| By Jeremy Geelan | Article Rating: |
|
| November 5, 2004 12:00 AM EST | Reads: |
14,131 |
Expecting worries and auditing concerns that Election Day e-voting machines may cause, companies that develop the machines have provided the National Software Reference Library with copies of their software. This is a federally mandated security measure that has been added to verify that auditors are working with the same code the manufacturers state resides in their machines.
The software code was filed at the request of the Election Assistance Commission. This federal body was created in 2002 as part of the Help America Vote Act set up the same year. Commission members say they want reference copies of the code so that if any dispute arises over the validity of tabulated e-votes, officials can compare the software to see if any changes were made.
The library stores the individual voting programs as object code, so it can be viewed the way computers read this machine language. Unlike most software, voting systems have to meet state and federal laws to gain certification. Once the software is in the library's possession, no fixes at all - no matter how small - can be made. Even innocuous changes to source code to fix bugs invalidates the machine.
Companies whose code is now in the Software Library's hands include Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems and Software, Inc., Sequoia Voting Systems, and Hart InterCivic. The submissions include both hardware, the voting machine itself, and back-end tabulators.
Two other companies, that provide various e-vote auditing services, have already, or intend to, follow suit.
VoteHere presented their code, creating a second verification layer that can be authenticated. The VoteHere system offers auditing capabilities to all the machines that have filed source code with the National Software Reference Library.
Avante Technology, according to Barbara Guttman, manger of an interoperability group at the information technology lab at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will be filing code for their VoteTrakker system.
While in theory the idea seems sound, some prominent figures have openly criticized e-voting technology. Harvard University computer scientist Rebecca Mercuri, said the code library does not take into account other elements that can also swing ballot counts, such as whether the electronic ballot is laid out correctly.
Will Doherty, executive director for e-voting watchdog group Verified Voting, offered a more moderate view. He said the software stored by the Reference Library, "is not all we would ask, but it is a step in the right direction."
Published November 5, 2004 Reads 14,131
Copyright © 2004 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
Syndicated stories and blog feeds, all rights reserved by the author.
More Stories By Jeremy Geelan
Jeremy Geelan is Sr. Vice-President of SYS-CON Media & Events. He is Conference Chair of the all-new International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo series, of the International Virtualization Conference & Expo series, of AJAXWorld RIA Conference & Expo series, and of the long-running SOAWorld Conference & Expo series. He's founder of Cloud Computing Journal, Web 2.0 Journal, AJAX & RIA Journal and other leading SYS-CON titles. From 2000-6, as first editorial director and then group publisher of SYS-CON Media, he was responsible for the development of all new titles and i-Technology portals for the firm, and regularly represents SYS-CON at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of "Power Panels with Jeremy Geelan" on SYS-CON.TV.
![]() |
RichS 11/05/04 07:49:19 PM EST | |||
Because 90 percent of the evoting process is hidden from view, I have very little confidence in data quality without some form of hardcopy. This is based on 30 years of programming, not whether I like either of the leading candidates. There are just too many ways to horse around with the numbers to allow a black-box, paperless, open server system to drive the course of history. |
||||
![]() |
JohnG 11/05/04 11:52:15 AM EST | |||
This article is incorrect in it's reporting that source code was provided to the library. None of the vendors of voting machines gave any proprietary code, patches, software updates or software upgrades. There was also no order from the EAC that the vendors comply. The EAC cannot order anyone to do anything. They are only an oversite group. |
||||
![]() |
Katie 11/05/04 06:23:25 AM EST | |||
The title says the source was submitted, but the body of the article first says the software was submitted, but later refers to it as "software code". Which was it? The source code and the software are not the same thing at all. |
||||
![]() |
Caveat12 11/05/04 05:14:10 AM EST | |||
The real enemy is not so much the terrorist but complacency. People need to stop new attacks and there are new systems that bypass traditional technology to give a more secure system. The primary thing to guard against is the attack to our e-commerce systems. |
||||
![]() |
GIngram 11/05/04 05:11:18 AM EST | |||
As soon as someone uses the term e-terrorism they begin to lose credibility with me. The whole idea of terrorism is to do something that creates terror. You need the physical realization of violence, and there is very little terror inspired by bits and bytes. |
||||
![]() |
Threats&Oportunities 11/05/04 04:54:38 AM EST | |||
How long before we have e-terrorism aimed at the new e-lectoral system I wonder? We have 4 more years now to prepare for such a contingency, doubtless Homeland Security has a group working on it. Sad times we live in. |
||||
- The Top 150 Players in Cloud Computing
- SYS-CON.TV: Cloud Computing Expo Power Panel
- Why IBM’s Server Chief Got Busted
- SOA World Power Panel on SYS-CON.TV
- 1st Annual GovIT Expo: Letter from the Technical Chair
- Deputy CIO of the CIA to Keynote 1st Annual GovIT Expo
- Stock in Focus: Dragon Capital
- 1st Annual Government IT Conference & Expo: Themes & Topics
- CIA was Headed to an Enterprise Cloud All Along: Jill Tummler Singer
- Cloud Computing Expo: Exclusive Q&A with Yahoo! SVP Cloud Computing
- The Top 150 Players in Cloud Computing
- SOA in the Cloud - Monitoring and Management for Reliability
- How to Diagnose Java Resource Starvation
- SYS-CON.TV: Cloud Computing Expo Power Panel
- Software AG Named "Gold Sponsor" of SOA World Conference & Expo 2009 East
- Why IBM’s Server Chief Got Busted
- IBM & Cloud Computing: How "SOA in the Cloud" Can Produce Real Change
- SYS-CON's Cloud Expo Adds Two New Tracks
- SOA World Power Panel on SYS-CON.TV
- 1st Annual GovIT Expo: Letter from the Technical Chair
- The i-Technology Right Stuff
- Who Are The All-Time Heroes of i-Technology?
- Get the Message
- Where Are RIA Technologies Headed in 2008?
- Success, Arrogance, Rise and Fall
- i-Technology Viewpoint: Is Web 2.0 the Global SOA?
- i-Technology Viewpoint: Thinking Outside the VC Box
- ESB Myth Busters: 10 Enterprise Service Bus Myths Debunked
- i-Technology Viewpoint: When to Leave Your First IT Job
- SOA Web Services Edge Conference Coverage on SYS-CON.TV










The past month has seen an unprecedented conc...





















