Study: Voting Systems Vulnerable - Page 2
Friday, 14 December 2007 19:00
Page 2 of 2
RECOMMENDATIONS
Secretary Brunner has presented recommendations and options to address these findings to Gov. Ted Strickland and legislative leaders for their consideration. Among the top recommendations are:
- Eliminating points of entry creating unnecessary voting system risk by moving to Central Counting of Ballots
- Eliminating Use of Direct Recording Electronic (DREs) and Precinct-based Optical Scan Voting Machines that tabulate votes at polling locations
- Utilizing the AutoMark voting machine for voters with disabilities (This machine "reads" the bar code on a blank ballot and acts solely as a ballot marking device, allowing voters, especially those with disabilities, to mark ballots with little or no assistance, preserving the secrecy of their ballot selections.)
- Requiring all ballots be Optical Scan Ballots for central tabulation and effective voter verification
- Maintaining "no fault" absentee voting while establishing Early (15 days prior to the election) and Election Day Vote Centers (of the size of 5 to 10 precincts), eliminating voting at individual precincts or polling places of less than 5 precincts
- Requiring all Special Elections (issues only) held in August 2008 to be voted by mail (no in-person voting, except at the board of elections, for issue-only elections held in August 2008)
CUYAHOGA COUNTY PRIMARY ELECTION REMEDY
With a swift indication for state funding assistance, Cuyahoga County could move to a central-count optical scan voting system in time for the March 2008 primary election by using leased DREs for precinct- based voting by persons with disabilities and purchasing high-speed optical scanners (with compatible server and software and voting booths) for optical-scan voting.
This option has been estimated to cost between $2 million and $2.5 million. All purchased equipment could transfer to a vote center voting system for use in November 2008, and extra voting booths not needed for vote centers could be redistributed to other counties migrating from DRE to optical scan central count vote centers. The county would be responsible for printing a sufficient number of ballots for the March primary election. If this option were approved, purchases would need to be made immediately, with reimbursement applied for by the secretary of state to the Ohio General Assembly to reimburse the Cuyahoga County commissioners for equipment purchases.
CONCLUSION
The EVEREST study builds upon previous studies conducted around the country on voting systems, the Ohio secretary of state's office said. The study of the ES&S systems, however, is the first of its kind, officials said.
The Ohio study used testing done by both researchers from academic institutions including the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University and University of California at Santa Barbara, as well as corporate security personnel from firms such as Systest Labs of Denver and MicroSolved, Inc. of Columbus, Ohio. The Battelle Memorial Institute of Columbus served as project manager.
Researchers in the Ohio study had access to the computer source code provided by voting machine manufacturers as well as access to much of the equipment and documentation, the secretary of state's office said.
(Editor's Note: Copies of the EVEREST study and possible options are available online at www.sos.state.oh.us).
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Media Contacts:
Patrick Gallaway, Director of Communications, (614) 752-2450
Jeff Ortega, Assistant Director of Communications, Media, (614) 466-0473.
Report of Findings 
List of Reports/Findings
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