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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 <i>Rolling Stone</i> (“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.
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