CA Sec. of St. Forms Panel to Investigate Open Source Software for Elections

[Rosco T.]

http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=35

CA Sec. of State Forming Panel to Investigate Open Source Software for Elections

California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson is forming a panel to investigate using open source software in elections. He has invited OVC president Alan Dechert to be on the panel, and has asked for Dechert's input on who should be on the panel.
Many people, including Charlene Woodcock, have written to Secretary McPherson asking him to meet with OVC. In a letter to Charlene dated SEP 21, 2005 , McPherson wrote:

My staff has met with Alan Dechert of the Open Voting Consortium and continues to communicate with him on this subject. My office will be appointing a task force consisting of experts such as Mr. Dechert to conduct a study of Open Source Code and provide it to the Legislature. We have also asked him to recommend participants on our panel that will study open source code for voting systems.

(snip)

The report could form the philosophical basis for our Open Voting bill and could also provide the justification for getting HAVA funding for voting system Research and Development. OVC is asking that the CA State Government hire the University of California to do this work. McPherson has also made public statements indicating that he is in favor of this. A recent article in the Oakland Tribune says, "McPherson proposes pooling federal voting-reform money for several states and devoting it to research on the best way to verify electronic voting."

With any luck at all, California will show the way to get Open Voting instituted across the U.S.!