HAVA Look: A Simple, Verifiable, Open Source, Paper Ballot Vote-Recording & Counting System -- TIA

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HAVA Look:  A Simple, Verifiable, Open Source, Paper Ballot Vote-Recording & Counting System

TruthIsAll     http://www.geocities.com/electionmodel/HAVAOnePC.htm

Thanks to HAVA, elections are vulnerable to multiple vote miscounts: at the precinct level with closed-source, diverse, proprietary code-based touch screens (DREs) and Optical scanners and then on closed-source, proprietary Central Tabulators. They have you coming and going.

On the other hand, paper ballots can easily be input to a standard personal computer spreadsheet. Voters can request a copy before leaving the precinct. The precinct (spreadsheet) file is uploaded to the Internet. The voter can quickly and easily verify his vote as the spreadsheet ballot records are sorted by a unique Precinct/Ballot ID code. At the same time, he can view and/or download the total precinct ballots to verify the vote counts. Consolidation of district/county/state vote counts is tabulated by Open Source software.

Three (3) volunteers input and verify the paper ballots. As Volunteer A reads the ballot, B enters the data and C verifies the result. Data entry would be completed shortly after the polls closed. The voter fills out a ballot marking each selected candidate's code (i.e. a=Dem, b=Rep, c=Ind). The volunteers use their god-given optical scanners (EYES) to read the ballots and enter the codes in a spreadsheet. As each code is entered, the spreadsheet automatically calculates the total vote and percentage for each candidate.

The following simple steps complete the process:

Print the spreadsheet (1 minute).

Upload it to the Internet (10 seconds) so anyone can check the precinct results.

Upload the sheet to the Central Tabulator (10 seconds).

The published totals should match the precinct totals on the Internet and the local PC.

There are approximately 200,000 precincts nationwide, an average of 4,000 per state. How much would it cost and how long would it take to process and count the votes in an average precinct of 600 voters?

Just one (1) $400 Personal Computer is used for ballot data entry

$100 Printer

$100 Spreadsheet

Assuming that data entry/verification takes 1 minute per voter, total data entry time would be 600 minutes (10 hours), which can be spread out over 12 hours on Election Day. Larger precincts could install additional PCs and add volunteers as necessary. The individual PC spreadsheets would be combined into a single file (sorted by Ballot ID) for uploading to the Internet.

There are many advantages over the current, vulnerable system. HAVA look:

• Data redundancy:


1. Original paper ballots: retained in a secure location
   
2. Precinct spreadsheet files: ballots sorted by ballot ID
   
3. Internet: copies of uploaded precinct files for online viewing/download
   
4. Internet: County/state composite files (vote totals sorted by precinct/county) for online viewing


• Data / software integrity:


1. Original paper ballots: documented chain of custody
   
2. Data integrity (100% automatic audit to catch discrepancies between the local precinct spreadsheet and corresponding internet file
   
3. Open Source code: eliminate proprietary code on DRE/ Optiscan/ central tabulator


• Eliminate corrupting influence of vendors and election officials:


1. Hardware: Eliminate bribery of election officials for purchase of DREs and optical scanners
   
2. Diebold/Premier & ES&S out of the DRE/Opscan voting machine business

A Simple Precinct Spreadsheet Vote Recorder

Example:
Precinct 101 (500 voters)
Party Code: a=Dem, b=Rep, c=Ind
Voter Ballot Code: 101xxxxxx

Note: Totals are calculated using the Excel function: COUNTIF (range, party code).
For example, the total number of Democratic (column B, rows 10-509) votes for president:
242 =COUNTIF (b10.b509,”a”)

            Pres   Senate  Congress  Other1   Other2   Other3   Other4   Other5   Other6   Other7   Other8
Totals
Dem          242      233      252      242      233      252      242      233      252      242      233
Rep          234      244      225      234      244      225      234      244      225      234      244
Ind           24       23       23       24       23       23       24       23       23       24       23
BallotID
1010001        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a
1010002        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a
1010003        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a
1010004        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
1010005        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
1010006        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a
1010007        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a
1010008        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
1010009        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
1010010        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
1010011        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
... ...
1010490        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
1010491        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
1010492        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
1010493        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a
1010494        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
1010495        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a
1010496        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b
1010497        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a
1010498        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a
1010499        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a        a
1010500        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b        b