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Automated elections: electronic voting machines have problems too

by Roberto Verzola Secretary-general, Halalang Marangal 0929-856-1930. Automated elections: electronic voting machines have problems too. Background. 6-week research fellowship at University of Oxford's Internet Institute Research on election automation conducted OII Apr. 20-May 30, 2008

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Automated elections: electronic voting machines have problems too

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  1. by Roberto Verzola Secretary-general, Halalang Marangal 0929-856-1930 Automated elections: electronic voting machineshave problems too

  2. Background • 6-week research fellowship at University of Oxford's Internet Institute • Research on election automation conducted OII Apr. 20-May 30, 2008 • Research output submitted to the COMELEC June 2008 • Search: “verzola election research”

  3. Remember: • Moral problems cannot be solved by technological fixes • A magician's trick happens “faster than the eye can see” • Basic principles of democracy: • “Vote in secret, count in public” • Secret ballot, transparent count • “Follow the money”

  4. Costs of automated elections • $3,000 - $7,000 per machine • Unexpected costs • additional hardware; memory; batteries • software upgrades; configuration • training; public education • maintenance, storage, insurance • DRE (touch screen) much more expensive than OMR (optical scanners)‏

  5. 40,000 precinct clusters 2 OMR machines per cluster $5,000 per OMR machine Total: $400 M OMR cost alone: P19.2 B Machines that cost billions • 250,000 precincts • 2 DRE machines per precinct • $3,000 per DRE machine • Total: $1.5 B • DRE cost alone: P72 B

  6. ... will not eliminate cheating • P9 billion/election; P3 billion/year • Suppliers will make lots of money • The type of cheating will change • from manual cheating • to electronic cheating • 2000, 2004 'stolen' US presidency • 2008: only his landslide margin saved Obama from the cheats

  7. Vote suppression, buying • Search: “electronic voting machines” • 42,000 “incidents” in 2004-05 (U.S.)‏ • Vote suppression: registration-related, polling place inquiry, absentee ballot related, intimidation, ID related, late opening, early closing, insufficient ballots • Machine problems: uninitialized voting machines, votes not counted or reversed, wrong winner comes out, multiple voting, more votes than voters; negatives votes • Vote buying

  8. Trouble with voting machines • Uninitialized voting machines • Votes not counted or reversed • Wrong winner comes out • Multiple voting • More votes than voters; negative votes • Unauthorized software replacement

  9. Causes inherent to complex technologies • Software bugs • Hardware problems (esp. alignment)‏ • Environmental stresses • Poor or flawed design • Human error • Malicious tampering

  10. Controlling election cheating • Two-column balanced accounting for election tallies • Post-election statistical audits to ensure the integrity of results • Cleansing the voters' list • Transparency in count, canvass • Punish the cheats!

  11. 2007: How Maguindanao made Zubiri a senator Official 2007 Maguindanao results Example: 2007

  12. How NAMFREL helped hide Arroyo's cheating in 2004

  13. Two-column balanced accounting for election tallies • Universally-recognized superiority over single-column systems • Minimizes clerical errors, delays • Facilitates detection of fraud • Local pool of expertise (accountants and bookkeepers) already exist • Low-cost, no special hardware

  14. Post-election audits using statistical sampling • Persistence of machine troubles requires independent audits • Science and mathematics of election audits emerging • Random sampling of precincts can confirm at a 95% or higher confidence level the integrity of machine results • Has been tried in the U.S., now recommended in California

  15. Halalang Marangal convenors • Wigberto Tañada, former senator • Mehol Sadain, former Comelec Comm. • Gen. Francisco Gudani, retired • Sr. Mary John Mananzan, former St. Scholastica's College president • Isagani Serrano, PRRM senior VP • Ma. Paz Luna, TOYM awardee • Roberto Verzola, HALAL sec.-general

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