Open source e-vote software? Unfortunately, I think not...

Mon Nov 24 2003 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Donna and Ed Felten blog this quote from the recent Secretary of State's (Kevin Shelley) position paper requiring VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail):

Any electronic verification method must have open source code in order to be certified for use in a voting system in California.

Actually, looking back over the report, this open source requirement has nothing to do with the VVPAT (voter verified paper audit trail). The open source requirement has to do with electronic verification mechanisms. That is, the task force looked at other options (other than paper-based) for voter-verification and also explored the idea of electronic verification. From page 5 of the SoS's report [emphasis mine]:

When I directed the Task Force to examine paper verification and attempt to arrive at a consensus, I was impressed that they tried to look at the issue from other perspectives. Instead of seeing paper as the only possible solution, the Task Force looked for other ways to approach the verification issue to see if any other solutions are possible to address the confidence and security concerns of touch screen systems. The consensus recommendation to implement electronic verification is a creative approach to pursue a long-term solution to this issue

I am therefore requiring:

Electronic Verification Required to Assure Accessibility- All DREs must include electronic verification, as described by in the Task Force�s report, in order to assure that the information provided for verification to disabled voters through some form of non-visual method accurately reflects what is recorded by the machine and what is printed on the VVPAT paper record. Any electronic verification method must have open source code in order to be certified for use in a voting system in California. The timeline for implementation is the same timeline for implementation of accessible VVPAT.

UPDATE (2003-11-25 09:33:52): This appears to be the first open-source software mandate from any U.S. government official ever. (Before you send me email, know that this is my schtick and I'm aware of the moves in various states to legislate open-source and to prefer open-source... but there appears to have been no out-right mandates. If you know differently, please correct me!)

Posted by joebeone at Noviembre 24, 2003 11:08 AM