Needed: Voting Security and Election Results Credibility
One of Marian's Fundamental Four 		No Leaky Buckets !
(and no SPAM from us) ---
"If you cannot trust the way your votes are counted, nothing much else in politics matters!"
Section Summaries |  All The Holes |  Publications |  Demos |  Reference-Materials |  Legislative |  Brazil 
The continuing factors - the Basics
The Fundamentals for Integrity in Voting Systems
Ballots and Ballot-marking Methods

Recognize and fix all the leaks in our balloting and counting systems!

I believe that in order to maintain trustworthy elections and "SARA" results, we must have no leaky buckets -- that all the potential holes in the elections system must be plugged, including:--

Essential: -- "hacopaba" --
  HAVE PAPER a voter-verifiable paper (physical) ballot for every voter, as the legal representation of each voters' choices ("v-vpb"). In plain language, have a separate paper ballot that the voter knows is correct while still at the polling-booth or kitchen table and voting(*). My Whatcom County and Washington State gain a gold star in 2005!

  USE the PAPER - TWICE a mandatory random full-precinct or substantial batches AUDIT by hand-count of all ballots on an adequate percentage of the ballots in a jurisdiction, as a double-check of the electronic record (critical if computerized voting is used). My Whatcom County and Washington State have scored a mixed bag. A limited hand count has been done in Whatcom, but it is not required and might be dropped. See how much that would cost - for YOU!

  STAND-ALONE MACHINES If any machines or computers are used, no live online or modem or WiFi or IR interconnections of voting systems components, at any point in the process between the voter and the election certification - we believe that in Whatcom this criteria is met - another gold star for them.

  NOTHING ELSE AMISS adequate attention paid to all the other elements of voting systems - people, hardware, staff training, education of the voters, watchfulness and diligence by citizens and voters of the chain-of-custody of ballots and data. Our county is doing very well on this aspect, (another gold star for them) with a citizen advisory committee, and citizen Election Observers. Voting systems must meet the SARA test of the LWV-US - Secure, Accurate, Recountable and Accessible. The bucket will not stay full if there remains even one hole that's big enough to change or lose even one vote! History shows us that known frauds have always been, and remain, a risk for election integrity!


Also of some value:
  THE SOFTWARE FOR VOTING AND COUNTING
  KNOW THAT THE COUNTING RULES in the software ARE RIGHT - (if computerized voting or counting is used), a full verification of the source code written into all voting systems, at every point in the process might be nice - voter registration, polling-places, intermediate handling, voter_ID verification, vote-counting and vote-reporting, etc. Code review acts as a great deterrent to insider fraud. But -- that is a large and complex task, and even if properly completed, system security could still be subverted by someone changing the programs after installation, which can be done by one insider or one visitor who gained a brief physical access to many of the current models.
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write me at fix-a-leak@noleakybuckets.org


 # SARA: Secure, Accessible, Recountable and Accurate
 # hand counted paper ballots - ha-co-pa-ba
There are two great differences between the use of computers for Commerce and for Voting:
 .. Commerce:
* uses public receipts
* is subject to control 		Voting:
* needs a secret ballot
* subjects everything to control
 
The changing factors - News
(click for old news)
- March '08 -
Another dangerous program - just starting

Brazil again. Not only do they have DRE's without paper ballots or concurrent paper trails, now they have started a program which is reported to fingerprint every voter, and use the fingerprints live at the DRE polling-places to "identify the voters".

I have prepared a translation of the article by Engineer Amilcar Brunazo Filho, from Portuguese to English.
- February '08 -
A Dangerous Experiment - Ongoing Now!!
The Democratic Party's Dangerous Experiment is actively running right now - Voting on the Internet!

Can you imagine this? Well, more than just imagining - believe it -- it is real.

Here is the article about this next push for internet voting:
original: - at Vote Trust USA (VoteTrustUSA.org)
Related website: ServeSecurityReport.org

And, with my knowledge of Brazil and their situation, I have also prepared a translation of this article into Portuguese.
- January '08 -
Holt's New Bill
Here is the new Bill by Rep Rush Holt, of NJ, (in two versions from two sources).

Holt 2008. (PDF 91KB)
(Our thanks to colleague Steve Wolff for getting this copy)

Holt 5036 - our copy from GPO. (PDF 91KB)

Holt 5036 - at GPO. (PDF 83KB)
- December '07 -
The Two-Votes Exploit
Why are we so insistent on hacopaba?

Protection against any and all computerized fraud is the sole reason. We hesitated to publish this exploit, at the risk of facilitating its use, but otherwise the public and elections offices might not know about it, thus not prepare defenses.

How one person can throw an election.... Read about it.

- November '07 -
The Costs of Hand Counting
The fundamental weakness of computerized voting and counting is the lack of transparency. What does the alternative and the double-checking method (HCPB) cost? Read about it.
Calculate it yourself
Download a calculator - XLS
- August '07 -
E-Voting in Brazil - The Risks to Democracy
link to paper
"....Brazil's introduction of e-voting [in 2002] offers a cautionary tale of supply-driven technological implication. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the introduction of e-voting in Brazil is highly risky to democracy due to the lack of emphasis on security and the lack of a socially informed and socially driven approach to technological innovation...."
Rodrigues, Alexander & Batista
January '07
How Many Batches to "Audit":
Simplified Calculator.
November '06
"Whatcom Fair Voting"
Read about our own local group.

Older News Clips
click here


SPAM disclaimer note:
Someone has been fraudulently sending SPAM messages illegally using email addresses of "______-at-noleakybuckets.org". We object to this fraudulent misuse of the domain name, but there is little that can be done.

http://NoLeakyBuckets.org/ by Marian Beddill, an independent citizen activist in Whatcom County, WA - c: [an error occurred while processing this directive] last edited:  2008-01-25