatians_? Will Alice vote in front of his friends? Will Bob? What if the circle of friends is two hundred; how long will it take to count the votes? Will the theater still be showing the movie? Because the scale changes, our voting methods have to change.

Security Poor in Electronic Voting Machines, Study Warns

Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:18:37 -0500

From Security Poor in Electronic Voting Machines, Study Warns published by the New York Times, By JOHN SCHWARTZ Published: January 29, 2004.

Electronic voting machines made by Diebold Inc. that are widely used in several states have such poor computer security and physical security that an election could be disrupted or even stolen by corrupt insiders or determined outsiders, according to a new report presented today to Maryland state legislators.

Are the inverted links a good idea?

Wed, 14 Jan 2004 22:48:13 -0500

They're great! Use them everywhere!
They're great! Don't change a thing!
Keep working on it.
Ick, kill them.

Planned Site Relaunch

Wed, 14 Jan 2004 22:06:23 -0500

This is the target date for relaunching the OVC web site. It'll have all sorts of great new features and information, such as: - Frequently Asked Questions - Discussions - And much, much more!

Alan Dechert's talk at UC Santa Cruz forum on electronic voting

Wed, 14 Jan 2004 20:51:37 -0500

this is Alan Dechert's talk given at the UC Santa Cruz forum on electronic voting held October 26th, 2003

Good afternoon. I thank all of you for coming. I am glad to be here. Thanks also to Bob Kibrick and Arthur Keller for their work in organizing this forum. I also want to say thank you to all the others at UC Santa Cruz that helped make this possible, and to all the other forum speakers.

EVM2003

Wed, 14 Jan 2004 22:02:39 -0500

EVM2003 is an all-volunteer open source voting software project involving engineers, scientists, political scientists and attorneys from around the U.S. and the World.

The purpose of the project is to produce a demonstration version of our open source voting software. The Open Voting Consortium will be the custodian of the free software -- both the demo software and the production software that will be developed and certified for use in public elections.

History of the Open Voting Consortium

Thu, 15 Jan 2004 19:35:49 -0500

History

The Open Voting Consortium (OVC) began with Alan Dechert's November 2000 idea for correcting the voting system. It has grown from a proposal to develop a pilot project in one county in California to a proposal for an in-depth nationwide study. Beyond that, the OVC is being built from the ground up as an international consortium.

Chronology

The most recent events are at the top of the list.

New system no easy touch for 134 voters in Broward

Tue, 13 Jan 2004 17:20:20 -0500

Today's recount in the House District 91 race is likely to raise questions about electronic voting, including whether paper records are necessary.

BY ERIKA BOLSTAD

ebolstad@herald.com

Three years after helping render punch-card voting systems obsolete, Broward County voters have proven that no election system is foolproof.

In Tuesday's special election to fill state House seat 91, 134 Broward voters managed to use the 2-year-old touch-screen equipment without casting votes for any candidate.

What is the Open Voting Consortium?

Tue, 3 Feb 2004 16:05:14 -0500

The Open Voting Consortium (OVC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development, maintenance, and delivery of an open voting system for use in public elections.

We are currently developing free voting software to run on very inexpensive PC hardware. The OVC voting system will accommodate different languages and scoring methods, as well as voters with special needs.

What will the ballot look like on the screen?

Sat, 20 Dec 2003 00:15:12 -0500

This is exactly how the ballot will be displayed in the demonstration.

Where will the demo take place?

Fri, 19 Dec 2003 22:31:41 -0500

For the web-based component, the answer is "anywhere and everywhere." Hundreds of people have already tried out what we have on the Internet.

The main demo will first take place in Palo Alto California. The exact time and location will be announced around the first of the new year. Depending on the response, we may elect to set up follow-on demos in other cities such

What are you planning to demonstrate?

Tue, 3 Feb 2004 16:00:50 -0500

In a word, we are demonstrating "Concepts." We are doing this with software we are building, but it`s not really the software we are demonstrating -- it`s just demo software we will be discarding.

Here is a slightly refined version of what Alan Dechert wrote on this in August

WHAT THE DEMO WILL DEMONSTRATE

1. ELECTRONIC VOTING

This may seem a little obvious to people close to this project, but most

What are the components of the demonstration system?

Fri, 19 Dec 2003 22:23:43 -0500

The demo will have a web-based component and several standalone components.

The web-based component will allow anyone with Internet access to get an idea of what the system is like (including being able to print the ballot). It will basically consist of this page Jan set up, but we`ll give it a nice GUI:

What is the legal status of the OVC?

Fri, 19 Dec 2003 22:08:36 -0500

At the moment, the OVC is an informal group. Very soon (as in days), it will be "A California Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation."

Here is a draft of our articles of Incorportation.

http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/OVC-articles-draft.pdf

What is a consortium?

Fri, 19 Dec 2003 22:05:00 -0500

From Merriam Webster online, it says,

Quote: 1: an agreement, combination, or group (as of companies) formed to undertake an enterprise beyond the resources of any one member

That`s pretty much the idea.