Friday, October 24th, 2008

E-Voting Update

America is transitioning from mechanical voting machines to electronic voting machines. The key to an electronic voting machine is its software--which is often complicated and not well tested. Computer scientist Ka-Ping Yee describes how he created the prototype voting machine software he calls Pvote. He aimed to streamline the code using an open source programming language called Python--find out what that could mean for voter confidence. Ka-Ping Yee was interviewed in Chicago's Union Station in March 2008. (Credits: Produced by Carl Flatow) See More Videos

Early voting has started in some parts of the country leading up to the November 4 elections. While early voting has gone smoothly in many areas, some voters in South Carolina, Florida, and Ohio faced inoperable machines, resulting in delays. Several voters in West Virginia reported that when they attempted to register a vote for Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama, their voting machines instead registered a vote for Republican Party candidate John McCain. Several voters in Decatur County, Tennessee, however, faced the opposite problem, seeing attempted McCain votes registering as votes for Obama. And researchers released an analysis of one voting machine system, the Sequoia AVC Advantage 9.0, alleging that the machine "is too insecure to use in New Jersey. "

In this segment, we'll check in on how new voting machines and methods are working, and talk about potential improvements in voting technology. Would it be possible to develop a consistent system for voting across the nation? Would making the voting machine software open-source improve the security of elections?