Post by Marc LeVine on Dec 7, 2006 14:02:33 GMT -5
Panel OKs revised electroic voting plan By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer
Thu Dec 7, 10:36 AM ET
WASHINGTON - A federal advisory panel approved a revised proposal that encourages states to use electronic voting machines that can be independently verified, a day after rejecting a similar recommendation.
The resolution, adopted unanimously Tuesday by the panel drafting voting guidelines for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, recommends that states use voting machines that produce a paper record or other means for voters and election officials to make sure ballots were properly cast and counted.
It suggests that when states buy new machines, they consider buying ones that include verification tools.
The vote came during a two-day meeting in Gaithersburg, Md., at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which issued a report last week that found paperless voting systems used by millions of voters nationwide could be vulnerable to tampering or glitches that could skew elections without detection.
The report said auditors should have a way to verify that the voting machines produced accurate results.
"If you have an error in an airplane and it goes down, you know it," said Ronald Rivest, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientist and panel member who proposed both versions. "If you have an error in an election and the wrong person is announced the winner, you may not know it."
The panel deadlocked 6-6 on Monday over the first Rivest proposal, failing to get the eight votes needed to pass.
The revised proposal Tuesday addressed concerns that state elections boards would be burdened by making broad changes in voting technology and that paper records might not be accessible to blind or other disabled voters.
It also concluded that threats to voting are not significant enough to force states without paper records to make immediate changes.
More than half of all voters used machines with paper records during the 2006 elections — either touch screen devices with printers or machines that read ballots voters fill out by hand. Twenty-seven states mandate verifiable paper records, while 18 use them in some or all jurisdictions but don't require them. Five states use equipment that does not have a paper record.
The Election Commission will likely vote in 2008 on the proposed changes, which are not binding, but are followed by many states.
Thu Dec 7, 10:36 AM ET
WASHINGTON - A federal advisory panel approved a revised proposal that encourages states to use electronic voting machines that can be independently verified, a day after rejecting a similar recommendation.
The resolution, adopted unanimously Tuesday by the panel drafting voting guidelines for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, recommends that states use voting machines that produce a paper record or other means for voters and election officials to make sure ballots were properly cast and counted.
It suggests that when states buy new machines, they consider buying ones that include verification tools.
The vote came during a two-day meeting in Gaithersburg, Md., at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which issued a report last week that found paperless voting systems used by millions of voters nationwide could be vulnerable to tampering or glitches that could skew elections without detection.
The report said auditors should have a way to verify that the voting machines produced accurate results.
"If you have an error in an airplane and it goes down, you know it," said Ronald Rivest, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientist and panel member who proposed both versions. "If you have an error in an election and the wrong person is announced the winner, you may not know it."
The panel deadlocked 6-6 on Monday over the first Rivest proposal, failing to get the eight votes needed to pass.
The revised proposal Tuesday addressed concerns that state elections boards would be burdened by making broad changes in voting technology and that paper records might not be accessible to blind or other disabled voters.
It also concluded that threats to voting are not significant enough to force states without paper records to make immediate changes.
More than half of all voters used machines with paper records during the 2006 elections — either touch screen devices with printers or machines that read ballots voters fill out by hand. Twenty-seven states mandate verifiable paper records, while 18 use them in some or all jurisdictions but don't require them. Five states use equipment that does not have a paper record.
The Election Commission will likely vote in 2008 on the proposed changes, which are not binding, but are followed by many states.