Help Add Paper to Electronic Voting Machines

[Jason Forester]

I'll make this brief-but-passionate.

Hawaii's Office of Elections is going to put paperless electronic
voting machines in, to replace all the existing optical-scan systems
for 2006.

We've introduced legislation to require a paper audit trail, but
we desperately need the tech community to help us get it passed.

We need phone calls to legislators recommending the bills, and
we need local tech businesspeople to testify at Committee hearings.

Hawaii.inet-providers used to be *the* place to find the tech
community, so here I am.

If you are willing to help, please email ***@safevotehawaii.com
(forwards to me).

If you just want to call your legislators, you can find them here
(all links are shortened but go to www.capitol.hawaii.gov):
http://xrl.us/exya

Here are the text and status of our Bills:

Senate SB1325:
http://xrl.us/exx8

House HB1740
http://xrl.us/exx7

They primarily say:
- voting machines must have a voter verified paper trail
- voting machines must be open to public inspection
- random 10% of precincts must be recounted comparing paper to electronic
tallies after each election (identical to the current optical scan)

Thank you VERY much, for anything you can take the time to do.

- jason

[Dan Birchall]

Post by Jason Forester
Hawaii's Office of Elections is going to put paperless electronic
voting machines in, to replace all the existing optical-scan systems
for 2006.

Are these the Hart Interactive ones that they initially rolled out for
disabled voters but started letting anyone else who wanted to use last
year? 'Cos if so, there are some paper receipts associated with the
system. Not a "here's who you voted for," but at least "here's the
unique serial number assigned to your ballot," I think.

Not as good as actually giving you a receipt that says who you voted
for, though.

[Jason Forester]

Several points to follow up on.

First off, our Judiciary committe hearing for HB1740 is tomorrow at 2pm.
Any written testimony that people could provide before then would be
welcome, and could be reused for the SB1325 hearing on Friday.

Second, to address your statements below, there are a few misconceptions
I would like to correct.

1) Our bill requires a voter-verified paper audit trail no matter what
vendor. As you may or may not know, ES&S has challenged Hart's bid,
and we may or may not get these machines this cycle. Regardless, this
is to cover all machines in the future, not simply the immediate purchase.

2) We don't advocate any kind of receipt given to the voter. This is not
permissible, as it would be evidence of your intent that could be sold
or which you could be pressured into providing (if your boss told you
to go vote for mickey mouse and bring back the receipt as proof or you're
fired, for example).

3) A Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail is not a printout at the end of the
day, which is all the Hart machines can provide. There is no way for the
voter to check that the printout accurately reflects their intent.

Unless you verify intent at the time of the vote, the paper is meaningless
as an audit mechanism. It would be like giving the IRS a spreadsheet of
your expenses, and a printout of the spreadsheet as proof that they're valid.
The Hart system currently being proposed does only this meaningless printing.

We have been working closely with the Office of Elections and Hart InterCivic,
and they have not been forthcoming with access to the machines or any sort
of audit mechanism. As a result we feel the only way to verify and audit
is through the addition of a non-electronic storage mechanism such as a
paper trail. This paper trail can also be used as a backup in case of machine
failure, like the one that has crippled North Carolina's election this year.

For more details see Myth Breakers:
http://www.safevotehawaii.com/mythbreakers.pdf

And our website:
http://www.safevotehawaii.com

Thanks very much,

- jason

Post by Dan Birchall
Are these the Hart Interactive ones that they initially rolled out for
disabled voters but started letting anyone else who wanted to use last
year? 'Cos if so, there are some paper receipts associated with the
system. Not a "here's who you voted for," but at least "here's the
unique serial number assigned to your ballot," I think.
Not as good as actually giving you a receipt that says who you voted
for, though.

[i***@safevotehawaii.com]

A quick update:

A really good turnout both in testimony and in person for
Tuesday's hearing swept HB1740 right through the House
Judiciary committee, with a couple mods for wording that
we're working on getting fixed. On to Finance in the
House.

Next up, on Friday at 9am SB1325 (the Senate version of
the same bill) will be heard by the Senate Judiciary and
Hawaiian Affairs committee.

http://www.safevotehawaii.com has the details of the bills
and how you can help get this one through as decisively as
the House bill.

The Honolulu Advertiser also came out with a strong editorial
in favor of voter verified paper audit trails:
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/08/op/op01p.html

I just wanted to say 'thanks' to any and all who submitted
testimony or called, and ask that anyone who can take a minute
help us keep the pressure on.

Thanks again,

- jason

--
Jason Forester
Technical Spokesperson
Save Vote Hawaii
www.safevotehawaii.com

[i***@safevotehawaii.com]

Just another update - we have passed both House and Senate Judiciary, and
we are being heard in Finance.

House Finance is holding a hearing on HB1740 today, Thursday 2/24 at 4:30 pm in
conference room 308.

Senate Finance will only be accepting written testimony for SB1325, and
their hearing is Friday 2/25 at 9:30 in room 211.

Please take a minute to submit testimony in support of our bills. You
can submit online at ***@capitol.hawaii.gov.

Thanks very much for any support you can offer,

- jason

--
Jason Forester
Technical Spokesperson, Safe Vote Hawaii

Post by i***@safevotehawaii.com
A really good turnout both in testimony and in person for
Tuesday's hearing swept HB1740 right through the House
Judiciary committee, with a couple mods for wording that
we're working on getting fixed. On to Finance in the
House.