Reply #5: CA: Secretary of State Forms Committee for Open Source Election Software

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Help me here.This excellent article talks about a committee to open up electronic voting . It says, “With any luck at all, California will show the way to get Open Voting instituted across the U.S.” Wouldn’t it have made sense to make sure open voting were instituted befoe machines were purchased and put in place?


CA Sec. of State Forming Panel to Investigate Open Source Software for Elections
http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=35

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.

Engineer extraordinaire, Amy Pearl and OVC co-founder, Board Secretary, Professor Arthur Keller also attended the July meeting (referred to in McPherson's letter). Amy and Arthur deserve much of the credit for bringing the Secretary of State's office around.

In an earlier letter to Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg, McPherson referred to the "committee" he was forming. The exact nature of this "committee," "task force," or "panel," has not quite been determined. We expect this to involve public hearings.

Among the many illustrious individuals indicating they want to participate in the panel (and whose names Dechert submitted) are Bruce Perens and Brian Behlendorf. Behlendorf started Apache -- open source free software on which 70 percent of the web sites on the Internet are running.

This all started when OVC supporter Richard Dawson drafted a resolution and gave it to his representative in the State Assembly (Jackie Goldberg). Goldberg introduced Assembly Concurrent Resolution 242 (ACR 242). OVC supporters helped to get the resolution passed in the State Legislature over some industry opposition. Alan Dechert testified in favor of it before the Senate Elections Committee on AUG 11, 2004.

As a State Senator at the time, McPherson voted for it -- one of few Republicans that did so.

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.!
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