EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | Ted Selker
Organization : | CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project
Post Date : | 9/30/2005
General Comments
Comment : | Defining the audit data for events must be made explicit. Many events happen for a voting machine during its life, equipment runs through a power outage, falls on the floor, is turned on or off runs out of batteries, is reset, is calibrated, has its software upgraded, etc Unusual events happen for all voting equipment, therefore machines should be designed to archivally log such occurrences. In addition, procedures should be defined for where this information is to be made available to whom. Vendors and election officials have told me about many events that are never reported. In July I heard of a new case in which an optical scan voting machine stopped counting in November that was not known or reported before that. How does knowledge of this incident get transmitted, to whom, how can it help? I have been told that mechanical airplane failures can require all owners of airplanes with that mechanical configuration to be informed and have upgrades made available. It seems as though EAC, local election officials, and the Secretary of State should have records of all voting equipment events. Further, protocol for what to do if an event is found with other similar machines is important... [Statements submitted at EAC public hearing, July 28, 2005, Pasadena]