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17-803/17-400 Electronic Voting: Session 3: Punched-Card Systems
17-803/17-400 Electronic Voting: Session 3: Punched-Card Systems
17-803/17-400 Electronic Voting: Session 3: Punched-Card Systems
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Qualification/Certification
• The Federal Election Commission (FEC) published
voluntary standards for voting systems
• Many states have made the standards mandatory
• How to test against them?
• The National Association of State Election Directors
(NASED) has authorized a small number of
Independent testing authorities to qualify voting
systems
• After qualification, most states have a certification
process to verify that the system satisfies state law
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Qualification/Certification Problems
• The FEC standards are inadequate for software
security
• The ITAs operate in secret
– Don’t publish their testing protocols
– Don’t publish their findings, just whether a system passed
• The ITAs are paid by the vendors
• State certifications are cursory, usually not performed
by experts
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Help America Vote Act of 2002
• Payments to states to replace paper and level
machines: $3 billion
• Establishes Election Assistance Commission
• Reforms the standards process (National Institute of
Standards and Technology)
• Provisional voting
• Statewide registration systems
• Complaint procedure
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Punch Card Voting
• Will be used by about 14% of the U.S. in 2004
• Will be used in 69 of 88 counties in Ohio (PA only
has 67 counties)
• Began in the 1960s with the IBM Porta-Punch
• By 2000 was used in 37% of the U.S., until Florida
Votomatic Punched-Card System
228
312
BALLOT FRAME
VOTING SETUP
VOTING BOOTH
VOTING BALLOT
STYLUS SEALS
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Punched Card (14%)
REGISTRATION
HOLES
STUB FOR
WRITE-INS CHAD
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Punched Card (14%)
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Card Manufacture
• Card stock
– Humidity
• Prescored cards
– Dies: depth, location of scoring
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Ballot Frames
• Card registration
• Stylus
• Punch pressure
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Human Factors
• Ballot pages
• Ballot review
• Spoiled ballot
• Overvoting
• “Butterfly ballot”
• “No butterfly ballot may be used as an official ballot in
any referendum, primary, or other election.” N.C.
Gen. Stat. §163-165.4B
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Palm Beach County “Butterfly” Ballot
Orange (Orlando)
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS SOURCE: LOS ANGELES COUNTY
Ballot “Programming”
• Inform the tabulation system of the correspondence
between punch positions and candidate names
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Card Readers
• Manufacturer
• Reading the card changes the card
• Chads fall out, chads are replaced
• Role of “chad teams”
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Counting Punched Cards
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
What Constitutes a Vote?
• “Each State shall adopt uniform and
nondiscriminatory standards that define what
constitutes a vote and what will be counted as a vote
for each category of voting system used in the State.”
HAVA, 42 U.S.C. § 15481(a)(6)
• TABLE
• PENNSYLVANIA
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Punched-Card Problems
• Can’t see whom you’re voting for
• Registration of card in ballot frame
• Must use stylus: no positive feedback on punch
• Hanging chad: chad that is partially attached to the
card
– How may corners?
– Hanging chad causes count to differ every time
• Dimple: chad that is completely attached but shows
evidence of an attempt to punch
– Dimple can turn into a vote on multiple readings
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Q&A
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
What’s a Recount?
• Purpose: “verify” that the original tabulation was
correct
• Three kinds of recounts:
– A. Physical ballots exist: Count them again.
– B. Computer records exist: Tabulate them again.
– C. No physical ballots or computer records exist
(e.g. lever machines): Read the counters again
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS
Votomatic Punched-Card System
17-803/17-400 ELECTRONIC
VOTING
FALL 2004
COPYRIGHT © 2004
MICHAEL I. SHAMOS