I wrote this up and posted it on a couple of elections integrity listservs shortly after the event. Someone suggested that I post it to DKos as a how-to diary on elections integrity, but I don't really see it that way. I think it's just a simple story of what happens when an ordinary citizen decides to go visit a bunch of Senators. It's not exactly an action-packed drama, but if you who have never visited an elected official in DC, perhaps you will find it interesting.
Shortly after the November election, I spent two days delivering information on electronic voting machines to various Senate offices. My initial goal was to put together a binder specific to each state, one that included articles about problems with voting machines in those states, which I located and downloaded from local newspaper and television station websites.
This turned out to be a very time-consuming process.
Working alphabetically, I started with Alabama and got as far as Michigan in terms of downloading information, but I was only able to print out and organize state-specific information through Georgia. Not wanting to be limited to visiting only the offices of senators from states beginning with A-G, and not having time to put together any more state-specific binders, I also put together a dozen or so generic binders that did not include the state-specific information.
Here is what each state-specific binder included:
- The local news articles, covering the 2002 elections through the 2006 primaries.
- Intro to eVoting, a brief article published by Wired News.
- An Analysis of a Voting Machine, by the guys at John Hopkins.
- Asking the Right Questions About Electronic Voting, the 30-page executive summary of a book published by the National Academy of Sciences.
- A report on electronic voting machines by the Congressional Research Service.
- Verified Voting’s list and brief descriptions of the VVPAT legislation that was introduced into the 109th Congress.
On the back cover, I put a cartoon I found somewhere found somewhere late at night and don’t remember where, titled Waiting for the Perfect Law, which showed a skeleton sitting at a bus stop. Beneath it, I added this text:
Good Enough:
- Paper record is the ballot of record.
- Source code is available for review.
- Vendor certification process includes source code review and machine testing.
- Mandatory audits in precincts randomly selected after the election, with the results made public.
For the generic binders, I replaced the news articles with a point-by-point comparison of security measures for slot machines and voting machines, which I also found somewhere late at night and don’t remember where. I took the liberty of adding a title, Gambling with Democracy, and a tag line, Are Ya Feeling Lucky?
Coming soon, or whenever I get around to it: Part 2, where I call to let them know I'm coming...