Ohio Voting Machine Review Has Major Implications For Iowa: Critical Security Vulnerabilities, Threats to Voter Privacy
By Iowans for Voting Integrity
Iowa's
discussion of purchasing new election equipment is likely to be
affected by a landmark review of voting systems in Ohio. A report
ordered by the Ohio Secretary of State and released December 14 found
severe flaws in all of the voting systems Iowa uses.
“The Ohio
review looked at every system Iowa uses, and found real risks to the
integrity of elections,” said Iowans for Voting Integrity co-chair Sean
Flaherty. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said that the
security problems discovered were “worse than she anticipated.” [1]
Computer
scientists who analyzed the software wrote that within a few weeks,
they were able to subvert “every voting system they were provided in
ways that would often lead to undetectable manipulation of election
results.” Computer scientists have previously found that
malicious code can be written to escape pre-election and post-election
testing, running only under desired conditions.[2] The Ohio reviewers
warned that it is “safe to assume that motivated attackers will quickly
identify – or already have – these and many other issues in the
systems.”[3]
Equally troubling was a threat to voter privacy in
the design of the TSx touch screen voting machine, made by
Diebold/Premier and used in 71 Iowa counties. Ohio reviewers
confirmed reports that the TSx records votes in its computer memory
with a time stamp, allowing anyone with access to the system and
knowledge of the time of day that a vote was cast to violate voter
privacy.[4] Iowa Code 52.7 requires that all voting systems used in the
state permit voting “in absolute secrecy.”
Ohio Secretary
Brunner has recommended scrapping all touch screens and using only
optically scanned paper ballots. Flaherty said, “Hopefully, these
findings will seal the fate of touch screen systems in Iowa”.
Legislation signed by Governor Culver in May requires counties
eventually to scrap touch screens and adopt a system of optically
scanned paper ballots, which are marked by the voter and later
tabulated by a machine. Funding is needed for counties to make
switch as quickly as possible. Iowa's legislators, Governor
Culver, and Secretary of State Michael Mauro are discussing funding for
new equipment this month.
Paper ballots are the beginning of the
solution. Ballot scanners also use software, so hand-count audits
of a sample of ballots to check the electronic tally are
necessary. Audits are championed by many computer scientists who
study voting systems, including a task force that included the former
chief security officer of Microsoft and University of Iowa voting
system expert Douglas Jones.[5] 16 states have laws requiring hand
audits of election results.[6]
“The combination of optically
scanned paper ballots and hand audits provides checks and balances that
build confidence in the system,'' Flaherty said.
[1]
“Ohio Elections Official Calls Machines Flawed.” By Bob Driehaus. New
York Times, December 15, 2007.
http://www.nytimes.com/
2007/12/15/us/15ohio.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin
[2]
“The Machinery of Democracy: Protecting Elections in an Electronic
World.” Report of the Brennan Center for Justice Task Force on
Voting System Security, pages 43-45. http://brennancenter.org/
dynamic/subpages/download_file_39288.pdf
[3]
EVEREST Academic Review Team Findings, page 4 (page 22 of pdf),
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/info/EVEREST/
14-AcademicFinalEVERESTReport.pdf
[4] IBID, page 154 (page 172 of pdf)
[5] “The Machinery of Democracy,” page 3. http://brennancenter.org/dynamic/subpages/
download_file_39288.pdf
[6]
“Manual Audit Requirements.” The Verified Voting Foundation. March
2007, http://www.verifiedvoting.org/downloads/
stateaudits1007.pdf
For More Information Contact Sean Flaherty, Co-Chair
Iowans for Voting Integrity
319-621-8651
sean@iowansforvotingintegrity.org
www.IowansForVotingIntegrity.org
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Wednesday, December 19
Ohio Voting Machine Review Has Major Implications For Iowa
by
Sam Garchik
on Wed 19 Dec 2007 10:58 AM CST
Wednesday, December 5
One More Push for Funding of Paper Ballot Voting System
by
Sam Garchik
on Wed 05 Dec 2007 09:43 AM CST
One More Push for Funding of Paper Ballot Voting System
By Sean Flaherty, IVI Dear Friends, We need you to make one more push to place paper ballot voting systems throughout Iowa in time for the 2008 elections. Please contact Governor Culver 515-281-5211 and urge him to provide full funding for optical scan voting systems, with ballot-marking devices to serve voters with disabilities. We were concerned a few weeks ago when the Governor called for discussion of adopting a statewide vote by mail system. To our relief, the Governor has indicated that he is not going to push for a statewide vote by mail in lieu of funding for new equipment. But he has also noted that the current budgetary environment is tight, and the Revenue Estimating Conference for next year's budget is December 11. So timing is important. The new equipment we need for 2008 could cost the state $8 million more; $2 million has already been allocated. With a state budget that exceeds $6 billion a year, a one-time expense of $8 million is not a bad bargain for counting our votes accurately. Here are some of the most important reasons that optical scan equipment with ballot-marking devices is the best voting system for Iowa: Iowa deserves reliable voting equipment in 2008 and beyond. The alternative to voter-marked paper ballots with optical scan is to add "paper trail" printers to touch screen voting machines (DREs), which print votes on a continuous roll. These printers have proven unreliable: in Cuyahoga County, Ohio in November 2007, 20% of the paper trail printouts were unreadable. There is a history of problems with paper trail printers. Voter-marked paper ballots counted by optical scanners at the precinct produced the lowest rate of residual votes of any voting system used in Iowa in 2006. Paper ballots are much easier for election officials to recount or audit by hand than the continuous paper roll than the direct-recording electronic machines offer for voter verification. Paper ballots are more intuitive to the voter. Voters may fail to check the voter-verified paper record. Paper ballots are inherently voter-verified. In case of a recount, ballots are better for public confidence than a printer roll. A ballot marked by the voter is stronger evidence of the voter's intent than a secondary printout. With optical scanners and ballot-marking devices, all voters use the same type of ballot, and all votes are counted using the same method. The state could not be accuses of treating voters unequally in the tabulation of votes. It is easier to protect voter privacy with paper ballot systems, because the DRE paper trail printers store the votes on a continuous roll. The current generation of DREs has proven vulnerable to calibration problems; e.g., vote flipping. Federal legislation could soon ban the use of thermal paper and reel-to-reel vote rolls for the paper trail printers. Optical scan with accessible ballot-marking devices would meet the requirements of proposed federal legislation. Tell the Governor that it is time for the state to make a smart investment in democracy. Call him at 515-281-5211, or use the contact information below. Thank you for all you do. Best regards, Sean Flaherty Co-Chair, Iowans for Voting Integrity www.IowansForVotingIntegrity.org Governor Culver's Contact Information Address: Office of The Governor and Lt. Governor State Capitol Des Moines, IA 50319 E-mail form at: http://www.governor.iowa.gov/administration/contact/ |
Iowa Sites Child & Family Policy Center - Iowa Genetic Engineering Action Network Iowa Citizen Action Network - ICAN Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility Iowa Public Interest Research Group Midwest Environmental Justice Advocates Progressive Action for the Common Good Progressive Coalition of Central Iowa QCAD (Quad-Citians Affirming Diversity - GLBT) Iowa Blogs The Deprogrammer (Quad Cities) Iowa True Blue (Gordon Fischer's Blog) Iowa Voters for Open and Transparent Elections Political FalloutFight Iowa Rapid Response Network - Iowa
Iowans for Better Local TV
Air America
The Counterpoint
National FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media Matters for America
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