[Iowa-work] Rick Johnson in Today's P-C!

[hhart@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu]

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=3D/20061208/OPINION/6=
12080302/1018


Friday, December 8, 2006

Confidence in voting systems


Before last month's election, Linn County Auditor Linda Langenberg =20
referred to those of us questioning the accuracy of electronic voting =20
as participating in "a form of terrorism" by "making people lose =20
confidence in the voting system without getting the other side from =20
voting officials."

I was rather surprised that a county auditor was so poorly informed =20
regarding this issue. My running mate, Wendy Barth, and I responded to =20
her comments by mentioning how easily these small computers can be =20
compromised, or "hacked" to use the vernacular. I have spent nearly a =20
quarter century working with computers, the last fourteen years =20
working as a technology coordinator in a school with some 400 =20
computers connected to our LAN/WAN. I know that there are many =20
problems that can arise with any kind of computer equipment, even if =20
it is not connected to the Internet.

However, Langenberg need not trust the word of a "terrorist" such as =20
myself. A newly released report from the National Institute of =20
Standards and Technology, a government agency, offers several =20
recommendations, including the following:

"Focus attention toward improving the usability and accessibility of =20
paper based SI voting systems: HFP and STS should continue to work =20
together to incorporate requirements to make op scan, EBM, and =20
DRE-VVPAT more usable, accessible, and convenient to audit. If this =20
work requires more time than allocated for VVSG 2007 development, some =20
method for continuing this work should be investigated."

Although the report is a draft, and it has yet to be incorporated into =20
any formal policy recommendations, its conclusions support rather well =20
the concerns raised by myself, my running mate and many other Iowans =20
during this past several election cycles.

We also are seeing how these problems play out with the debacle of the =20
paperless electronic voting machines in Florida's 13th Congressional =20
District, where the election of a member of the U.S. House of =20
Representatives appears to be tarnished by machines that either did =20
not record the votes of some 18,000 citizens of the district, or that =20
did not call to the attention of the voter that they had not voted in =20
this hotly contested contest.

Attitudes like Langenberg's do the citizens of the state a grave =20
disservice. Perhaps the NIST report and the news from Florida-13 will =20
help her understand that we who question this "advancement" in voting =20
systems do not wish to undermine voter confidence.

We want to build that confidence by insuring that elected officials =20
understand the problem and take action to prevent a similar incident =20
from happening in our state.

Burlington resident Richard L. Johnson was the Iowa Green Party's 2006 =20
candidate for lieutenant governor.