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Company in US releases Source Code to Electronic Voting System

Submitted by Willy Smith on 8 April, 2004 - 23:21.

Article from New Scientist (English)

'VoteHere, based in Washington State, has placed the software used to control some e-voting machines on its website for free downloading. A "voting machine simulation" is also included that lets programmers see precisely how the code would work in practice. "You can actually program it to cheat, and you can watch where the protocol detects where your ballot was changed," company founder Jim Adler, told MSNBC. "Now it's up to the world to take a look and dig in and give us their opinion."'

The article also gives a glossy overview of the Diebold scandal. Here's the press release from the company site, www.VoteHere.com. There's also a link in the last paragraph to the source code itself if you'd like to download it.



VoteHere

Releases VHTi Reference Source Code Implementation


Voting company is first to release source code for public scrutiny

Bellevue, WA -
April 6, 2004 - To bring transparency to elections, VoteHere, Inc., a leading global supplier of secure electronic voting technology, today released a reference source code implementation of VHTi, its election verification technology.

There has been much discussion about verification for electronic voting machines and by opening the VHTi source code, VoteHere proves that verification technology exists and is ready.

VHTi answers the toughest arguments against electronic voting. In every election, it proves voting machines have worked correctly and provides for a meaningful audit — even when faced with hackers, corrupt insiders, and software bugs.

"This is a huge step forward," said Jim Adler, Founder of VoteHere. "As we project democratic values onto the information age, issues of transparency and accountability will continue to be paramount. Nowhere are these issues more important than at the ballot box. VoteHere continues to lead by being the first company to provide this level of openness."

As part of this release, VoteHere contracted with Plus Five Consulting to review the VHTi source code and provide feedback to the company. All of the input provided by Plus Five has been addressed in the review documentation.

"The very fact that they got an outside review shows how serious VoteHere is about real security," said Robert W. Baldwin, Ph.D., former Technical Director at RSA Security and co-founder of Plus Five Consulting. "The VHTi source code is written in a professional and consistent style making it easy to understand and review."

VoteHere encourages all interested parties to review the code and provide feedback. The package is available at http://www.votehere.com/downloads.html. It includes:

  • Reference source-code that implements the VHTi technology
  • Instructions on how to build the source
  • Samples of VHTi's usage
  • Document of already known issues

VHTi is licensed technology available from the manufacturers of electronic voting machines. VHTi guarantees election confidence, by providing proof that ballots are cast as intended and counted as cast—all while maintaining voter privacy.


About VoteHere

VoteHere, Inc. is a global software company, delivering advanced e-voting technology to election providers since 1996. VoteHere offers its partners innovative, secure, reliable, user-friendly e-voting solutions to support the growth of e-enabled elections that maintain privacy and ensure election verification. For more information about VoteHere, visit the company’s website at
www.votehere.net.


 

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