Voting Machines Absolutely Need Paper Trails

by Steven J. Owens (unless otherwise attributed)

A paper verification trail is absolutely necessary to good voting security:

• Voters must get a receipt they can keep, and they must review the paper receipt and approve it before their vote is considered done.

• The voter should approve the paper ballot by both pressing a button to tell the machine the vote is done, and depositing a copy of the paper ballot (a copy without voter identification information) into a locked ballot box.

• Each machine must keep an internal paper record of votes cast (though not which voter cast which vote).

• Each polling place must have ALL of the election board members review and sign on each machine's paper record, and again up the line when the individual polling place votes are collated.

These are all simple methods that we get to from known, proven principles of democracy. To neglect to protect our voting process is to strike at the heart of democracy itself.

Learn More About How To Save Our Democracy

Start here:

To learn more about the security issues and theory behind this issue, and the source of some of the ideas below, read:

Here's Why Our Voting Machines Need Each Of The Above

Computers are great for doing a job where you want to do a lot, very very fast. Unfortunately, computers are also great at making mistakes very, very fast. If the most important thing is to get a lot done, quickly and efficiently, computers are the best tool. But in voting, the most important thing is to count the votes right, not just to count a lot of them.

In many jobs, it's an advantage to make it possible to do the job with fewer people. In voting, it's best to involve as many people as possible, since that makes a conspiracy much, much harder (the more people you need to include in your conspiracy, the more likely the secret will get out).

Lets Look At Those Bullet Points Above Again

• Voters must get a receipt they can keep, and they must review the paper receipt and approve it before their vote is considered done.
  
  This enables the voters, as a last resort, to turn out and challenge a corrupt election.

• The voter should approve the paper ballot by both pressing a button to tell the machine the vote is done, and depositing a copy of the paper ballot (a copy without voter identification information) into a locked ballot box.
  
  First, the vote isn't done until the VOTER agrees it's done; otherwise, the way things go voting machines will make it necessary for a voter to jump through a lot of hoops to challenge an incorrect vote. Having your vote counted properly is your right. As we all know from watching cop shows on TV, if you are arrested, you are innocent until proven guilty; when you are voting, the state is guilty until proven (to your satisfaction) innocent.
  
  Second, this enables manual verification of the machine results later, if the internal paper record of the machine is suspected to be faulty or corrupted.

• Each machine must keep an internal paper record of votes cast (though not which voter cast which vote).
  
  This makes it much, much harder for a conspiracy, since they have to alter many physical records.

• Each polling place must have ALL of the election board members review and sign on each machine's paper record, and again up the line when the individual polling place votes are collated.
  
  This makes it impossible to steal an election without involving a lot more people (everybody who signs on the paper record). The more people you have to involve in a conspiracy, the harder it is to keep it secret.

Please Redistribute

Copyright Steven J. Owens, 2006. Permission is granted to distribute, reproduce, copy, and in any other fashion disseminate this article and/or the information in this article. You may not claim that you wrote it, but you don't even have to include the attribution to me, though I would appreciate it.

Feedback

Verification Image:
Subject:
Your Email Address:
Confirm Address:
Please Post:
Copyright: By checking the "Please Post" checkbox you agree to having your feedback posted on notablog if the administrator decides it is appropriate content, and grant compilation copyright rights to the administrator. Message Content: