Support Post-Election Audits for Iowa this November
By Sean Flaherty, IVI
Dear Friends,
We are close to victory in the fight for paper ballot systems in Iowa, but we need your help on an equally important component of secure elections: random hand audits. Time is short, but there is still active discussion of audits this year.
Please contact Secretary of State Michael Mauro at 515-281-5204 and urge him to support legislation to require hand-count audits of the 2008 election.
Background
Voter-marked paper ballots are the foundation of a reliable voting system. But paper ballots offer security only if we use them to check the software that reads the ballots and tallies our votes. And the computer voting systems we use in elections have grave vulnerabilities. Don't take our word for it, though. Here is a sample of what software experts say about security and the need for audits:
University of Iowa professor Douglas Jones, one of the world's experts on voting technology, stated in an affidavit in Pennsylvania court this year that hand counted audits are the only defense against weaknessess found by recent security reviews: "..the only effective defenses against the weaknesses discovered by the California TTBR [top-to-bottom review] and the Ohio EVEREST studies is the defense mandated by Pennsylvania law 25 P.S. 3013.7, a recount of a random sample of the ballots cast in an election."* The Ohio and California reviews included all of the voting systems used in Iowa, including paper ballot/optical scan systems.
The Brennan Center's Task Force on Voting System Security wrote in 2006: "The value of paper ballots without the Automatic Routine Audits is highly questionable, " (p. 83). The Task Force included Professor Jones, Ron Rivest, professor of computer science of MIT and one of the founders of the field of computer security, and Howard Schmidt, former chief security officer of the Microsoft Corporation. When a team that includes Microsoft's security officer says we need hand audits to secure our elections, we should listen.
Secretary Mauro supports post-election audits; it's a matter of getting it done this year. Please be sure to thank him for his support of paper ballot systems, but let him know that an election with no check on the software counting our votes is not an option in 2008.
Thank you for all you do.
Best regards,
Sean Flaherty
Co-Chair, Iowans for Voting Integrity
* Certification of Douglas W. Jones, Ph.D. Submitted to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, January 23, 2008.
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Thursday, February 28
Support Post-Election Audits for Iowa this November
by
Sam Garchik
on Thu 28 Feb 2008 01:17 PM CST
Monday, February 4
Tell Governor Culver: Iowans Deserve Paper Ballots Statewide
by
Sam Garchik
on Mon 04 Feb 2008 08:40 AM CST
Tell Governor Culver: Iowans Deserve Paper Ballots Statewide
By Sean Flaherty, IVI Great story in the Sunday Register, quoting frequent contribs Flaherty and Depew. Guys, keep up the good work. The rest of us? urge the gov to follow Mauro's lead. Dear Friends, Iowa is very close to adopting a statewide paper ballot system in time for the 2008 elections. We need your help to make sure this happens. Click here to sign Verified Voting's alert urging Governor Culver and legislators to fund paper ballot voting systems, with optical scanners and ballot-marking devices for voters with disabilities. Then please forward this on. Voter-marked paper ballots provide the most reliable record of the voter's intent. An article in yesterday's Des Moines Register shows how close we are to this badly needed reform. See here for a summary of reasons that paper ballots are superior to a "paper trail." Timing is crucial, and we need you to send a message today. Take one minute to send a message to the Governor and the legislature. Click here to fill out the form, and your message will be sent automatically. Thank you for all you do! Best regards, Sean Flaherty Wednesday, January 30
Congress -- Stop dawdling!
by
Sam Garchik
on Wed 30 Jan 2008 05:51 PM CST
Congress -- Stop dawdling!
It's outrageous. We're less than a week away from "Super Tuesday," when 24 states are voting in the first major decision of the 2008 election, and we still do not have an election process we can trust. Become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of the Holt bill! Let's make sure everyone's vote is backed by paper in 2008. That's why I'm hoping you'll become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of the Holt bill immediately, to ensure that any mistakes on "Super Tuesday" February 5th, stop at February 5th. Sign your name to become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of Rep. Holt's bill right now -- before the Super Tuesday deadline! Despite our strong efforts to get Congress to pass verifiable voting, ensuring all states' voting machines are backed up by a paper record, Congress dilly dallied, and did not pass legislation in time for the Super Tuesday primaries – when hundreds of thousands of Americans will be voting for president. We have no choice but to go into February 5th without a secure election process in many states. But, we do have a choice when it comes to the general election on November 4th. We can choose to do everything we can to pass the Holt bill (H.R. 5036, the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008) before that election. The faster you sign on as a co-sponsor, the quicker the bill will be passed, and the sooner the emergency funding will get to the states. The time to act is right now. Sign your name to become a Citizen Co-Sponsor of Rep. Holt's bill right now – before the February 5th Super Tuesday deadline! Having insecure elections when 24 states go to the polls is inexcusable. Having insecure elections when all 50 states go to the polls is a recipe for disaster. Now is the time to stand up to Congress' dawdling and demand that they pass the Holt bill immediately. Will you join us? Thanks for all you do, Susannah Goodman P.S. Keep an eye on your inbox. We'll soon be sending Common Cause's up-to-the-minute report on the threat level of voting machine malfunction in every state across the country to every Citizen Co-Sponsor of the Holt bill. This is one report I can guarantee you will not want to miss. Tuesday, January 29
Feds HAVA Key to Mauro-Culver Split
by
Sam Garchik
on Tue 29 Jan 2008 01:27 PM CST
Feds HAVA Key to Mauro-Culver SplitBy Jerry Depew, Iowa Voters A new federal bill could resolve the tension between two of Iowa’s top Democrats–the Governor and the Secretary of State. Today’s Register reports that Mauro wants to get all our votes on paper ballots, but Culver is content to buy “paper trails” for the tempermental touchscreens that now infect the state’s polling places. It’s a question of money (big surprise!). The good stuff that Mauro wants costs $10 million. Culver is content to waste $2 million on the widely cussed paper trail printers. They should put their egos aside for a minute and agree on one thing: to call on our state’s Congressmen to support the brand new HR 5036. That new bill by New Jersey’s Rush Holt pays for replacement equipment when states wise up and dump their DRE touchscreens. It is not a mandatory bill, so there is only one point of contention: Do we have the money in the federal budget to mop up the mess HAVA made of voting machines all over the nation. States that are loving their mess don’t have to do a thing. States that are ready to wash up can have the soap paid for by the Congress that caused this problem in the first place. None of Iowa’s Congressmen have signed on to this bill yet. I called Latham’s office in Fort Dodge this morning. Can you do your part? Boswell in Des Moines (toll free) (888) 432-1984 Wednesday, December 19
Ohio Voting Machine Review Has Major Implications For Iowa
by
Sam Garchik
on Wed 19 Dec 2007 10:58 AM CST
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 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/ Thursday, November 15
Action Alert: Contact Governor Culver to Fund Paper Ballot Voting Systems for 2008
by
Sam Garchik
on Thu 15 Nov 2007 09:21 AM CST
Action Alert: Contact Governor Culver to Fund Paper Ballot Voting Systems for 2008
By IVI We need your help to get paper ballot voting systems in place throughout Iowa in time for the 2008 elections. Please contact Governor Culver 515-281-5211 and urge him to provide full funding for paper ballots and optical scan equipment. Last week, the Governor called for discussion of adopting a statewide vote by mail system before the state offers funding for the purchase of new equipment. We commend the Governor for considering alternative ways to move our elections in the direction of paper ballots, but a discussion of vote by mail should not delay the purchase of optical scan equipment in time for 2008. First, it is unlikely that the state would implement vote by mail in time for November 2008. That would leave many counties using electronic voting machines, which even equipped with a "paper trail," are no match for the paper ballot. Vote by mail also has important disadvantages:
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/ Phone: 515-281-5211 |
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