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BACKGROUND:
Virtually all voting systems in use today (punch-cards, lever machines, hand counted paper ballots, etc.) are subject to fraud and error, including electronic voting systems, which are not without their own risks and vulnerabilities. In particular, many electronic voting systems have been evaluated by independent, generally-recognized experts and have been found to be poorly designed; developed using inferior software engineering processes; designed without (or with very limited) external audit capabilities; intended for operation without obvious protective measures; and deployed without rigorous, scientifically-designed testing.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
To protect the accuracy and impartiality of the electoral process, ACM makes the following recommendations:
- All voting systems -- particularly computer-based electronic voting systems -- embody careful engineering, strong safeguards, and rigorous testing in both their design and operation; and,
- Voting systems should also enable each voter to inspect a physical (e.g., paper) record to verify that his or her vote has been accurately cast and to serve as an independent check on the result produced and stored by the system. Making those records permanent (i.e., not based solely in computer memory) provides a means by which an accurate recount may be conducted.
Ensuring the reliability, security, and verifiability of public elections is fundamental to a stable democracy. Convenience and speed of vote counting are no substitute for accuracy of results and trust in the process by the electorate.
(This policy statement was adopted by both USACM and ACM's Council; therefore, it is an adopted position of ACM. More on this statement and the poll ACM conducted of its Members can be found on the weblog.)
USACM Activities
- May 2008, USACM submits comments to the Election Assistance Commission on the new draft of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG).
The comments applauded the EAC for the new VVSG, which is a complete rewrite of previous editions of the VVSG. USACM argued in the comments that concepts in the VVSG like independent testing, software independence, accessibility, usability, and the innovation class are necessary and critical to effective voting systems.
- February 2008, USACM writes a letter to Representative Holt commenting on his e-voting bill H.R. 5036, the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008.
The letter emphasized how this legislation, which provides resources for jurisdictions with touch screen machines to switch to optical scan systems, is consistent with other electronic voting reforms and is consistent with ACM policy on electronic voting.
- July 2007, USACM writes a letter to Senator Feinstein, Chair of the Senate Rules Committee, about electronic voting and legislation before the Committee.
The letter described the principles embodied in the e-voting statement ACM issued in 2004. The letter went further to connect the issues in that statement with the provisions of the Ballot Integrity Act of 2007.
- January 2007, USACM writes a letter to the Chronicle of Higher Education in response to its article on electronic voting and the research center at Kennesaw State University.
The letter described the issues about electronic voting not covered in the Chronicle article "Georgia's Unusual 'Electoral College.'" It also addressed inaccurate representations in the article about the security and verification of existing systems.
- December 2006, USACM issues a letter to the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) - the committee responsible for suggesting technical standards to the Election Assistance Commission.
The letter encouraged the TGDC to adopt the recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) white paper that recommended that only "software independent" voting systems be certified. "Software independent" systems can be audited without relying on the software for the reliability of the audit.
- September 2006, USACM Members Barbara Simons and Ed Felten provide expert testimony to Congress on the state of e-voting machines and made recommendations on how to improve them.
Dr. Simons' testimony highlighted ACM's e-voting statement (above) and the need for voter verified paper audit trails. Dr. Felten's testimony described his research into e-voting system and demostrated how a machine could be compromised. He made the following recommendations:
- Extra care in securing voting machines throughout the election process
- Improved certification for software updates to e-voting machines
- Increased use of independent security experts from the technology community
USACM also issued a press release with highlights from their testimony.
- July 2006, USACM issues a letter to Congress outlining the gaps in the testing and certification of e-voting systems.
Pointing out several problems with the current system used to test and certify e-voting technologies, USACM makes existing five specific recommendations for making e-voting systems more secure, reliable and usable:
- Create a formal feedback process that will ensure that lessons learned from independent testing and Election Day incidents are translated into best practices and future standards.
- Make the testing process more transparent by making the testing scope, methodologies and results available to the public.
- Ensure that the guidance for usability and security standards provides performance-based requirements and is clear so as to minimize the variance of human interface designs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
- Create a mechanism for interim updates to the standards to reflect emerging threats, such as newly discovered security defects or attacks.
- Require voter verified paper trails and audits to mitigate the risk associated with software and hardware flaws.
USACM's Chair also issued a press release on the subject.
USACM Releases Major Study on Voter Registration Databases
Citing the danger of voter fraud and disenfranchisement from poorly implemented databases, a committee of experts commissioned by USACM released a report making almost 100 recommendations to state and local officials charged with creating and managing statewide voter registration databases (VRDs). The report is a comprehensive "soup-to-nuts" look at challenges elections officials face in making sure databases are accurate, private, usable, secure, and reliable. Click here for more information.
ACM Recommends Integrity, Security, Usability in E-voting
Seeking
to improve the security, accessibility, and public confidence in the
voting process, ACM's elected leadership has approved a public
statement on the deployment and use of computer-based electronic voting
(e-voting) systems for public elections. ACM's position
is that while computer-based e-voting systems have the potential to
improve the electoral process, such systems must embody careful
engineering, strong safeguards, and rigorous testing in both their
design and operation. [See the official release here.]
"The use of computer-based systems to improve voting is a continuing
process that will demand the ongoing involvement of technical experts,
usability professionals, voting rights advocates, and dedicated
election officials in the U.S. and other countries," said ACM President
David Patterson. "As a leading voice in computing matters, ACM looks
forward to working with all stakeholders in ensuring the integrity,
security, and usability of systems used in public elections." (Sept. 28, 2004)
In a letter to the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission, USACM urged that independent technical experts be involved in the development and assessment of electronic voting standards and technologies. USACM offered to provide its technical assistance to the Commission (April 29, 2004).
The USACM joined 35 other organizations in cosigning
a letter
sent to the U.S. Senate, which requests full funding
of the Elections Assistance Commission and the National
Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) under
the Help America Vote Act law (HAVA). (February
9, 2004)
The Department of Defense announced that it has
canceled
the use of the SERVE voting project in this
year's election due to security concerns. (February
6, 2004)
Four respected computer scientists, including
USACM Co-Chair Dr.
Barbara Simons, have published a report
critical of SERVE,
an Internet-based voting system, which is currently
in use by the U.S. Department of Defense for the
2004 primary and general election. The report concludes
that the proposed system is vulnerable to a number
of common security risks. (January 21, 2004)
ACM Member Net Article summarizing USACM's E-Voting
activities. (November 17, 2003)
USACM Co-Chair Barbara Simons participated in
the Congressional
Black Caucus 33rd Annual Legislative Week as
a panelist in a discussion
of the recent
Help America Vote Act and voting rights. (September
26, 2003)
USACM will sponsor a Voter-Verifiable
Election Systems Workshop. To register to attend
the workshop, see: Online
Registration. July 28-29, 2003
A team of computer scientists issued a report
which highlights significant flaws in, what has
been discribed by the manufacturer as, an earlier
version of development code for a DRE e-voting machine
that had been posted online. "Analysis
of Electronic Voting systems" criticizes the
proprietary code that conceals flaws and the lack
of sufficient auditing. The report recommends "electronic
voting systems that produce a paper trail that can
be seen and verified by the voter." July 24, 2003
USACM sent a letter
to Congressman
Rush Holt regarding the introduction of his
new
bill that would make a voter-verified audit
trail be one of the essential requirements for certification
of new voting systems. May 30, 2003
USACM sent a letter
to California's Orange County Board of Supervisors
recommending that a voter-verified audit trail be
one of the essential requirements for certification
of new voting systems. April 29, 2003
USACM sent a letter
to State of Washington elected officials recommending
that a voter-verified audit trail be one of the
essential requirements for certification of new
voting systems. April 29, 2003
The Fiscal Year 2003 Appropriations signed into
law (Public law 108-7) by the President alots $1.5
billion to help the States meet new standards under
the Help
America Vote Act 2002 , including over $1.4
billion in direct assistance to the States for the
improvement of administration, the buy-out of antiquated
equipment, and new safeguards for voting rights.
Also provides funding for programs to ensure disabled
voter access and encourage youth to participate
in the electoral process. Establishes a new Election
Assistance Commission to oversee reform. The enacting
legislation's Conference
Report provides additional details on the election
reform law. February 20, 2003
USACM endorses
a resolution
in support of strict guidelines being adopted for
the use of e-voting technology that facilitate elections
for public offices. February 15, 2003
USACM sents a letter
to Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors regarding
concerns with their interest in purchasing DRE e-voting
technology. January 31, 2003
The House and Senate Conferees on Election Reform
reached an agreement on the final
text of the legislation, which was signed into
law by President Bush. October 29, 2002
USACM sent letters
to House and Senate Conferees in support of NIST
coordinating standards and criteria for voting as
part of the H.R. 3295, the Help America Vote Act.
September 20, 2002
USACM sent personalized letters
to House and Senate Conferees to H.R. 3295, a bill
to improve our nation's voting system. The Conferees
will work to resolve differences between the House
and Senate versions of this legislation. July 15,
2002
Congressional letter
recommends ACM's SIGCHI to the Palm Beach County,
Florida, Supervisor of Elections as resource for
better understanding human-computer interaction
to improve the accuracy of elections. May 20, 2002
USACM Co-Chairs Submit Letter on Electronic Voting.
UASCM co-chairs Barbara Simons and Gene Spafford
submitted a letter to the House Science Committee
expressing concerns about the premature implementation
of fully electronic and Internet voting. The text
of the letter is
here. This letter was also sent to the Committee
on House Administration which is considering Security
in Voting Technology. May 29, 2001
ACM Members Testify at House Science Committee
Hearings on Electronic Voting. ACM members Douglas
W. Jones, of the University of Iowa, and Rebecca
Mercuri of Bryn Mawr College and Notable Software,
Inc, testified before the House Science Committee
Hearing on Improving Voting Technology. The hearing
was held on May 22, 2001. Here is the text of the
Jones
testimony and the
Mercuri testimony. On May 24, 2001, ACM member
Ron Rivest of MIT testified before the Committee
on House Administration regarding Security in Voting
Technologies. His testimony is available
here. May 2001
OTHER SOURCES ON ELECTRONIC VOTING:
EPIC Testifies on Voting Privacy. The Election Assistance Commission Technical Guidelines Development Committee asked EPIC to offer testimony (pdf) on the impact that new voting technology and polling place practices has on the privacy rights of voters. The hearing was an opportunity for the committee charged with making recommendations on voluntary standards for election systems and voting technology (Sept. 22, 2004).
Help
America Vote Act 2002
Questions
and Answers by Verified Voting on Direct Recording
Electronic (DRE) Voting Machines
Notable
Software by Rebecca Mercuri
Voting
and Elections by Douglas W. Jones
Electronic
Voting What You Need to Know by William Rivers
Pitt
NIST
Symposium on E-Voting Technology December 2003
Documented Cases of E-Voting Technology Machines Miscounting
Votes
Elections
Online
Articles
on Electronic Voting
Special Report on Indiana 2004 Electronic Voting Systems
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