Open Source: It's the Law
Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle signed a bill recently that "...will require the software of touch-screen voting machines used in elections have its source code opened up to public viewing."
After reading an article on the topic this morning (and some of the ensuing discussion there), it seems we're talking about "source that's available", not truly "Open Source" (or at least not by this definition but hey: a step in the right direction for fraud prevention, if nothing else.
Let's just all be thankful we finally can vote by touch screen. I can't wait to tell my grandkids about how not only did I have to walk uphill both ways to school on -30F Wisconsin mornings, but I even had to use a pencil to draw a one inch long line to vote. The humanity!
posted by jimhalberg @ 6:15 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Not to be picky, but this seems to apply to all electronic voting machines, not just touch screen machines.
It's all well and good to see the source for something, but there needs to be a way to tell if what you have the source for is what is running on the machine. Some kind of hash value I would think.
At the end of the day, the process will never be 100% secure (as with anything else), but I certainly agree they're going to have to do a lot more than just show us some code!
Looking for a little more detail, I came across some info on the Australian process. It didn't answer all my questions, but I only looked for 5 minutes. Might be worth checking this out...
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