Electronic Frontier Foundation on Carter-Baker

[eridani]

EFF Applauds Commission Recommendations But Opposes National ID Card Endorsement

Washington, DC - The Carter-Baker Commission, formally known as the Commission on Federal Election Reform, this week released an extensive report on the country's electoral health, along with a wide range of suggested reforms. Most of the Commission's recommendations should cheer those concerned about the security of electronic voting.

The report found that there is an urgent need for the nation to increase transparency in voting processes and to institute robust security measures, and that the lack of transparency and robust security is undermining public confidence that votes are being accurately recorded.

"The Commission joins a growing chorus of concerned groups and citizens urging that electronic voting technology and related procedures be overhauled," said EFF Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "This high-level, bipartisan panel confirmed that e-voting has introduced an unacceptable amount of uncertainty
into voting, which should be the most trusted task performed by government. Congress and the states need to move quickly to ensure that another election doesn't go by with the same systemic flaws.

Luckily, on the federal level, HR 550 could help us reach some of those goals by mandating a voter-verified paper trail and mandatory audits." HR 550, currently seeking support in the House, could become the biggest beneficiary from the report's strong pro-paper trail findings. http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=109>

Zimmerman noted that while most of the Commission's recommendations were on-the-mark, others - such as permitting states to decide for themselves whether paper or electronic ballots would rule in the event of disparities - don't go far enough to ensure accountable elections. In addition, EFF strongly opposes the Commission's privacy-invasive recommendations regarding voter identification. The report suggests that voters should be required to present the national ID card mandated by the recently passed Real ID Act at the voting booth.

"Tying voter ID requirements to the REAL ID Act is bad for voting and for privacy," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien. "There's scant evidence that inadequate voter ID is a factor in election fraud. And the Commission admits to concerns that voter ID requirements could disenfranchise eligible voters, adversely affect minorities, or be used to monitor whether voting behaviors are 'serious and legitimate' - a vague and subjective standard."

"Moreover, the REAL ID Act turns drivers' licenses into de facto national IDs by forcing states to link their DMV databases so that drivers' personal data will instantly be available to a wide range of state, local, and federal officials," added Tien. "Once created, history has shown that law enforcement, employers, landlords, credit agencies, mortgage brokers, and direct mailers will find a way to access and abuse those databases."

For the full press release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_09.php#003993

For the Carter-Baker Commission report:
http://eff.org/Activism/E-voting/cb_commission_report.pdf

EFF action alert to support HR 550:
http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=109

More about e-voting:
http://www.eff.org/Activism/E-voting/

[rhite5]

1. Decentralize=Good; Centralize=Bad; Don't trust Jim Baker

I think it is a good thing that the law allows each state to set up its own procedures. The last thing we want is for the PEOPLE'S votes to be controlled centrally by the government. Let us not forget that voting belongs to the PEOPLE. We need to decentralize it as much as possible.
If it is centralized (one size fits all) it is much easier for high level fraud to take place.

Incidentally, I would never trust anything that is recommended by Jim Baker. Has everyone forgotten the role he played in Florida during the 2000 recounts where he led the disruptions and did everything he could to stop the recount?