Open Source Electronic Voting Call to Action
As we have all been hearing, the situation with electronic voting in the U.S. (and elsewhere) is a mess. Free (GPL) software seems to make the most sense for a host of reasons. However, with efforts as widely distributed as they are, what seems clearly like a very good idea isn't making much headway. Blue Screen Democracy seeks to engage the open-source developer base (you) in order to implement what the most people think are the best methods cited in the available abstract designs for e-voting systems (including, but not limited to Blind signature [pdf], n-Version [pdf], FROGS [pdf]). In other words, to develop the software not in the way we think best, but in the way the most people think best: democratically. There have been efforts, referenced here, here, and here to develop an open-source electronic voting solution, and at least one project is well under way (in Python). Not wanting to cause an unnecessary crack in the already patch-work body of free-software voting machine advocacy/development groups, but unsatisfied with the results of existing development efforts to date, we find ourselves at somewhat of an impasse.Thus, this simple appeal, "What should we do?" Is the OVC system (EVM 2003) good enough? To us, their effort seems stale-mated, to you: should we be supporting it anyway? Are we satisfied with their implementation? As an organization, we would be happy to get behind a system supported by the open source development community. If you do think we need something besides the OVC system, we have opened up a SourceForge page to begin discussion. Calling all cryptographers, security experts, coders, architects, with no need to over-dramatize, the future of open government is at stake. |
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| Subject | Topic Starter | Replies | Views | Last Post |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Canadian open-source-voting example | hkwint | 6 | 4,973 | Mar 22, 2005 9:46 AM |
| I don't know... | mvermeer | 9 | 1,797 | Mar 21, 2005 7:47 AM |
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