8.29
Voting Company Exec to Join Bush Re-election Campaign

07.20
Twenty Representatives Sign To Co-Sponsor HR 2239

07.18
Groups Support Verification
Two groups have recently taken action on the voter verified paper trail issue and are featuring alerts for this issue on their home pages:

Working Assets issued an Action Alert for its California members last week urging them to contact Kevin Shelley and express support for a voter verified paper trail.  This action alert is online at workingforchange.com.

Rep Wexler Urges Touch Screen Printouts

Critics of electronic voting in Washington state call for Paper Trail

Hacking Democracy: A Pacifica Radio Special

07.03
In Computerized Voting, Memory Would Help
The message turned up in my electronic mailbox with the mortgage-rate come-ons and the dieting deals. It seemed no more significant than the usual spam.

"The most important legislation this year," was the hyperbolic headline in the "subject" field. I could not have guessed this would have some truth. More >>

06.20
Election Reform Suggested in California
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has proposed reforms to the state's election code that he said would prevent problems like those that plagued Florida in 2000 and 2002.

California should provide more training for election officials, give voters more information on how to cast ballots, and eliminate punch-card voting machines of the sort that made "hanging chad" a part of the American lexicon, Shelley said Wednesday. Read the proposal >>

06.19
NY Assembly Supports Verifiable Ballots
The NY State Assembly has passed A-8847 "The Voting Systems Standards Act of 2003." The bill authorizes procurement of new electronic voting machines that will comply with HAVA.

Full Text of the Bill

Bill memo and status

06.18
Santa Cruz City Council Adopts Resolution Supporting HR 2239
The Santa Cruz City Council unanimously voted to support Rush Holt's Voter Confidence Act of 2003. Read their resolution >>

06.16
Internet Voting Experiment Launched
The Defense Department, along with 10 states and several counties nationwide, has begun conducting a congressionally mandated Internet registration and voting demonstration for the 2004 election. The Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE) will enable thousands of absentee uniformed services personnel, their dependents and other U.S. citizens based overseas to register to vote and cast their ballots from any Internet-accessible, Microsoft Corp. Windows-based computer worldwide. more >>

06.15
People Must Trust the Vote
Warren Slocum has written a brief editorial on how a voter would check his/her ballot with a touch screen voting system.

Learn about the voter verified ballot and why it is vitally important?

Valuable links on voter verifiable audit trails, touch screen voting systems and more.

06.14
E-Voting Guide - Your Decide
The "Electronic Voting Guide" has been developed by the FREE e-democracy project in an attempt to provide an objective introduction to the issues surrounding the introduction of information technologies into the voting process. The site provides links to discussion, resources and news items portraying various sides of the debate while giving you an overview of the events, actors and concepts fundamental to this field. [Created by Jason Kitcat] - Visit the site >>

06.14
E-Voting Dispute Swells
As three groups compete for an electronic voting system contract with the county worth more than $10 million, one filed a formal protest against the selection process Wednesday, and a second said it sent a protest letter by courier. more >>

06.05
Registrar Picks New High-Tech Voting System
There'll be no "hanging chad" debacles for San Bernardino County. After nine months of testing, the county registrar of voters is recommending Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland as provider of electronic voting machines to replace the county's old-fashioned paper ballot system, officials said Wednesday. more >>

06.05
The Paper Chase
Last week, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors walked to the edge of the abyss, took a long look and then took a giant step back. more >>

06.04
Touchy Subject: Ditching the Voting System
The Almanac, serving Menlo Park and other Silicon Valley communities, features the voter verifiable ballot issue.  more >>

06.04
Is It Safe Yet?
In November voters cast their ballot in the county's first electronic election that won't be eligible for a true recount, despite dire warnings from local technology experts. Welcome to the machine. more >>

05.24
Election Experts Debate Need for a Paper Trail in Electronic Ballots
While Congress was hearing legislation Thursday that would require electronic voting machines to include back-up paper ballots, the County's chief elections officer, Warren Slocum, gave voice to the same demands on technology during an annual computer forum here.

"I'm an advocate of the paper trail of the touch-screen voting," Slocum said, as part of a panel that included David Dill, professor of computer science at Stanford University.
more >>

05.23
The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003
Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey has introduced a bill requiring a voter verifiable paper trail. "We cannot afford nor can we permit another major assault on the integrity of the American electoral process," said Rep. Rush Holt. "Imagine it's Election Day 2004. You enter your local polling place and go to cast your vote on a brand new 'touch screen' voting machine. The screen says your vote has been counted. As you exit the voting booth, however, you begin to wonder. How do I know if the machine actually recorded my vote? The fact is, you don't." more

05.20
Minnesota Law Maker Favors Auditable Ballot for Touch-Screen Systems
Minnesota State Representative Bill Hilty explains that a major concern with touch-screen voting is that, since the machines do not provide a printout recording the vote, it is impossible to know if the machine actually recorded the vote as intended. more

05.19
Paper Trail is Crucial for Ballot
Warren Slocum is one of the few election officials who gets it.

The chief elections officer of San Mateo County has concluded that touch-screen voting systems, like the one Santa Clara County has ordered, must be able to produce paper copies of electronic ballots. It's critical, he says, that voters be able to verify the accuracy of electronic voting machines. more

05.19
Voters Must Have Faith in Vote Count
Computerized voting is here to stay. The only question is: Should we blindly trust touch-screen voting systems to capture and count our votes correctly?

Opinions vary. Surprisingly, some elections professionals say that touch-screen voting systems can be trusted. But when voters are given the choice, most say, "absolutely not.'' And the computer scientists who have studied this issue say no way. more

05.12
Paper Trail Discussion at Stanford
On May 22nd there will be a panel discussion on touch-screen voting systems and the need for an auditable paper trail. Interested in attending? Contact Professor David Dill for more information or visit his web site.

05.11
Paper Trail for Electronic Ballots
Computerized Voting is here to stay. The only question left to answer is "should we blindly trust the computer to capture and count our votes correctly?"

Opinions vary on that question. Surprisingly, some election officials say yes. At least two interested statewide associations say yes. But when voters are given the choice, most say "absolutely not." And the computer scientists who have studied this issue say no way! more

05.08
Voting Machine Leaves Paper Trail
Voting machines that print individual ballots -- an election accessory many computer scientists have clamored for -- are moving a step closer to widespread availability. In response to concerns raised by election officials and security-minded techies, one of the largest makers of touch-screen voting machines has introduced a prototype capable of producing paper ballots. more

05.03
Touch Screen Voting Unveiled
San Mateo County is taking a step into the future with touch screen voting expected to be in use throughout the county November 2004.

04.21
Slocum Supports Verifiable Balloting
On April 21st, Warren Slocum spoke before the Secretary of State's Ad Hoc Task Force on Touch Screen Voting. He told the panel that he supports the idea of a voter verifiable ballot as a way to guarantee the  integrity of vote casting and the vote counting process when touch screen voting systems are used.

Slocum is the first and Registrar to date to publicly support the concept although several others have privately said they support the idea. On the other side of the issue are the Registrars from Los Angeles and Riverside. They claim that the extra security that the printed paper ballot receipt provides is not necessary and that the printing process will add expense and additional problems to California's polling places. 

Contact your local Registrar of Voters and ask what their position is on this issue. Here is a listing of California election officials. Go there now

04.29.03
Contract awarded on touch-screen system to replace punch-card election ballots
Santa Clara County's Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Voting Contract has been awarded to Sequoia Voting Systems, one of three firms that participated in a four-month voter test of the systems. Negotiations, begun in February, were concluded Wednesday, putting the county on track to meet a court-ordered deadline to replace punch-card voting systems in California. The county's requests for a voter-verifiable paper record as a pilot project in the November 2003 and March 2004 elections is still pending with the secretary of state. The $18.9 million, five-year contract with Sequoia will cover the cost of 5,500 Touch Screen Units and related equipment, project management, training and public communication and outreach. Read the contract text.

03.03.03
Scientists Question Electronic Voting
Oddly enough, Silicon Valley has been a laggard when it comes to applying the technology it's famous for to the election process. Now it's finally beginning to catch up, and it has suddenly become the locus of an overdue -- and profoundly important -- debate about the mechanics of democracy in the 21st century. m o r e

02.27.03
Supervisors Fail to Stand Against Election Fraud On Their Own
Santa Clara County supervisors this week took a half-step to buying a fully trustworthy voting system when they could have taken a whole step.

In approving $20 million for touch-screen voting machines, the supervisors deferred to the secretary of state the decision of whether that system must produce a paper copy of the electronic ballots cast. The supervisors could have become the first county in California to demand it on its own.

Instead, their decision was a compromise between county election officials, who have dismissed a paper trail as unnecessary, and computer scientists who say it's a critical security feature to prevent errors and fraud. m o r e

02.24.03
Electronic Voting
The future of electronic voting may be rewritten this week in Santa Clara County, where county leaders are weighing warnings that the touch-screen voting machines they want to buy are more prone to error and fraud than the systems they would replace. m o r e

Voting Systems

• David Dill is a professor of computer science at Stanford University. He is leading a an effort to organize opposition to unauditable electronic voting systems. Since his work in this area began, Professor Dill has managed to delay the procurement of voting systems in Santa Clara County (decision expected on Feb 25, 2003) and the Secretary of State has created a task force whose purpose will be to analyze this important issues. Learn More >>
   

• Radio shows have been talking about voting systems also. Check our two shows on National Public Radio. The first is "Electronic Voting Machines Unreliable, Some Experts Say" and the second show is "Making Voting Better."
   

Voting Reform

• The Help America Vote Act was signed into law on October 29th, 2002. This law gives states $3.9 billion to replace outdated punch-card and lever machines, and to improve voter education, polling place accessibility poll-worker training, and many other election reforms.

08.17.02                                      
Democracy Corps Wins High Praise
Supervisor Mark Church and Warren Slocum proposed a new program for San Mateo County called the Peninsula Democracy Corps. The program which has been described as a creative solution seeks to use county workers as emergency replacements for those who cancel in the last few days before an election. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the measure. m o r e