From Who's Who
How would you describe the typical poll worker? Where do you go to learn more about everything from e-voting to paper ballots? Get the answers to these and other questions below.
Snapshot: The Typical Poll Worker
Age: 72
Qualifications: registered voter
Shift: 14 hours
Pay: $7/hour
Job description: Computer-savvy people-person with stamina for long hours and stressful work environment.
Training: Two hours
Absenteeism: 33 percent
Workforce: 2 million at more than 180,000 polling places
Who's Who
(EAC) Election Assistance Commission
Independent, bipartisan commission created by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. Certifies election systems for use in federal elections, and issues voluntary standards for voting systems.
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Civil liberties research institute in Washington, D.C., founded 1994. Paper trail champion, through its National Committee for Voting Integrity (NCVI).
Computer Scientists
From MIT to Caltech, computer science professors have lined up on both sides of the DRE debate. Stars include Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins (anti-DRE) and Michael Shamos of Carnegie Mellon (favors e-voting but critical of DRE manufacturers).
Manufacturers
Whether it's DREs or optical scanners, they're made by the same handful of corporations. The major players are Election Systems & Software (ES&S), Sequoia Voting Systems, Hart InterCivic, and Diebold Inc. (Premier Election Solutions division).
ACCURATE (A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable, and Transparent Elections)
Consortium of computer scientists, psychologists, lawyers, and a former chairman of the EAC dedicated to researching voting technology. Members have been instrumental in convincing localities to switch from electronic to paper systems.
Verified Voting Foundation
Nonprofit that supports verifiable election systems, particularly the use of ballots. Lobbying arm is VerifiedVoting.org.
NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
In December 2006 recommended that the EAC require the next generation of voting systems be “software independent,” so that an unknown flaw in the software could not cause an undetectable change or error in the outcome of the election. Possible death knell for DREs. But since the EAC's new standards will not go into effect until 2009 at the earliest, and would grandfather in DREs certified before December 2007, it would be a long, lingering death.
Debra Bowen
California secretary of state, elected in 2005 on an anti-DRE platform. Possibly the only elected official displaying a copy of a story from Rolling Stone(“Will the Next Election Be Hacked?” September 21, 2006) on her website: debrabowen.com
Jennifer Brunner
Ohio secretary of state whose 2007 review of DREs in Ohio found “critical security failures.” Ordered Cuyahoga County, the state's largest, to replace most DREs with optical scanners in time for the March 2008 primaries. The county complied. Poll workers stayed up until 5 a.m. tallying the paper ballots.
Glossary
Auditable. The ability to check a voting system to make sure it recorded the votes actually cast, as in the case of a recount. Required by federal law (HAVA).
Double bubble. Filling in the ballot bubble for your chosen candidate, then filling in the bubble for “write-in candidate,” and writing in the name of the same candidate. Nullifies your vote.
Central tabulator process. Paper ballots can be scanned in the precinct where they are cast—the method preferred by election watchdogs—or transported to a central location that tabulates multiple precincts, a cheaper option that introduces opportunities to lose or damage ballots.
Closed source code. Computer programming language (source code) that is proprietary—every manufacturer of electronic voting systems uses a distinct and secret version.
E-voting. Voting via computer, generally with a touch screen but sometimes using buttons or a dial to select candidates' names.
Election Day technician. A computer geek, usually youthful, who manages touch screens and other voting technology on Election Day.
Open source code. Computer code that is published for all to see. Advocates say this would encourage hackers to expose the flaws in voting software before it is used in elections.
Optical scanner. Computer that uses reflected light to identify marks on paper ballots. Voters pencil in “bubbles” à la standardized tests.
Overvote. Voting for more than one candidate for the same office.
Punch card system. Allows voters to mark paper ballots by punching out a tiny piece of paper called a “chad.”
Residual votes. Overvotes plus undervotes.
Source code. Computer programming language read by people (or computer scientists at least). Computers read “object code.”
Transparency. Voters believe their vote has been accurately recorded, and they trust election results and recounts.
Undervote. Partially filled-in ballot, with missing votes for some elections.
Helpful Links
www.itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting
Watch graduate students at Princeton demonstrate how to rig a touch-screen voting machine to flip votes (record the opposite candidate) in less than one minute using a screwdriver, a filing cabinet key, and a memory card from a digital camera. Also available on YouTube as 'Diebold Hacked!"
www.verifiedvoting.org/verifier
Find out what kind of machine you'll be voting on in November with this clickable, color-coded map, dubbed The Verifier. Worried? Scroll down for election officials' names and contact information.
www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/voting/pictures
A visual history of U.S. ballots and voting equipment. Website of Associate Professor Douglas W. Jones at the University of Iowa.
http://www.electionline.org/
Nonpartisan center monitors and analyzes election reform. Roundups of news stories, plus state-by-state blogs on upcoming elections.
www.fvap.gov/services/evoting.html
Federal Voting Assistance Program
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
Sassy anti-DRE site boasts a “best and worst places to vote” map (losers: Texas and Pennsylvania), plus a sign-up sheet for people willing to hand-count votes in a pinch. Download its Black Box Voting Book.
http://www.votersunite.org/info/failuresbystate.asp
The ultimate back-to-paper site. Don't miss the list of voting machine meltdowns, listed by state and cross-referenced by vendor.
www.hd.net/transcript.html?air_master_id=A4755
“The Trouble with Touch Screens,” Dan Rather Reports transcript.