PA-VerifiedVoting.org

PAPER BALLOTS WITH ROUTINE AUDITS FOR PENNSYLVANIA'S ELECTIONS

What are Voter-Verified Paper Ballots (V-VPBs)? Voter-verified paper ballots safeguard the integrity of elections. V-VPBs prevent inaccuracies and covert computer fraud while providing the secure basis for audits and recounts. Voters can hold paper ballots in their hands and review them for accuracy. Voters then place the paper ballots in the ballot box for counting. Audits of V-VPBs provide the best measure of accuracy for electronic voting in elections. In America, voting always occurs in privacy to prevent the historical problems of coercion and bribery in elections. Because we vote in the privacy of the voting booth, only the voter can verify that the official ballot is accurate. Because inaccuracies due to error or fraud in computer voting are covert, voter-verification of a permanent publicly observable official record (the paper ballot) is the essence of the intended safeguard of V-VPBs.

Why does Pennsylvania need a voter-verified paper ballot?Voter-Verified Paper Ballots with routine audits are the most accurate, secure and auditable method of voting. Voter-Verified Paper Ballots can safeguard the integrity of our elections by keeping the election process observable and auditable. Public observation is key for insuring honesty.

On the other hand the security issues of computer voting are complex, covert, rapidly evolving and are not understood by most computer experts, let alone poll workers and most staff at the county board of elections. The vendors of computer voting machinery insist on preventing public observation of the details of their software and hardware. Government election officials do not have the legal right, technical ability, or resources to carefully check voting software for security risks. Sophisticated vote fraud with e-voting would only require one second or less of access by malicious software. Ensuring the absence of remote access to computer voting machinery is problematic at best. Fundamentally, computer voting without V-VPBs places the integrity of our elections within unobservable, unverifiable, unmeasurable, and unaccountable processes.

Over 2000 computer scientists have signed a petition stating that paperless computer voting is prone to undetected error and fraud (see verifiedvoting.org), while over 95% of the of the surveyed membership of the Association for Computer Machinery considered V-VPBs in computer voting a good idea. In follow up interviews conducted by Barbara Simons, then president of the ACM, the remaining 5% overwhelmingly reported they would have endorsed the V-VPB statement if it had more strongly condemned the use of paperless computer voting.

Are Routine Audits Necessary?Voter Verified Paper Ballots by themselves will do little to detect inaccuracies and vote fraud unless they are part of a mandatory routine audit process at the precinct level. Comparing a random sample of the paper ballots to the electronic vote at the precinct level verifies the accuracy of the electronic voting systems. If there is a discrepancy between the electronic tally and the paper ballot tally, the paper ballot should be the official record of the vote.

Isn't a Paper Audit Trail Enough? Paper audit trails, as are required nationally by the Help America Vote Act as of 1/1/06, would only be reviewed in the rare event of a recount. Paper audit trails can not verify the voter's intent and are negligible for detecting vote inaccuracy or computer vote fraud. Computers can produce print outs that differ from the electronic tally.Voter-verified paper ballots elegantly solve a vast number of computer security and accuracy issues, that audit trails can't address. Click here for a quick demonstration of "Fraudo" : A fraudulent election program with audit trail.

Help Get VVPBs for Pennsylvania's Elections!

• Ask our Pennsylvania legislature to pass a V-VPB law.
• Urge our 67 PA County Boards of Elections decide to purchase V-VPB equipment this September
• Ask our Secretary of the Commonwealth, Mr. Pedro Cortes, and the Department of General Services award contracts and certify V-VPB voting systems.