Most of you might not be aware that there is already a standards development effort around the area of e-Voting. Interestingly enough, the group does not have enough members, although it is being backed by IBM, Sun, and Oracle. This is important because Diebold and ESS
are not participating, and are therefore can do whatever they please.
However, you can join this group, and help to drive it's adoption in your local precincts. Also you can help shine the bright light on Diebold and ESS (and others).
Here's the charter statement for the group:
To develop a standard for the structured interchange of data among hardware, software, and service providers who engage in any aspect of providing election or voter services to public or private organizations. The services performed for such elections include but are not limited to voter role/membership maintenance (new voter registration, membership and dues collection, change of address tracking, etc.), citizen/membership credentialing, redistricting, requests for absentee/expatriate ballots, election calendaring, logistics management (polling place management), election notification,
ballot delivery and tabulation, election results reporting and demographics.
Implementation: The standard under development by election.com, Inc. will be made available for review and revision and can be expanded upon as necessary. A phased approach will be used to implement the standard due to the number of aspects being considered by the standard.
Now you should be aware that any member of the public can join this group and either participate directly in the development of these standards or monitor activity. Here's a list of the current members:
Person Organization Role
Charbel Aoun Accenture Member
Régis Jamin Accenture Member
Niten Malik Accenture Member
Dan Ryan Accenture Member
B Van Acker IBM Member
R Overbeck Individual Member
John Ross Individual Member
Paul Spencer Individual Member
P Zelechoski Individual Prospective Member
Michael Siegel Massachusetts Institute of Technology Member
Jim O'Donnell OPT2VOTE Member
Bruce Elton Oracle Member
Randy Elder Sequoia Voting Member
Paul Nolte Sequoia Voting Systems Member
Hong-Eng Koh Sun Microsystems Member
Farah Ahmed UK e-Government Unit Cabinet Office Secretary
John Borras UK e-Government Unit Cabinet Office TC Chair
Hans Spakovsky US Department of Justice EOUSA Memberx
A couple of intersting points:
- First, Sequoia Voting Systems is a participant. To date I've not heard of any problems with their systems. Can anyone confirm?
- Second, the DOJ is a member. Any possibilties there?
Okay, you have the information, so it is up to each DKos reader what you want to do with it.
Site Link