How to reduce risk and protect the purity of elections.
To protect the purity of the 2008 elections, we must eliminate the risky part of the accessible vote recording equipment (DRE) and conserve that part of the DRE that has merit.
The risky part, from the technologist's perspective, has been and continues to be the electronic ballot. We'd like Colorado to disallow use of electronic ballots because they have known problems.
The part worth preserving is the DRE's accessible user interface. This interface permits voters with disabilities to vote privately, without assistance.
We are aware that the visually impaired voter may not be able to verify what is written on the VVPAT, but they also cannot verify what is recorded on the electronic ballot.
The visually impaired as well as some other voters rely on the audio output from the DRE to confirm that their votes are properly recorded on the electronic memory and VVPAT. The visually impaired voter may not be able to actually verify the votes recorded on the VVPAT, but neither can they actually verify the votes recorded on the electronic memory.
The long term solution will come from improved accessible voting technology, such as the AutoMark technology. However, if the Secretary of State continues to block certification testing of the AutoMark, it will not be an option for 2008 elections in Colorado.
For the short ters, we have devised a solution that both eliminates the untrustworthy electronic ballot and preserves the accessible user interface.
We have asked that the Secretary of State require that DRE's be available, as required by law. However, we have asked the Secretary to disallow the use of the electronic ballots.
Instead, we want the Secretary to require that the votes recorded on the VVPAT be duplicated onto standard paper ballots (such as those used in absentee voting). This would be done by the bi-partisan duplication board -- a function that is already a part of the Colorado statutes and rules. In this way, all ballots can be counted using the same paper ballot vote counting systems.
Although the most common use of the duplication board is to replace ballots that are damaged after receipt by officials, there is a legal precedent for the ballot duplication procedure we recommend. Military FAX ballots are duplicated onto regular paper ballots.
To protect the purity of the 2008 election, electronic ballots must be discarded, and votes recorded on the VVPAT paper trail must be duplicated onto standard paper ballots.