Voice of the Voters
January 21, 2009
Summary
The
Voice of the
Voters broadcast of January 21, 2009, was titled "Tipping Points 2009." The
discussion revealed that transparency and observability remain the goals that the Election Integrity community identify as
of paramount importance.
To
get to that conclusion, guests Joseph Hall of the Berkley School of Information and Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy, Pamela Smith
of Verified Voting, and John Bonifaz of Voter Action shared their unique understanding of how transparency and observability
should be accomplished.
Program
host Lori Rosolowsky opened the discussion that found Joe Hall providing an overview of "online voting," and the Department
of Defense desiring online voting for overseas troops. He also discussed "next-generation" voting machines, and how voting
machine vendors are shifting their marketing program to include preemptive interaction not only with election officials, but
also with EI activists.
John
Bonifaz asked questions of both Pam Smith and Joe Hall and the three engaged in a dialogue about watching congressional behavior,
and the "security" of online voting.
John
also responded to the email question, "Do the panelists believe that Microsoft has influenced, through payola or coercion,
the election integrity movement?" posed by Brent Turner of the partisan Election Reform Activists for Obama. The question
directly tied in with the earlier revelation that the vendors were adapting their marketing approach by interacting with the
EI grassroots.
When
asked by co-host Jim Strait if any of the new next-generation voting mechanisms conformed with the guiding-star requirement
of transparency, the considered response was no.
A
caller to the broadcast, Dan Axelrod from California, asked about federal legislation requiring paper ballots to be the ballots of record, also posed a pivotal
observation and concern when he revealed that he feared "the difficulty of getting disparate Election Integrity organizations
on the same page." (The author shares that fear.)
Pamela
Smith spoke about her comfort with any process that possessed good procedures, along with transparency, observability, verifiability,
chain of custody, etc.
