Defining Trusted Voting Process - a one pager

["David Webber \(XML\)" <david@drrw.info>]

In interaction with the Maryland True Vote folks - after munging

on this these past weeks - I thinking I'm finally getting to

be able to distill this into a one pager here.

 

The trusted process is based on the three way - eVote, paper ballot and

electoral roll - then scanning of the paper ballots, comparing each paper

ballot with its matching eVote and crosschecking to the electoral roll

functions this way:

 

1) Voter checked against electoral roll - given access key

    Access key is stored anonymously to central log

2) eVoting - voter uses access key and DRE to make vote

    selections, confirms, starts printing, DRE saves eVote.

3) DRE dispatches selections to print device

    Print device creates scannable paper VVPAT and

    acknowledges print complete to DRE. Print device

    saves eVote print record. DRE completes voting session.

4) Voter deposits VVPAT in ballot box or sends in via mail.

5) Repeat for each voter.

6) Ballot closes, ballot boxes and DRE / printing media records secured.

7) DRE eVotes tallied.  Prelimary results announced.  Paper

    ballots sent to counting centers along with DRE media

    devices.  Everything is scanned, counted and crosschecked.

    The VVPATs should match the eVoting logs should match the

    access keys given out in the central roll log.  Remediate.

    Declare result, or await mailed in ballots to finalize result if its

    that close.

 

This gets you a verifiable process.  Then you just have to make sure

no one vendor is providing solutions across all the steps - and then

you have the separation needed to ensure each must conform to

the open process specifications - not their own hidden methods.

Every vendor involved should be interoperable with every other -

(e.g. an open marketplace of solution providers).

 

And of course the definition of a DRE can include equipment in a

polling station, a PC in local library, your personal computer at

home or work, so long as the software on it is certified as

EML specification compliant from our perspective.  Similarly

the electoral roll management and access key management

processing.

 

Next step I think is producing a nice White Paper that we

can use for positioning EML around this and wording this

up into an Executive Overview - rather than just my napkin

sketch here....

 

Thanks, DW