Alternative Voting Technologies

League of Women Voters^®
of the Clemson Area

LWV-SC Task Force on Alternative Voting Technologies

Background. LWV of South Carolina articles and publications. LWV Studies. Costs. Brennan Center for Justice. News Articles. Miscellaneous.

Background

An Alternative Voting Technologies Task Force was created by the League of Women Voters of South Carolina Board on March 12, 2011. The proposal for the adoption of the task force is available here.
Problems with the accuracy of the certified vote using the current Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting system are expected to accelerate replacement of the current voting technology. The League needs to be knowledgeable about possible voting technologies in order to participate in selection of the next voting system.
This task force will examine the existing literature and periodically share collected information with the membership of LWVSC, utilizing the SC Voter and statewide meeting such as League Leaders' Day and State Council. Duncan Buell and Eleanor Hare be co-chairs.

LWV of South Carolina articles and publications

Position paper on electronic voting, June, 2008.

Winter, 2010: South Carolina's Voting Machines I: A Post-Election Status Report

Spring, 2011: South Carolina's Voting Machines II: Auditing the Voting Machines

Fall, 2011: An Overview of Voting Equipment

To appear, Spring 2012: Ensuring the Future Integrity of the Vote Auditing and recounting paper ballots.

LWV Studies

Electronic Voting Equipment, Impact on Issues, 2005-2007, New York State.

The LWV of New York (state) 2010 Election Survey Report

Report on Election Auditing, January 2009, Election Audits Task Force of the LWV-US.

Election Law: Absentee Ballots Briefing Paper, LWV of Minnesota discusses absentee ballot problems and proposes solutions.

Costs

Spreadsheet of Election System & Software annual contract charges to counties. This spreadsheet has been obtained from election directors, with the warning that it is not entirely accurate.

Cost Analysis of Maryland's Electronic Voting System, Feb. 2008. A sequence of slides.

Maryland Voting Systems Study, Dec. 2010.

Operating Cost Comparison for Different Types of Voting Systems and update for 2004-2008. North Carolina

Salem, OH, must pay $45K for ES&S paper ballot - optical scan

Cost of operating SC equipment. Work in progress, April, 2011.
ProCon.org: How much does it cost to purchase an electronic voting machine?, 2008.
ES&S machines in West Virginia, April 2011.
Current prices for paper ballots and programming ADA-compliant iVotronics in SC Provided by the South Carolina State Election Commission.
Wake County, NC, uses ES&S Model 100 and Model 650 scanners with voter-marked paper ballots (VerfiedVoting.org). The Elections Director is considering having ES&S train their technicians ($15,000 each) to maintain their machines instead of paying an annual maintenance fee to ES&S.

Brennan Center for Justice

The Machinery of Democracy: Protecting Elections in an Electronic World , 2006. Primarily about security.

The Machinery of Democracy: Voting System Security, Accessibility, Usability, and Cost, 2006.

Post-Election Audits: Restoring Trust in Elections, 2006.

News Articles

Electronic voting a threat to democracy ABC News

April 2011: Losing Democracy in Cyberspace "Because voting computers are so vulnerable to tampering, they must be checked through an independent auditing system, not controlled by the computer, to make sure that they are counting votes properly."

April 2011: S.C. voting machines to get closer probe also appeared in the Post & Courier

Nov. 2010: $155,000 in ballots to be trashed

Miscellaneous

Electronic Voting -- Overview and Issues

CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project

EAC Certified System Technical Advisory DS200.

PrintElect produces ES&S paper ballots in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, 2007.

Vendors are Undermining the Structure of U.S. Elections, 2008, VotersUnite. One conclusion: "Citizens ... must demand transparent oversight of the elections they rightfully own."

California Sec of State Top to Bottom Review, 2007. An extensive review of different voting systems.

The EAC partners with California on Post-election audit grant program

Comments, suggestions, questions? Contact our webmaster. Last revised: April 4, 2012 18:46 PDT.