Discussion of all things related to Public Domain

[tom poe <tompoe AT ableweb.net>]

Hi, David:  I've been thinking about this issue of voter verification
for DRE's.  Here's a brief recap of what I found:

The Help America Vote Act calls for paper printout for recount
capability by January 1, 2006, not sooner. Why???

James Minadeo, of aitechnology.com proudly announces they hold patents
on printout methodology for DRE's [voting technology].

Time for an Open Source solution.

My thinking is that there should be a simple, obvious solution.  One
that can break the patent, trade secret barriers.  That solution lies
with creating simple automated data collection systems that can be used
by everyone.  Nonproprietary automated data collection systems that can
run as PC-based closed networks with an audit trail capability based in
the timestamp audit requirements arena.

These networks would be extremely straightforward, and the beauty of the
systems would lie with the ability to review visually, keystroke by
keystroke the activity on any computer following the voting.

Now, with an Open Source solution, the next step would be to put the
networks in play, and get people to use them and rely on their
accuracy.  This could be accomplished as early as maybe two weeks
following the start of building one of the demo networks.  The network
could be set up in a public place, touted as a voter verifiable polling
booth.  As people used them to vote on survey questions, they would
realize the advantages of these systems over the proprietary DRE voting
machines offered by corporate interests.

It's a huge marketing and public relations hurdle, but I think it can
happen quickly enough to reach the general public by the 2004
elections.  The worst case scenario is to have a parallel system in
place throughout the country to act as a "polling" result that could
possibly be considered legitimate.

If this idea is of interest, I hope you will discuss it with others that
are in a position to make this happen.  There's a proprietary product
from a few years ago, during the RDMS era called AREV 3.12 that uses a
capture/playback feature for recording sessions and visually replaying
them keystroke by keystroke.  Today, there's VNC and the ability to do
the same type of thing.  I bet there are lots of options for creating
the kinds of audit trails needed to reassure voters their ballots are
protected.

One last comment.  Open Source and the world community of volunteers
should be substantial in this project, and each community would be able
to build a local version in hours, relying on remote access, email,
weblogs, etc for communications.

Hope this stimulates some thoughts for you, and hope you can use it to
move our country in the right direction.
Thanks,
Tom Poe
Open Studios
Reno, NV
http://www.studioforrecording.org/