The California Secretary of State recently mandated that evoting machines used in California will need to print a paper receipt that allow voters to verify their votes and auditors to verify election results.
This is a tremendous step forward for safer evoting and a major victory for activists in California.
The need for paper voting receipts is pure common sense. A adversary who is able to modify the results of an election could also modify the electronic logs. Without a paper trail, there’s no way to track or fix things if the system is compromised.
The need for open code and open processes in the voting system is also a matter of common sense.
Try out this sentence: “in a democracy, the voting process should be a secret.” Doesn’t make any sense, does it? Try again: “In a democracy, the voting process conducted with computers should be secret.” Adding computers to the mix doesn’t change the need for an open voting process.
Hopefully the progress in California will provide impetus to activists in other states, and to the Holt Bill in Congress, which mandates these safeguards nationwide.