Dear Linux Magazine Reader,
Some issues facing the open source community are difficult to explain to outsiders, but some are problems the whole world faces. One issue most people care about is the right to vote. What does the right to vote have to do with open source software?
The Open Voting Consortium (OVC) is a group of experts devoted to ensuring that electronic voting systems remain auditable and open in future elections. This mission is actually quite consistent with the open source movement's focus on alerting the world to the problem of private companies controlling critical segments of the economy through proprietary software. In the case of the voting machine business, a few companies control a large portion of the industry, and no one really knows if their software has problems or not, since it isn't freely available for public review. And, as is often the case within the closed circles of closed source, proprietary hardware requires proprietary software, perpetuating a cycle of dependence that keeps the vendor in control.
The OVC identifies the following problems with the electronic voting industry:
The OVC proposes a comprehensive approach to addressing these issues. They have devised a complete system for fair and free electronic voting, and they have even built a prototype voting machine that embodies the project goals.
The open voting machine prints a summary paper ballot for every vote cast electronically. Voters can review their choices in the summary, and those who have difficulty reading can even listen to a spoken version of the summary (generated electronically and played through headphones). The summary paper ballots are placed in a secure ballot box, where they will serve as a cross-check and permanent record of the electronic tally.
Most important, the software used with the system is all open source. It will be subject to public review, it will be freely available to anyone who wants to use it, and it won't be controlled by proprietary interests.
The OVC is headed by a team of computer scientists. I have always thought it was quite a red flag that so many highly qualified professional computer experts are so decidedly under-enthusiastic about the whole concept of electronic voting, and yet, all too often, the warnings of these experts go unanswered. The well-known fiasco of the 2000 US presidential election and the more recent fiascos of the 2004 vote count in Ohio http://www.openvoting.org/files/Conyersreport.pdf make it obvious that something needs to happen - not just in the US, but in every democracy that depends on electronic voting devices.
I encourage anyone who embraces the ideals of freedom and open source software to visit the Open Voting Consortium at http://www.openvoting.org.