Vote observers: access to US polling places difficult
236489
International observers invited for the 2004 US election found access to polling stations difficult in Florida and Ohio, a watchdog group said.
277363
(InfoWorld) - The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has recommended that the U.S. government require touch-screen electronic voting machines to include independent audit technology, such as printouts. "The lack of an independent audit capability in systems is one of the main reasons behind continued questions about voting system security and diminished public confidence in elections," says a NIST paper released this month. "In practical terms the software-dependent approach cannot be made secure or highly reliable." The Technical Guidelines Development Committee of the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) is scheduled to review the NIST's recommendation that direct record electronic (DRE) machines include voter-verified paper trails or other auditing mechanisms at a meeting Monday and Tuesday. DREs do not assure that voting records are accurate, and 15 states using the e-voting machines do not use independent audit mechanisms statewide, the NIST paper says. "Trust in an election outcome relies heavily upon trusting the correctness of the DRE's software and upon trusting that the DRE software has not been replaced or tampered with," the paper says. "Simply put, the DRE architecture's inability to provide for independent audits of its electronic records makes it a poor choice for an environment in which detecting errors and fraud is important." A spokesman for the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), representing e-voting machine vendors, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on the NIST recommendations. The ITAA has argued that paper trail ballots may simply print out the same results stored on the DREs. Paper trail systems can be costly to add on to DREs, and printer breakdowns can cause problems during elections, the ITAA has said. One e-voting critic praised the report. "That's really good news," said Barbara Burt, director of the election reform program at Common Cause, one of several groups calling for e-voting paper trails. "It looks like it's going to help us finally get rid of the paperless DREs." NIST's recommendations come after scattered reports of problems with DREs in the Nov. 7 U.S. elections. In Florida's 13th congressional district, Democratic candidate Christine Jennings has filed a lawsuit asking for a revote after 18,000 voters failed to cast a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives race. Two recounts found Republican Vern Buchanan the winner of the race, but Sarasota County did not require the Elections System and Software (ES&S) e-voting machines to include paper printouts to back up the electronic vote. While e-voting supporters say the machines make it hard to undervote, Sarasota County voters cast about 16,000 more votes in the Florida governor's race and in the Florida Senate race than were recorded in the House race. About 4,000 more people cast ballots for the county's Southern District Hospital Board than were recorded in the House race. Thirty-five states either mandate voter-verified paper-trail systems or use them statewide without a mandate, according to the NIST report. But 10 states use paper-trail ballots on a county-by-county basis, and five states, including Maryland, Georgia and Louisiana, use DREs statewide without paper- trail ballots. The NIST paper published this month recommends states use "software-independent" voting systems, using either paper-trail ballots or cryptographic audit systems instead of relying on the "correctness of the software" for election results. The paper suggests that the EAC require audit mechanisms in e-voting machines, and recommends that federal election officials stop certifying e-voting machines without independent audit systems after 2009 or 2010.ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
65998
WASHINGTON As we enter the last days before the presidential election, Americans seem skeptical about the voting process. A new Associated Press Ipsos-Public Affairs poll finds that 60 percent of those asked
370007
NEW YORK The last Newsweek poll before election day suggests a big majority of Americans don&#39;t expect smooth sailing at voting booths.
619961
In the weeks leading up to November in the US, it&#8217;s abundantly clear that this is not &#8220;election season&#8221; but rather &#8220;polling season&#8221;; with the actual voting still some ways off, our pundits must resort to polls and surveys as an estimate of what the will of the people will be on Election Day. But just how accurate are the samples in those polls?
666427
Preliminary results of a recount in New Hampshire verify that optical-scan voting machines recorded votes accurately. A Nader spokesman calls on Democrats to do some soul-searching. By Kim Zetter.
551804
Most area voters won&#39;t need a lawyer Tuesday when they go to the polls. But they may need a little patience. &quot;Bring ID, and don&#39;t get discouraged when the lines are long,&quot; said St.
674008
With less than six weeks to go before the Nov. 2 presidential election, voting activists said officials still have time to set up a paper trail as a counterweight to an e-voting system they portrayed as wide open to manipulation.
50976
Flaw-proof election machines. Easy-to-read ballots. Registration systems that catch double-voters or dead voters still on the rolls.
572674
Can I download an absentee ballot for Election Day from the Web?
440228
With Election Day a little more than six weeks away, Americans are being bombarded with often-conflicting polls, adding another layer of confusion to a contest
339620
A PERSON could go mad trying to follow US election polling. One day George W.Bush is slumping, the next he&#39;s up. One day John Kerry has momentum, the next he&#39;s dead meat.
427534
I just registered to vote in the upcoming US elections, even though I live in Canada.  I was able to register through the help of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, which provides a simple registration form that can be used to register in every US state and territory except American Samoa and Guam.    US Citizens living overseas can register to vote in the US state they last physically resided in.  I lived in Owl's Head, Maine before I moved to Nova Scotia, so that's where I registered.    I meant to submit an article about my experience to help other US expatriates who are k5 readers, but life intervened and I didn't get around to registering until after the deadline for most states.    You might still be able to register depending on your state, and in any case your registration will still be valid for the 2006 elections.      The deadline for absentee voters in Maine is tomorrow.  Fortunately, Maine accepts the Federal Post Card Application by fax.  Not every state does, one reason the instructions are complex and hard to understand.    Read on for details of how you can register from overseas.
464247
In the race for the White House money and voters are key, yet a new study found few of those running in the 2008 presidential race are using their Web sites to provide ready information on how to register to vote.
339256
(InfoWorld) - With hotly contested nationwide elections just weeks away, several computer experts Thursday questioned the reliability and security of e-voting systems during a congressional committee hearing. Access doors of thousands of Diebold AcuVote-TS touch-screen systems can all be opened with the same key -- a type commonly used for office furniture, jukeboxes and hotel minibars, Princeton University computer science professor Edward Felten told the committee. That door protects the removable memory card that stores votes. "Though some claim that election procedures will prevent the kinds of problems we identified, the rigid procedures described in vendor manuals are often ignored in practice," said Felten, co-author of a study that was highly critical of Diebold Election Systems' AccuVote TS. Also today, the Committee on House Administration took no action on legislation proposed by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) aimed at remedying e-voting vulnerabilities. The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550), introduced last February, now has more than 200 bipartisan co-sponsors. Among its various provisions, HR 550 would mandate that each machine produce a paper receipt that could be used in a recount. The bill also calls for e-voting vendors to offer greater transparency to their software. By not sending the bill to the floor for a vote, the committee missed any chance of ensuring that November's elections would produce auditable results, Holt said. The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 was aimed at preventing the sort of notorious failures such as occurred in Florida in 2000 due to disputes over manually operated punch-card systems. Some $3 billion was earmarked under HAVA to fund state compliance, with most of that money going to purchase e-voting gear, said committee chairman Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) in his opening remarks for the hearing. "Though HAVA did not require the adoption of any particular kind of technology, many jurisdictions purchased electronic voting systems because they felt these systems were best able to meet the requirements of HAVA," said Ehlers. "Not surprisingly, some jurisdictions using this new equipment for the first time have encountered some difficulties," he said. Ehlers cited recent problems with e-voting gear in Montgomery County, Md. Earlier this week, Ehlers submitted an amendment to HAVA to reimburse any voting jurisdictions that print out paper ballots for voters who prefer not to cast their votes on touch-screen voting gear this November. Similar legislation was filed by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in the Senate. The bill calls for up to 75 cents to be spent per paper ballot. Ehlers estimated that it would probably cost no more than $10 million, based on the estimate of the number of voters in precincts using touch-screen gear that don't offer a paper trail. He told Computerworld he offered the amendment because he didn't expect HR 550 to be passed this year. "We thought in light of the problems we've seen, most recently in Maryland, that collectively, these problems were shaking voters' confidence," he said. "We thought if jurisdictions want to give voters another choice, we should support them in that." Ehlers declined to predict when or if the emergency amendment would pass. Like all House members, Ehlers is up for re-election this year, and his district uses e-voting gear. "Certainly, any voting system that is not verifiable and auditable is of concern," he said.
105888
Also: E-voting a 'threat' to UK democracy. Read these stories and more from around the Web on News.com Extra.
468515
Federal Voting Rights Act observers will monitor polling place activities in 27 jurisdictions: