Verified Voting Newsletter, Issue 7 June 23, 2010    The latest election integrity news from the team at Verified Voting. 2010 - A Busy Year for Verified Voting 2010 has been a very busy year for Verified Voting. We've accomplished a lot as we continue our efforts towards making elections observable, reliable, accessible and verifiable, even as we face new challenges like Internet voting. Our work this year has included: Working with partners to bring together election officials, advocates, and experts to discuss improving post-election audits. Tracking voting systems and results throughout the primary season. Raising security concerns regarding EAC/NIST Internet and remote e-voting proposals. Participating in development of risk limiting audit legislation in California. Our fiscal year ends on June 30. Please take a minute to help Verified Voting continue our work for verifiable elections. You can help by donating here: http://verifiedvoting.org/donate Thank you for your support! South Carolina Primary "There is no state more representative of the need for a verifiable standard for nationwide systems than South Carolina" - Sean Flaherty, Verified Voting policy analyst The surprising outcome in the party primary for South Carolina's US Senate seat was accompanied by reports of voting problems on election day and questions about the accuracy of the vote count. Whether or not irregularities in this election are confirmed, the key fact about South Carolina's voting system is that ballots cannot be effectively audited or recounted. Because South Carolina uses paperless touch-screen voting machines, there is no way for voters to confirm their choices or a useful paper record to audit or recount. Serious concerns about the integrity of the primary are inevitable, and legitimate. Questions about the integrity of the primary vote deserve to be answered, but paperless elections provide no way to answer them. There was lots of commentary on the South Carolina primary, here's a selection: Verified Voting - On the South Carolina Primary National Journal - Voting Without a Net in SC CBS Evening News - Mystery Candidate in SC   2010 Primaries: More Recounts than Recountable Elections The 2010 primary election season is in full swing. As in every election cycle, there are a number of extremely close races, with recounts looming for some. So far this year, state-mandated automatic recounts are likely for the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, and for the Republican primary for Ohio's 18th U.S. Congressional District. In Oregon, a recount is possible in the statewide race for superintendent of schools... Read the full article...   VV Comments on Military and Overseas Voters Voting Best Practices Verified Voting submitted comments to NIST on the Draft Information System Security Best Practices for Military and Overseas Voting Systems. The NIST draft is a summary of security standards and guidelines "deemed most applicable for jurisdictions using IT systems to support UOCAVA voting". Verified Voting's comments noted that the draft falls short of providing a comprehensive analysis of security practices, and that it may encourage election officials and IT staff implementing Internet voting to believe that security controls outlined in the Draft are adequate to address all types of online voting, when they are not. VV's recommendations include that the final report include a separate section noting forms of online voting that cannot be secured using the suggested controls, such as return of cast ballots via email. Read Verified Voting's commentary on the NIST draft...   Internet Voting 2010 - Veriifed Voting Map Many states are moving quickly towards implementing remote electronic voting for military and overseas voters, despite warnings from security experts that returning cast ballots via the Internet is impossible to secure. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which recently released a draft report on best practices for remote voting, notes that the purpose of an upcoming workshop on remote voting systems is to "explore the technical issues associated with remote electronic absentee voting systems" and to "seek to understand risks associated with remote electronic voting" and "using the Cyber Infrastructures such as the Internet." The many known and still unknown risks should discourage states from using the Internet for casting ballots, but unfortunately this is not so. Verified Voting has prepared a map showing state plans for military and overseas voting in 2010. The map was recently updated to reflect Georgia's approval of a bill allowing Internet voting pilot programs. The page also includes links to articles and other resources on Internet voting. View the Internet Voting Map... Comments on EAC UOCAVA Pilot Program Testing Requirements The Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) released public comments submitted on their draft UOCAVA Pilot Program Testing Requirements. The EAC document spells out testing and certification requirements for Internet voting pilot programs for military and overseas voters, partly in response to the requirements of the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act passed in 2009. At least three states (AZ, CO, WV, and possibly GA and FL) are planning to carry out voluntary pilot programs this year. Despite the short time available for comment, many substantive comments were submitted, including from Verified Voting, and expressed recurring themes. We urge you to read through them... Read the full article with links to comments... Other Items of Interest Overseas and Military Voters Online Surveys Are you a military or overseas voter? There is still time to take an important survey about absentee voting! The Alliance for Military and Overseas Voting Rights (AMOVR) has developed two surveys of US military members, their families and overseas civilians on their experiences with the absentee voting process. The military family survey is located here: http://tiny.cc/AMOVR_Military The overseas civilian survey is located here: http://tiny.cc/AMOVR_Overseas Subscribe to Voting News Did you know you can receive daily updates on current news about election issues and voting systems in your email Inbox? It's free! Sign up for the Voting News here Support Verified Voting Your support makes our work possible. Donations can be made online here: http://verifiedvoting.org/donate Or mail a donation to PO Box 4104, Carlsbad, CA 92018-4104. Please note on your check whether you want to support VerifiedVoting.org (lobbying, not tax-deductible) or Verified Voting Foundation (tax-deductible). Thank you for all you do! "The core of our American democracy is the right to vote." In This Issue A Busy Year South Carolina Primary More Recounts than Recountable VV Comments on Overseas Voting Practices Internet Voting 2010 EAC UOCAVA Pilot Program Testing Comments Items of Interest   Latest News Voting Without A Net In South Carolina Paper Please! NJ Results Should Not Be Mysterious   Quick Links Contact Verified Voting Donate Take Action About Verified Voting VV on Twitter   Help Our Elections Please contribute to the effort for reliable and publicly verifiable election systems. CLICK HERE TO DONATE VerifiedVoting.org is a lobbying non-profit 501(c)(4) organization. Verified Voting Foundation is a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit organization.   The Verifier How do Americans cast their ballots? See the Verifier Map for detailed information on voting systems used in each state and county in recent elections. VIEW THE VERIFIER   Contact Us | Verified Voting | PO Box 4104 | Carlsbad | CA | 92018 To unsubscribe from this newsletter, send an email to http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/199/unsubscribe.jsp