OVC Announce

Help from Australia for Open Voting

2008-12-14T16:47:29Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

Accessibility expert and open source advocate Jason White of Australia has joined OVC's software development project. Mr. White said, "I have benefited from electronic voting in the past, as a person who is blind and who therefore requires a form of accessible voting. Unfortunately, the software used here in Australia at both State and
Federal levels isn't free/open-source... The ideal solution would be highly secure, completely open-source, designed for accessibility and easily applied to the various voting systems used today (including the more complex systems of proportional representation)."

We are inspired by this addition to our team. Jason White fits perfectly with our goals of providing a universal voting system that will work for the United States as well as other democracies around the world.

Alan Dechert
http://openvoting.org

Breaking News from OVC

2008-06-02T23:07:05Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

Given the latest information on VIPs likely to attend the LinuxWorld conference AUG 5-7 -- where the OVC voting system will be featured -- experts agree that new supporters will flock to us. A mockup of the overall design was recently released [1]. Reaction has been great -- OVC is widely expected to become the standard for California and then the United States.

LinuxWorld will be great for OVC, but one problem. Right now, we don't have the money to get there. Conference organizers are providing the space and many amenities. It is still going to be a lot of work and expense for OVC to get everything done.

PLEASE DONATE NOW
----------------------------------
The PayPal button on our web site http://openvoting.org is probably the quickest and easiest. This is the address for PayPal: donation@openvotingconsortium.org

You may also use our Amazon account to contribute.
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T43MQSRHDPEDQ/102-0964310-0180917

If by check, please send to:
Open Voting Consortium
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746

Thank you again for helping OVC to continue progressing toward the establishment of OPEN VOTING. Don't hesitate to write or call if there is anything you want to talk about.

Alan Dechert
President, Open Voting Consortium
http://openvoting.org
alan@openvoting.org
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746
916-772-5360
[1] http://gnosis.python-hosting.com/voting-project/June.2008/0000.html

NY State Board of Elections Passes Resolution Favoring Open Source

2008-02-27T15:21:58Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

The New York State Board of Elections took an important step toward establishing a public voting system based on public software. Today, they passed a resolution that gives a break on examination fees to vendors that apply for certification of voting systems that use free open source software.

Here's the resolution, which has beed on the NYS Board web site for some months now:
http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/hava/Voting_Machines/ProposedResolutionConcerningFeesForTesting.pdf

I initailly suggested this to Comissioner Douglas Kellner back in June of last year. It took lots of steps and some persistence, but we got it done. Thanks to Doug Kellner! Professor Richard Johnson of Open Voting Solutions deserves a lot of credit, too: he wrote a letter to the board to get things rolling [1].

Thanks to all for your support to make open voting a reality.

Alan Dechert
http://openvoting.org
__________________________________________
[1] here are some posts I made to our discussion list that give an idea of how this happened:
http://gnosis.python-hosting.com/voting-project/July.2007/0002.html
http://gnosis.python-hosting.com/voting-project/August.2007/0039.html
http://gnosis.python-hosting.com/voting-project/September.2007/0005.html
http://gnosis.python-hosting.com/voting-project/November.2007/0217.html

OVC Demo Gaining Exposure

2008-02-26T10:59:32Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

We continue to move forward with our demonstration system. If you haven't tried it, please do so. We have a new disk -- released today -- with new features. You can read about it online (http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/blog/2008-feb-26/ovc_demo_gaining_exposure ) and download the disk.

Many people have asked if our disk will work on a Mac. We are working on providing such a disk, and will have an annoucement about that soon.

In the mean time, we want to show this system to as many people as possible. The software is all free, and the hardware is inexpensive. In this system, your votes will exist on a paper ballot. What a concept!

Thank you and best wishes.

Alan Dechert
http://openvoting.org

Who Needs to See the OVC Demo?

2008-02-15T17:35:33Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

We love all the enthusiastic responses to our latest demo. A lot of people have suggestions regarding who we should approach -- and we welcome these suggestions. For sure, every election official in California will see our demo fairly soon. We will also make sure that the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will see it.

If you want to assist with our coverage, feel free to burn a CD (or request one from us) and take it to your local election officials. In some ways, this is more valuable than receiving it from directly from me. Get in touch with me if you have any questions about doing something like this.

We have raised over $1,200 today. Thanks again to our supporters. We really need to raise another $2,300 today to pay our bills. This is not even all our bills -- just the ones we have to pay now to stay afloat.

Again, we've accomplished some great things as reflected in this morning's article.
http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/blog/2008-feb-15/latest_ovc_demo_is_best_ever

This is all possible due to our great supporters. Let's keep it going!

PLEASE DONATE NOW
----------------------------------
The PayPal button on our web site http://openvoting.org is probably the quickest and easiest. This is the address for PayPal: donation@openvotingconsortium.org

You may also use our Amazon account to contribute.
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T43MQSRHDPEDQ/102-0964310-0180917

If by check, please send to:
Open Voting Consortium
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746

Thank you again for helping OVC to continue progressing toward the establishment of OPEN VOTING.

Alan Dechert
President, Open Voting Consortium
http://openvoting.org
alan@openvoting.org
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746

GREAT Response to OVC Demo

2008-02-15T10:18:11Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

Last week, I sent out an announcement about the new demo disk that OVC has produced. The feedback has been great. Some people could use some help running the demo, and I want to highlight a few things about why this milestone is so important to our cause.

I posted an article about it on the OVC site. For your convenience, I've also copied the text of the article below. Here is the url to read it on line:
http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/blog/2008-feb-15/latest_ovc_demo_is_best_ever

Despite the great work of OVC volunteers, we are behind on fundraising. On Janurary 7, I set a goal of $12,000 by March. We are little more than half way there. I want to thank everyone again, but we must raise money to continue. We have bills due TODAY, so I set an interim goal of $10,000 by today ($6,400 raised so far).

We can't sit around and wait. We have to keep going. There is a limit to what can be done by email and phone. We are visiting officials and presenting our demo disk. This is essential OVC work. It takes a lot of time and money to make these trips. We can be successful with your help.

PLEASE DONATE NOW
----------------------------------
The PayPal button on our web site http://openvoting.org is probably the quickest and easiest. This is the address for PayPal: donation@openvotingconsortium.org

You may also use our Amazon account to contribute.
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T43MQSRHDPEDQ/102-0964310-0180917

If by check, please send to:
Open Voting Consortium
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746

Thank you again for helping OVC to continue progressing toward the establishment of OPEN VOTING.

Alan Dechert
President, Open Voting Consortium
http://openvoting.org
alan@openvoting.org
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746
---------------------------------
Latest OVC Demo is Best Ever

Open Voting Consortium (OVC) is pleased to announce the release of its latest voting system demo software. The software is available via free download, or disks can be mailed upon request[1].

OVC describes the release as a "voting machine on a disk." The demo disk is bootable and contains all the software needed for a complete voting machine. The software does not use any files on the user's hard drive -- the hard drive may be disconnected if desired. The main requirement for the demo computer is that it have 384 megabytes of ram; most any computer made in the last five years will suffice. An attached printer is also required. All the software is free and open source.

While some work and money are required to make this into a certified system ready for use in public elections, the advantages could be significant.

- No preprinted ballot costs
- Low or minimal hardware costs
- Only free open source software needed

If 5-yr old PCs can be used, it's hard to imagine a less expensive voting system.

This revolutionary product is an example of an Electronic Ballot Printer (EBP). In this case, no information about the voter or the selections made are stored on the voting machine. The only artifact is the printed paper ballot produced once the voter finishes indicating choices. The selections are printed in plain text and encoded in a barcode (duplicated on each long edge).

As demonstrated in the January 12th straw poll in San Luis Obispo County, we intend that the ballots be counted at the poll site once the ballot box is opened at the close of the polls. The data read from the barcode is to be publicly displayed so everyone can see the tallies incremented.

Some people can use help with getting the demo running. We are providing some instructions [2] for people that want to try it out on their own. What if you want to see the demo but aren't comfortable with the setting up for it? Ask someone you know to help. This is a great way to learn and to spread the word.

What is the word to be spread? Simplicity. Transparency. Accuracy. Clarity. You probably already have a good idea of what we are getting at. Nonetheless, you may want more information [3]. The OVC system is deceptively simple. There is a lot to it.

Thank you and best wishes.

Alan Dechert
http://openvoting.org
________________________
[1] Download:
http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/ovcdemo2.iso To have a demo disk mailed, please send $2.78 to cover shipping and handling. Use our PayPal Donate button or send to OVC, 9560 Windrose Lane, Granite Bay, CA 95746

[2] These instructions are tailored to Windows Xp users. If you use Linux or Unix, you probably don't need these instructions. If you use Windows Vista, it will work just about the same. If you have Windows 98 or earlier, you should check to see if you have at least 384 megabytes of RAM (256 won't work). If you have a Mac, it's problematic. Newer Macs with Intel processors may be able to boot Linux. If you really want to get our demo working on your Mac, get in touch with us and we will try to make that happen.

a) Download the .iso file and burn the CD (or obtain the CD from us). Use the url mentioned above to download the iso file. Save the file to your hard disk and pay attention to the folder into which you are saving the file. If you aren't sure how to burn the CD (but you have a CD burner), I recommend ISO RECORDER by Alex Feinman. It's free (of course). Go to http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm to download this program. Install iso recorder (after download, browse to file and right click on it -- install option should show up). Burn image (browse to ovcdemo2.iso and right click on it ... select "copy image to cd" ... might say something slightly different in Vista). Once done, write on the CD "OVC Demo 2-7-8"

b) Shut down the PC and ensure it's ready to run the demo. It needs to be set up to boot from CD. If you don't know how to do this, I recommend that you ask someone you know and trust. Here are some hints: when the first text appears on the sceen after you turn the computer on, you can get into the BIOS configuration screen by hitting the delete key (most older PCs work this way). Some PCs will give you an option to boot from CD if you hit a function key (sometimes F1 or F12). You also need to have a printer attached and turned on.

c) Start the PC once it's set up to boot the demo disk (need to have that inserted in the CD drive) and run the EVM application (EVM stands for Electronic Voting Machine). It may take several minutes to finish loading. You will wind up at a desktop with a couple of icons -- EVM and README. The printer should have been detected automatically, but you might need to do some manual configuration. Double click on the EVM icon to start the voting application. Follow the instructions to make your selections and print out your ballot (actually, at the end it says "cast ballot," which will be corrected to "print ballot" in future releases).

In case the printer doesn't work correctly, make sure your printer is plugged in to the computer and is powered on. Try turning off the printer and turning it back on. Go to the Administration option under the "System" pull-down menu. Then select "Printing." If there is no printer shown there, select the option to add a printer. Find your printer from the list and select it. Check the paper size (sometimes it defaults to A4 ... we want to use letter).

d) In summary, if you have trouble running the demo, ask your favorite geek and point out this article. If necessary, call or write OVC.

[3] We want to keep the software as simple as possible, and have used an idea called ballot prerendering in our demos. We now incorporate the voter interface created by Ka-Ping Yee ("Ping") of UC Berkeley. We have considered prerendering an important idea since our 2004 demos (see http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ballot-prerendering.html

Ping says prerendering is central to his concept. In his PhD dissertation, he wrote,

"I use a technique called prerendering to reduce the critical
voting-specific software by a factor of 10 to 100 while
supporting similar or better accessibility and usability,
compared to today�s machines. Central to this dissertation
is the story of Pvote, the program I developed to realize
this goal.
(see preface http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2007/EECS-2007-167.pdf )

I am still reading this 300+ page dissertation, and I consider it a very important work. We feel some connection to it for several reasons: Ping asks (see pg 191), "Do any other voting systems use prerendering? Yes, there is some precedent for using prerendered images in electronic voting machines. The Open Voting Consortium's EVM2003 project [59, 58] used a full-screen bitmap image for displaying an electronic ballot. This use of a prerendered image was also motivated by a desire for software simplicity." In the footnote on this page, he says, "According to David Mertz of the OVC, this idea was originally proposed for use in EVM2003 by Fred McLain." I'm glad to see Fred acknowledged for this idea. I created the screen image for the demo, but it was Fred's idea to use it in this way. Also, it helps that Henry Brady is on the committee reviewing the dissertation. Professor Brady was my co-author on a 2001 proposal.

The goal of OVC and the open voting movement is to create a voting system that maximizes the ability of the public to oversee it. Ballot prerending is important because of how it contributes to this goal.

It's worth pointing out a few other points about the demo:

o The voter interface code has been vetted by UC scientists as well as others
Past versions of OVC demo software has been hailed by news media as the holy grail for election officials. Now election officials are getting a look at lastest version. OVC is meeting with officials and presenting the disk.
The media is read-only -- nothing is stored on the PC (voting machine). You can even remove the harddrive. This also makes it easy to verify what software is running on the voting machine.

o The vote on the OVC system is on the paper -- no place else. It's a paper ballot that can be read and counted by people and/or machines.
The latest version of the demo also marks the advance of OVC moving to 2-d barcodes, which are much more robust and capable of storing more information

o No two ballots can have the same barcoded data. Each machine generates a security code when the machine is first started. No one knows the code. A test ballot is printed on each machine and the ballots are written on by poll workers and include information about the date/time the machine was started, and which machine it is. It also includes a randomized ballot id so two voters cannot have the same ballot id.
Ballots are scanned and tabulated in public as soon as the polls are closed and the ballot box opened. If the same barcode is scanned twice, it will say "ballot already counted." If you photcopy a ballot and try to count that, it will only show up as already counted -- the copy is the same ballot

o We demoed the public tabulation during the San Luis Obispo (SLO) County Democratic party straw poll on Jan 12. Voters were thrilled with the opportunity to publicly witness the tabulation.

o In SLO demo, someone would read the selection on the ballot out loud and then the barcode was scanned and the vote incremented accordingly. This left no doubt about the correctness.

o We have tabulation software for multiple contests like for a general election. In this case, a table of the selections will be highlighted when the barcode is scanned, and then the votes incremented. Witnesses will be able to see the paper ballot on an overhead projector to verify that votes are counted correctly. The tabulation software will be included on the next release of the OVC software.

New OVC Demo Software Available

2008-02-08T00:41:59Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

If you are interested in our work, I recommend that you download this file and burn to a CD. If you want to do it and need help, ask me or ask your favorite computer geek.

http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/ovcdemo2.iso

Once you make the CD, you boot your PC from it (need 384 megabytes of RAM). Try it out! It does not change anything on your PC. You can even disconnect your harddrive if you want.

Thanks.

Alan Dechert
http://openvoting.org
alan@openvoting.org

Barriers to Open Voting Continue to Fall

2008-02-06T15:37:21Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

Slowly but surely, the dream of a modern voting system that is fully open to public scrutiny is coming into being. All the pieces are falling into place. I still can't announce the commercial vendor going with open source, but it is happening very soon -- Vendor X, let's say. I have seen the Vendor X's open source product and it's the best and least expensive system on the market now. It has already been submitted for federal certification and may even be used in several states as soon as NOV 2008!

Right now we have some conference presentations that are in the works. One of the bigger ones will be the Linuxworld conference (San Francisco) in August, and there are several other important events this spring. We need your support so we can follow through and keep the Open Voting movement advancing.

When we receive the signed membership form (and check!) and the code, it will mark a very important milestone. It's not so much that everyone will buy their system. Some will buy it, but it's mainly an important precedent. There will be more open source voting products to follow.

By the way, you can download [1] our current demo disk and try it out. You need to know how to burn a CD and you need to know how to boot your PC from the disk. If you need help, let me know. I can mail you a disk and, if necessary, walk you through setting your PC to boot from CD.

There are two other open source voting products seriously in the works, although we don't have the money for certification. Namely, Open Voting Solutions (OVS) has a precinct based optical scan system and Open Voting Consortium (OVC) has an Electronic Ballot Printer (EBP) system [2].

So, yes, things are falling into place. But the money is not here yet. Again, we need your help to keep the OVC project going. I may get a big membership check next week, but I have the $12,000-by-March goal in place just in case. I have many meetings with election officials scheduled beginning next week. I will have the new demo disk by then, which will look much more like a commercial product (including much better voter interface and have much higher capacity bar code: 2-d instead of 1-d). They will want it, but I need to some money to keep going to make this happen. I will also be shopping this disk to potential funders for certification.

We still have the $12,000 by March goal that I set Jan 7th. I am now setting an interim goal of $9,000 by tomorrow 4:00 pm, because I need that to pay our bills. All the money received so far has been applied to expenses.

We are having some problems with our website and have moved to a new host -- you may find more glitches than usual for a while. openvotingconsortium.org email hasn't been working. ANOTHER ISSUE: The box on the right of our web page that has the announcement signup and the fundraising drive information appears at the bottom of the page if you are using Internet Explorer (looks fine with Firefox). So, please scroll down to the bottom of the page.

PLEASE DONATE NOW
--------------------------------------------
Our supporters have come through when necessary. Around the first week of last month, I said we needed $3,000 to continue. Because of the support we received, we were able to follow through with the very public San Luis Obispo demonstration of our open voting technology. Literally, if we had not received this support, the OVC project could not have continued. Your support means everything to the Open Voting Consortium. We need a similar amount now. We've raised almost $6,000 toward the $9,000 goal we need to reach tomorrow.

Please go to the OVC web site and click on the donate button now. OVC can only be successful with your continued support.

Thank you and best wishes.

Alan Dechert
http://openvoting.org
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746
dechert@gmail.com
916-772-5360

p.s.., If you have any trouble with our web site, please contact me immediately If necessary, you can put a check in the mail. But we still prefer PayPal because we get it right away and this is an emergency.
____________________________
[1] http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/ovcdemo.iso

[2]
The advantage of using any old 5-year-old PC and printer is that the hardware will continually get better and cheaper. All the other systems require expensive dedicated hardware that gets more and more dinosaur-looking every year. Maryland is finally getting rid of the Diebold TS (we symbolically smashed last year). MD spent over $100 million on that junk. With the OVC system, there is no need for huge buys followed a few years later with huge recycling and huge new purchases.

Of course, the OVC system could be used on dedicated hardware. We will continue to look at that, but the hardware will have to be very inexpensive to make any sense. When I started out thinking about this architecture, every PC came with a big heavy CRT monitor. Now, they are all coming with lightweight LCD panels.

Another way in which the pieces are falling into place: Early on, we were thinking about booting from a CD with no hard drive. This was always a possibility, but a whole lot of programming work was necessary to make this practical. Now, the Linux/opensource community has done this work for us (especially Knoppix and Ubuntu -- we use Ubuntu).

Was it the Princeton Study, or the Sledgehammer?

2008-01-29T11:23:43Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

A friend in Maryland reports that money is being appropriated to replace the troubled Diebold TS voting machines.

Glenn wrote,
> Progress in Maryland:
>
> I suppose your visit to Annapolis a while ago has helped bear some fruit.
>
> Funding for optical scanners to replace Diebold junk in Maryland:
> http://www.wtop.com/?nid=598&sid=1328904
> http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.voting18jan18,0,4975106.story
> http://www.asq.org/qualitynews/qnt/execute/displaySetup?newsID=2912
>

Maybe it was the sledgehammer.

Two of my favorite YouTube videos ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgSuOaULi5g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZqGz9wJrIQ

Thanks and best wishes.

Alan Dechert
http://openvoting.org

Yesterday: A very successful demonstration of OVC's open voting concept

2008-01-13T17:01:19Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

OVC achieved a major milestone yesterday. You may know that we received this request from the San Luis Obispo County on Monday (to provide software to run their JAN 12 straw poll).

http://gnosis.python-hosting.com/voting-project/January.2008/0016.html

By Friday, we had the software prepared and yesterday's event has to go down as a great success for Open Voting Consortium and the cause of transparent election administration (to others, I suppose, it was mainly about success for Obama). The response was overwhelmingly positive. We used the Ubuntu (Linux) operating system, which is also free and open source. As always, our code is publicly available [1].

I want to thank everyone that made this happen. On our side, THE GREAT Jan Karrman of Sweden did the heavy lifting preparing the code. Asheesh Laroia wrote the tabulation program (100 lines of Python code) on Friday afternoon. Brent Turner went with me and video taped everything and conducted a number of interviews along the way. I also want to thank all of those involved in previous OVC demos because the software we used yesterday was based on these efforts -- going back to 2003. So, thanks to Fred McLain, who was the development lead for our APR 2004 demo that got such great reviews. David Mertz, Arthur Keller, Ed Cherlin, and Laird Popkin helped get the demo project going in 2003. Thanks to them. Thanks also to all of the other developers involved, including Eron Lloyd and John-Paul Gignac. All the past (esp. Doug Jones) and current OVC board members also deserve credit. And, of course, the OVC project only continues because scores of individuals continue to provi
de financial support. Thanks to them.

The San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party leaders can take much of the credit, since they are the ones that did all the work other than writing the software. In particular, it was Marty U'Ren's idea to do this. Marty also gathered together all the hardware needed (a bunch of old PCs and printers), set them up and tested them. Thanks Marty!

This is the first time OVC-developed software was used by actual voters (with an intense interest in the outcome, I might add), and the public machine tally was thoroughly successful and enjoyed by everyone there.

204 people signed-in to vote and when the ballot box was opened when the polls closed, there were 204 ballots to be tallied. There was some media there (at least one television station and one newspaper). We were pleasantly surprised to see the County Clerk-Recorder, Julie Rodewald (http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/clerk.htm ) there along with the Assistant County Clerk-Recorder, Tommy Gong. They showed a great deal of interest in our system and asked a lot of great questions.

The local paper today mentioned the "bar-coded ballots."
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/244784.html

On Saturday, a mixture of seniors and college students stood
in line to cast their votes on printed, bar-coded ballots that were
deposited in a carefully guarded voting box and counted while
county Clerk-Recorder Julie Rodewald watched.

Here's how it worked: Three voting stations were set up with old PCs, monitors, and printers. Our voting software was installed on each PC on top of the Ubuntu operating system. Voters lined up at one table to have their registration confirmed, and were then directed to the sign-in table. After signing-in, they were directed to one of the three voting machines. The only interface devices were a mouse and monitor. They would click on their selection then click on the "print ballot" button. Nothing about the voter's selection was stored on the PC -- the vote exists only on paper. After the ballot came out of the printer, they put it in a privacy folder (file folder cut to 8x12 inches so that barcode on the edge would be exposed) and proceeded to the ballot box. The pollworker at the ballot box would take the folder (faced down) and slide the ballot into the ballot box (ensuring one person one vote).

Voting started at half-past noon and closed at 2:30. Once the polls were closed, the ballot box was opened -- in public, of course. Several people were involved in counting how many ballots were there, putting them into stacks of 25. The counts were double checked. There were 204 ballots just as there was supposed to be since 204 people had signed-in on the roster.

Then, a PC with the tabulation program was hooked up to the projection screen monitor. The screen had the candidate names, all with a zero next to them. The last line showed that ballot count also starting at zero. Marty and a woman (Midori Feldman) that would scan the barcodes sat with their backs to the screen, and they went through the ballots one-by-one. Marty would say the candidate name printed on a ballot then Midori would scan the barcode. The vote would register on the screen and supporters would cheer for their candidate. Everyone got to see each vote increment the count. The fact that the correct candidate selection was encoded in the barcode was proved in this process. Everyone could hear Marty read the name, and everyone could see the vote counted for the candidate. The process left absolutely no doubt about the accuracy of the count. It was fun for everyone, too. Even after the count had progressed to a point where it was clear Obama was going to win, p
eople were still cheering for their candidate every time they got a vote. Edwards, Kucinich, and Clinton all had very vocal supporters.

Originally, we wanted to run everything from a live CD and disconnect or remove the hard drive from the PC. Jan did create the CD but I received it a little too late for testing, so the applications were run from PCs with Ubuntu installed on the hard drive. If we receive another request, it should be easy for us to provide a bootable CD -- no need for anything on the hard drive (can even remove the hard drive).

Quite a few pictures were taken of the event, and a few of them are available online [2]. I also have quite a bit of video tape. It will take me a while to edit it down to something I can put on YouTube -- should have it soon (anyone want to help edit?) We have quite a few great interviews -- testimonials, in effect -- from voters.

Some people questioned how well our process would scale. It was great for one contest, but what about a ballot with dozens of contests? I suggested to Julie Rodewald that in a general election, they probably would not want to read the ballot aloud. A good way to do this would be to put the ballot on an overhead projector so everyone in the room can see what's on it (remember, on our system, we only print the selections so everything should fit on one page). Then the barcode could be scanned and the counts would be incremented on another screen. Every observer would not be able to keep track of all the vote counts, but could keep track of some of them. With enough observers, all the vote counts could be witnessed.

It may be a little premature to say that voter confidence has been restored, but we took a big step in the right direction yesterday.

Thanks again, and best wishes.

-- Alan Dechert
http://openvoting.org
_________________________
[1] In case any techies want to see some code, here is the program for the voting counting program, written by Asheesh:
http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/voting_thing.tar
Here is Jan's code (if you want to run it and have some trouble, let me know and I will help you with it)
http://user.it.uu.se/~jan/test/straw.tar

[2] Here are some still pictures of the event. There are a couple of pictures showing Marty and I setting up the voting stations, and there is one of a voting station while voting is in progress (Brent is in the foreground with video camera in hand). http://freitas.biz/dems/

Voting System DOs and DON'Ts

2008-01-08T12:52:32Z

Dear Friends of Open Voting:

Wrong way: Take the ballots into a room where few people can see or understand what's going on, then come out and announce the results.

Right way: Conduct the tabulation in public where everyone can see and understand what's going on, and the results are apparent to everyone.

Wrong way: Use software code that only certain people sworn to secrecy can review

Right way: Use software code that is fully open to public scrutiny

Wrong way: Make the system as convoluted as possible and force the public to just trust the officials

Right way: Make the system as simple as we can

Wrong way: Print the voter's selections on little curled-up strips of paper that make it difficult to handle them and count them (try stacking up your grocery receipts) and the law says are NOT BALLOTS anyway

Right way: Print the voter's selections on regular-sized durable paper -- called a BALLOT -- that can be easily handled and counted

Wrong way: Force voters with disabilities to use a separate system where they can't verify their ballot and which may compromise their privacy

Right way: Give voters with disabilities the same system as everyone else with a printed ballot that looks exactly like everyone elses ballot, and make it possible for them to verify their ballot

It's no wonder people are up in arms about the voting system [1]. We are fed up!

This Saturday (Jan 12), we will demonstrate the right way to do these things. Cast the ballots privately, but count them in public. Use a system that enables voters with disabilities to vote with the same equipment. How about software code that is fully open to public scrutiny? We will show that too. We have been asked to provide software for a Democratic Party Straw Poll [2]. We intend to make the most of this demo [3] and maybe, just maybe, it will inspire someone with some major funding capabilities to step up to the plate.

In the mean time, we have been operating on about $6,000 per month. Thanks to our supporters, we met our goal of $12,000 for Nov-Dec and we were able to promote the cause of OPEN VOTING all over the country. There is more work to do and I have set a new goal of $12,000 by March. With luck, we won't have to rely so much on grassroots funding, but right now we must continue this work with what we have.

PLEASE DONATE NOW
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The PayPal button on our web site http://openvoting.org is probably the quickest and easiest. This is the address for PayPal: donation@openvotingconsortium.org

You may also use our Amazon account to contribute.
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T43MQSRHDPEDQ/102-0964310-0180917

If by check, please send to:
Open Voting Consortium
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746

Thank you again for helping OVC to continue progressing toward the establishment of OPEN VOTING.

Alan Dechert
President, Open Voting Consortium
http://openvoting.org
alan@openvoting.org
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746
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[1] see http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/ad/nyt-jan6.pdf (cover of New York Times Magazine)
text of article here http://gnosis.python-hosting.com/voting-project/January.2008/0011.html ... and there was another article yesterday in the NYT

[2] http://gnosis.python-hosting.com/voting-project/January.2008/0016.html

[3] http://gnosis.python-hosting.com/voting-project/January.2008/0017.html