Bill Just Passed in WI Giving Public Right to View Election Software

[Amaryllis]

Check out the percentage by which this passed:
"The bill passed the Assembly 91-4 and the Senate 29-2."

So, since the source code is proprietary, what exactly does this mean? All the vendors have to leave the state?

WTN News • Published 01/04/06
Voting machine source code must be made open
For entire article: http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=2585

Madison, Wis. — Among the 15 bills governor Jim Doyle signed into law on Wednesday will require the software of touch-screen voting machines used in elections have its source code opened up to public viewing.

Municipalities that use electronic voting machines are responsible for providing to the public, on request, the code used.

Any voting machines to be used in the state already had to pass State Elections Board tests. Electronic voting machines, in particular, already were required to maintain their results tallies even if the power goes out, and to produce paper ballots that could be used in case of a recount. The new law also requires the paper ballots to be presented to voters for verification before being stored.

But of this bill's provisions, perhaps the more influential in a wider sense is the requirement that municipalities provide source code, and the more general condition that "the coding for the software that is used to operate the system on election day and to tally the votes cast is publicly accessible and may be used to independently verify the accuracy and reliability of the operating and tallying procedures to be employed at any election."

The bill passed the Assembly 91-4 and the Senate 29-2.

[UrbScotty]

1. On to Michigan and Ohio! (and elsewhere of course) (nt)

[mikelewis]

6. please come to Ohio...

If we have to live with these assholes any longer, I'm gonna lose my mind.

[longship]

2. I truly believe that free software is the solution.

There is an organization working to provide responsible solutions to the current voting mess.

Open Voting Consortium

Freely accessible source code for our voting systems is probably the best way to restore faith in a very broken system. Peer review works. If you do not believe that, try Linux some time.

We need to support systems like this so that there are alternatives to the Diebolds in the world.

[ananda]

3. Now, what should happen is..

The public should not only examine the software but also expose publicly any flaws or problems.

Then, if this software is used by any other states... who don't have scrutiny laws... well, there you are. You know elections could be fixed there.. and the public will know it.

Sue

[troubleinwinter]

4. K&R!!!!!!!

[Stevepol]

5. K&R!!

[dfgrbac]

7. This is wonderful!

It will really put the pressure on voting machine manufacturers to be ethical!

We should put pressure on the Federal Congress to do the same nation wide.

I have to say, I really admire the Wisconson Congress for doing this!

[JeffR]

8. Anyone know the party breakdown

In the State Senate & Assembly? Just curious.

[Nordmadr]

9. Check Bradblog. The language regarding the code was

removed from the bill. Not as good of news after all.

http://www.bradblog.com/

The voting activist and election reform advocacy community was excited
yesterday upon release of news about the signing of a new bill in Wisconsin,
AB267, that originally included wording that would allow munipalities to
"provide to any person, upon request, at the expense of the municipality,
the coding for the software that the municipality uses to operate the system
and to tally the votes cast". Indeed, The
BRAD BLOG received many email reports last night about the "good news"
concerning this bill.


The bill, as understood and reported by many, would have been the first time
that voting activists would have been afforded the opportunity to actually
"look under the hood" of voting machines by examining the source code used
in the software in order to see what was really being done on the
equipment supplied by Voting Machine Companies. So far, those companies have
managed keep such source code secret and proprietary and away from the
'prying eyes' of the pesky public who has been forced -- by the corporate
privatization of America's public elections -- to rely on such secret
software to accurately record and count their votes.


The apparent "good news," however, was incorrect, as The BRAD BLOG has learned. The language
from the original bill was changed during the amendment process to strip it
of the provisions that would have allowed the public inspection of the
secret code!


The good news still left to report is that the bill, signed yesterday by WI
Gov. Jim Doyle, will at least require a voter verified paper "record" for
every vote cast. In theory, the measure would allow for a manual count or
recount of votes in cases where the state determines such a count would be
necessary.



Olafr

[texpatriot2004]

10. Yeah! Wonderful news. May this trend spread like wildfire.n.t