Reply #14: I prefer hcpb, but perhaps not endorse

[GuvWurld]

It took over a year to get the Arcata City Council to adopt the Voter Confidence Resolution (VCR). I gave many presentations and participated in lots of group discussions. The point was to build consensus. Hand counted paper ballots could not carry the day because many felt it was not realistic or would meet too much resistance (despite their own preference for it).

From my view, it became a losing proposition to fight for hcpb since it would stop people from supporting the resolution. The compromise language eventually embraced allowed for the possibility of hcpb, but also open source solutions. Our version (it is meant as a template, after all) of the VCR calls for "a voter verified paper ballot for every vote cast" and also "voting processes owned and operated entirely in the public domain." That means nothing paperless and nothing proprietary.

I know that this debate has been the cause of endless division in the election reform community. This is typical of the progressive movement in general. No matter what, I did not want to fall prey to this trap. I realized that even if a fight to the finish on this issue were to bring everyone into one camp, we still have many other things to be concerned about. We are also one small community and reaching such a decision here would have no affect on the overall basis for confidence in national elections.

What we needed was, again, consensus for making a statement. The statement is as much about defining a preferred set of election conditions as it is about catalyzing peaceful revolution through challenging the assumed Consent of the Governed. As more communities adopt the VCR, the frame that will emerge is "Has the Consent of the Governed been withdrawn, YET?" This posture assumes we can change the answer from NO to YES by passing the VCR in enough towns.

So while I prefer hcpb, I would become disruptive and counterproductive by stridently endorsing that. Technically then, and for entirely pragmatic reasons, I may be considered agnostic on this question. I also want to say that the Open Voting Consortium has a great concept for an open source voting system. I encourage everyone to read their Ballot Reconciliation Procedure Guide for a thorough understanding of what they propose. That is an 11 page .pdf that will take you from opening the polling place through counting and storing ballots. They need serious funding to build and test a prototype. I think it has a lot of potential and would satisfy the terms in Arcata's version of the VCR.