NIST RECOMMENDS SCRAPPING DRE VOTING MACHINES!

 Says Machines Should be Decertified! Also Says So-Called 

'Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) Should Not Be 

Used' in Voting Systems!

 Posted By Brad On 29th November 2006 @ 14:37 In Election 

Reform, Voting System Certification | 15 Comments

 Huge news. Michael Hickins of InternetNews.com has the 

scoop [1]. Here are the highlights…

 A federal agency is set to recommend significant changes 

to specifications for electronic-voting machines next 

week, internetnews.com has learned. 

 The National Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST) is recommending that the 2007 version of the 

Voluntary Voting Systems Guidelines (VVSG) decertify 

direct record electronic (DRE) machines.

 …

 According to an NIST paper to be discussed at a meeting 

of election regulators at NIST headquarters in 

Gaithersburg, Md., on Dec. 4 and 5, DRE vote totals 

cannot be audited because the machines are not software 

independent. 

 In other words, there is no means of verifying vote 

tallies other than by relying on the software that 

tabulated the results to begin with. 

 The machines currently in use are "more vulnerable to 

undetected programming errors or malicious code," 

according to the paper [2]. 

 The NIST paper also noted that, "potentially, a single 

programmer could 'rig' a major election."

 This is a tremendously important development!

 To be clear, the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST) is the group that oversees the 

formulation of the so-called federal "Voting Systems 

Standards". Those are the standards, such that there are 

any, which are in effect today at the federal level to 

determine federal certification of voting systems. NIST 

hosts the Technical Guidelines Development Committee for 

the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and they are the 

body who developed the current standards now in use. This 

report will likely have an enormous impact in shaping 

whatever may happen next concerning any upcoming Election 

Reform or legislation in DC.

 But wait, it gets even better!…

 [3]Apropos of an article here at BRAD BLOG earlier today 

[4], in which we tried to make clear that paper trails on 

touch-screen machines (versus paper ballots as used with 

optical-scan or hand-counted systems) are not an adequate 

solution to the nation's — or even Florida 13's — current 

voting dysfunction, NIST agrees that paper trails don't 

cut it:

 The NIST is also going to recommend changes to the 

design of machines equipped with paper rolls that provide 

audit trails. 

 Currently, the paper rolls produce records that are 

illegible or otherwise unusable, and NIST is recommending 

that "paper rolls should not be used in new voting 

systems."

 …And, of course, BRAD BLOG [5] Guest Blogger and 

erstwhile election watchdog/champion John Gideon of 

VotersUnite.org [6] — previously a supporter of the 

so-called Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) 

"solution", such as the one which would be standardized 

by Rep. Rush Holt's HR550 election reform legislation — 

now concurs that VVPAT on touch-screen and DRE systems is 

no longer a viable option.

 Joining a growing group of folks who have changed their 

view on this point in the wake of the various disasters 

of 2006's Election Meltdown, he's quoted by Hickins 

thusly:

 Many former advocates of VVPAT, including John Gideon, 

executive director of VotersUnite, now favor requiring 

that all votes be recorded on paper ballots. 

 "DREs are unacceptable as voting devices and … the 

addition of a VVPAT on a DRE is only a placebo to make 

some voters feel more comfortable," Gideon said in an 

e-mail.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they 

fight you, then you win…?

 Stay tuned. 

 URLs in this post:

 [1] InternetNews.com has the scoop: 

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3646231

 [2] paper: 

http://vote.nist.gov/DraftWhitePaperOnSIinVVSG2007-20061120.pdf

 [3] Image: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3857

 [4] article here at BRAD BLOG earlier today: 

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3857

 [5] BRAD BLOG: http://www.Bradblog.com

 [6] VotersUnite.org: http://www.VotersUnite.org