Open-source voting system explained

An open-source voting system (OSVS), also known as open-source voting (or OSV), is a voting system that uses open-source software (and/or hardware) that is completely transparent in its design in order to be checked by anyone for bugs or issues.[1] Free and open-source systems can be adapted and used by others without paying licensing fees, improving the odds they achieve the scale usually needed for long-term success.[2] The development of open-source voting technology has shown a small but steady trend towards increased adoption since the first system was put into practice in Choctaw County, Mississippi in 2019.[3]

Significance

Security and trust

See also: Open-source software security and Security through obscurity. Systems where more people can understand more of the process and get insights into details serve a similar purpose to election observers who help to inspire trust with increased transparency and verification.[4] Additionally, when 90% of the market of election systems in the United States, for example, are run by 'murky' and 'inscrutable' private equity companies, conspiracy theories can flourish alongside serious vulnerabilities. With quicker identification and correction of issues than under proprietary systems, organizations such as the U.S. Defense Department and NASA opt to incorporate open-source software.[5] Cities, for example, can have their own staff work on software with the vendors when out in the open, allowing for faster patches and enhancing their election security.[6] The consensus among the information security community is that a widely-used open-source system should be more secure than a closed one, as more people tend to be willing and able to check for vulnerabilities.[7]

Cost Savings

In addition to increased transparency creating more trust and security, open-source software can lower costs for elections. A VotingWorks bid in a Mississippi county, for example, was 50% less than the other vendors using proprietary software,[8] while its machines in 2021 were listed at 1/3 the price of the average machine. Open-source software allows maintenance costs to be controlled via vendor competition (rather than dependence on just a couple vendors), and to be shared with other jurisdictions as they employ the software.[9]

Proprietary vendors are not transparent about their costs, estimates found that roughly 2/3 of their revenue came from support, maintenance and services.[10] Private vendors also have sued governments trying to switch to a more reliable process.

Development milestones

In 2004, Open Voting Consortium demonstrated a "Dechert Design" GPL open source paper ballot printing and scanner voting system.[11] In 2008, Open Voting Consortium demonstrated the system at a mock election for LinuxWorld.[12] [13] In 2019, Microsoft made its ElectionGuard software open-source, which the company claims is used by all major manufacturers of voting systems (in the United States),[14] however they have come under fire for obstructing the adoption of open-source election software.[15] In 2020, Los Angeles County became the first U.S. jurisdiction to implement its own publicly-owned election system.[16] The Los Angeles attempt at open source voting was dismissed by Open Source Initiative as a failed project when it did not meet accepted open source standards. A condition of the Secretary of State's approval was to open-source the code by October 1, 2021,[17] but had not met that commitment as of February 2022.[18]

San Francisco applied to run a limited pilot in November 2022 using VotingWorks, but California's Secretary of State asked the City to resubmit their application when the nonprofit's ranked-choice voting module was closer to completion.[19]

Adoption

Mississippi was the first state to have local jurisdictions use open-source voting systems to cast and count ballots. In New Hampshire, the towns of Ashland, Newington and Woodstock piloted that same open-sourced software system in the fall of 2022 with an eye to possible statewide adoption of VotingWorks' open-source systems by 2024.[20]

Open-source election risk-limiting audit systems have been implemented statewide in the U.S. states of Georgia,[21] Michigan, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia and in local jurisdictions in California, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Washington.[22]

See also

References

  1. Web site: 2016-10-05 . The threat to our voting system that's more likely than hacking . 2022-12-09 . PBS NewsHour . en-us.
  2. Web site: 2017-2018 Civil Grand Jury Report on Open Source Voting in San Francisco. December 5, 2022.
  3. Web site: Huseman . Jessica . The Way America Votes Is Broken. In One Rural County, a Nonprofit Showed a Way Forward. . 2022-12-09 . ProPublica . en.
  4. Web site: Wofford . Ben . June 25, 2021 . One Man's Quest to Break Open the Secretive World of American Voting Machines . 2022-12-09 . POLITICO . en.
  5. News: Woolsey . R. James . Fox . Brian J. . 2017-08-03 . Opinion To Protect Voting, Use Open-Source Software . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-12-09 . 0362-4331.
  6. Web site: Elder . Jeff . November 14, 2021 . How one company came to control San Francisco's elections . 2022-12-04 . San Francisco Examiner . en.
  7. Web site: 2017-2018 Civil Grand Jury Report on Open Source Voting in San Francisco. December 5, 2022.
  8. Web site: Guizerix . Anna . 2021-08-18 . Warren County Supervisors approve purchase of new voting machines . 2022-12-04 . The Vicksburg Post . en.
  9. San Francisco Open Source Voting Technical Advisory Committee. May 14th 2019 Meeting. Committee Member Brandon Phillips. p. 39. https://osvtac.github.io/files/meetings/2020/2020-03-12/packet/DT_OSV_State_of_Art_Briefing_Feb_2020.pdf
  10. News: Mestel . Spenser . February 28, 2024 . The Start-Up Busting the Voting Machine Monopoly . . Pulitzer Center.
  11. Web site: Technology Briefing | Software: Voting Software To Be Demonstrated. John. Schwartz (NYT). April 1, 2004. The New York Times.
  12. Web site: Open-source e-voting gets LinuxWorld test run. Todd R.. Weiss. August 6, 2008. Computerworld.
  13. Web site: Gage . Deborah . 2008-08-02 . Voting machine gets LinuxWorld tryout . 2023-06-18 . San Francisco Chronicle . en-US.
  14. Web site: Microsoft makes its open-source secure voting software available to all . 2022-12-04 . Engadget . en-US.
  15. https://therealactivistmovie.com "The Real Activist"
  16. Web site: AP20:091 Los Angeles County VSAP 2.1 Voting System Certified :: California Secretary of State . 2022-12-05 . www.sos.ca.gov.
  17. "Conditional Approval of Los Angeles County's Voting Solutions for All People (VSAP) 2.1 Voting System" by Alex Padilla, California Secretary of State. October 1, 2020. Condition 28, p. 6. https://votingsystems.cdn.sos.ca.gov/vendors/LAC/vsap2-1/vsap21-cert.pdf
  18. Web site: February 23, 2022 . Voting Security and the Status of Open Source Software . 2022-12-09 . KALW . en.
  19. "Update on Open-Source Pilot Program." Letter from Shirley N. Weber, California Secretary of State to John Arntz and the City and County of San Francisco. May 6, 2022. https://sfgov.org/electionscommission/sites/default/files/Documents/meetings/2022/2022-11-16-commission/Attachment%201.pdf
  20. Web site: November 8, 2022 . 3 N.H. towns are testing out new ballot counting machines that use open source software . 2022-11-25 . www.wbur.org . en.
  21. Web site: November 10, 2022 . Georgia Sec. of State chooses own race for election audit . 2022-12-09 . 11Alive.com . en-US.
  22. Web site: VotingWorks FAQ . 2022-12-04 . www.voting.works.