An Honest Vote
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen shocked all local election officials by decertifying most of the electronic voting systems (Diebold and Sequoia alike) in the state just six months prior to the state's presidential primary. She did so after a test run by University of California computer experts hacked into the various systems with surprising ease. Now county officials are scrambling to find replacement voting procedures, no doubt cursing Ms. Bowen soundly as they do so. Election reform advocates, on the other hand, are deliriously happy with the move.
Richard L. Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School, has reviewed the Secretary of State's move in an op-ed piece published in today's Los Angeles Times, and has decided that Ms. Bowen did the right thing.
In truth, Bowen is neither the overzealous bureaucrat that county election officials have painted her as, nor is she the savior of American democracy, as some voting reform advocates have claimed. Instead, she has made a reasonable decision about how to reform the state's system for conducting elections, in light of voters' concerns about the security of electronic voting equipment and given the system of overlapping federal, state and local control of federal elections. ...
Critics who claim that Bowen's testing of the electronic equipment was unfair have a point. The tests were done under unrealistic conditions, assuming that election officials would take no defensive measures to prevent hacking. And, of course, other systems are hackable too. As professor Thad Hall of the University of Utah has noted, in a paper-based election, literal stuffing of the ballot box with extra ballots is a form of hacking.
But such criticism misses the main point. Large segments of the public have lost confidence in the security of electronic voting systems. Although we may trust our county election officials (who generally have stellar reputations), the fear is that electronic voting machines might be hacked without the knowledge of these officials. You can't stop ballot-box stuffing you don't see. [Emphasis added]
And that was the whole point of Ms. Bowen's testing and decision to decertify. Without the security changes and paper trail the electronic voting machine manufacturers still imperiously refuse to supply, there will always be doubts about the legitimacy and fairness of any given election. Her job is to end those doubts to the extent possible, and she has taken a necessary and a brave first step to do so.
If only the Congress were so brave.
Richard L. Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School, has reviewed the Secretary of State's move in an op-ed piece published in today's Los Angeles Times, and has decided that Ms. Bowen did the right thing.
In truth, Bowen is neither the overzealous bureaucrat that county election officials have painted her as, nor is she the savior of American democracy, as some voting reform advocates have claimed. Instead, she has made a reasonable decision about how to reform the state's system for conducting elections, in light of voters' concerns about the security of electronic voting equipment and given the system of overlapping federal, state and local control of federal elections. ...
Critics who claim that Bowen's testing of the electronic equipment was unfair have a point. The tests were done under unrealistic conditions, assuming that election officials would take no defensive measures to prevent hacking. And, of course, other systems are hackable too. As professor Thad Hall of the University of Utah has noted, in a paper-based election, literal stuffing of the ballot box with extra ballots is a form of hacking.
But such criticism misses the main point. Large segments of the public have lost confidence in the security of electronic voting systems. Although we may trust our county election officials (who generally have stellar reputations), the fear is that electronic voting machines might be hacked without the knowledge of these officials. You can't stop ballot-box stuffing you don't see. [Emphasis added]
And that was the whole point of Ms. Bowen's testing and decision to decertify. Without the security changes and paper trail the electronic voting machine manufacturers still imperiously refuse to supply, there will always be doubts about the legitimacy and fairness of any given election. Her job is to end those doubts to the extent possible, and she has taken a necessary and a brave first step to do so.
If only the Congress were so brave.
Labels: California, Election 2008
posted by Diane at 4:10 AM
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