Our Mission
OVC will not run your elections for you. OVC will provide jurisdictions with tools enabling them to run their own elections in a secure, verifiable, accessible, and transparent manner -- very affordable, too. The People will own the hardware. The People will own the software. Together, we will exemplify the concept of Self Governance.We need this new approach to correct a technically flawed voting system that weakens democracy.
The California Secretary of State's investigation amounts to a scathing indictment of the whole system.
We believe that,
- the whole voting system must be open to complete public scrutiny with no room for "trade secrets,"
- the voting system must include a durable paper ballot that can be handled, stacked, counted, and recounted if necessary,
- the voting system should invite public participation instead of discouraging it,
- your ballot should be cast in private but counted in public,
- accessibility features should be built into the system,
- we need to conduct elections in a cost effective manner,
Current Efforts
It will literally take millions of dollars to develop and certify hardware that could be used with our open source software. We need major funding support or a major hardware partner to accomplish this.
Most of OVC's work has been done by volunteers. In order to complete this work at the high standard of quality demanded by the application, we will need paid professional staff.
Until we can get the necessary backing, we will continue to discuss our potential solution with jurisdictions but do not expect them to be paying for memberships.
Therefore, OVC will continue as a purely voluntary effort.
If you can help in any of these three areas, please feel free to contact us:
- Finding a hardware partner (or partners)
- Reaching out to jurisdictions
- Locate a source (or sources) for major funding
We thank everyone who has contributed to this effort so far.
Recent News & Events
ANNOUNCEMENT: OVC on CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight - TODAY 6pm EST, 3PM PST!
AUG 16 UPDATE: Watch this segment on line [click here]
Announcement: Open Voting Consortium CEO Alan Dechert will be on CNN with Lou Dobbs this evening at 6PM EASTERN, 3 PM Pacific. He will discuss the recent security problems uncovered by OVC and other organizations in the past few months.
Worst Flaw Ever in Diebold Touch Screen Voting Machine Revealed by Open Voting Foundation
9560 Windrose Lane
Granite Bay, CA 95746
Phone (916) 295-0415
alan@openvoting.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Subject: WORST EVER SECURITY FLAW FOUND IN DIEBOLD TS VOTING MACHINE
Contact: Alan Dechert
Reference: PICTURES
(Click on thumbnail. Click again on lower half of picture for high resolution)
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA -- “This may be the worst security flaw we have seen in touch screen voting machines,” says Open Voting Foundation president, Alan Dechert. Upon examining the inner workings of one of the most popular paperless touch screen voting machines used in public elections in the United States, it has been determined that with the flip of a single switch inside, the machine can behave in a completely different manner compared to the tested and certified version.
Sequoia Agrees to Comply with any Open Source legal requirements
Opposition to our open voting bill AB 2097 (Goldberg) was predicated on vendor non-compliance. They said our law would cost the state huge sums because vendors would refuse to go along.
We have proven this to be false. At the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting last week (Jun 8), the registrar of voters, Dave MacDonald described the contract with Sequoia. He said that the agreement includes a provision that says the vendor will comply with any state or federal law that requires open source. You can listen here. Here is page 12 from the contract (see last part of section E).
Bowen-Ortiz Debate
California State Senator Debra Bowen won the Democratic Party endorsement for the office of Secretary of State at the convention last weekend. In the debate with Senator Deborah Ortiz, her opponent in the primary, she condemns Diebold and says, emphatically, "we need open source voting software that is publicly owned and not proprietary...." Click here to listen to that part.
Or, you can listen to the whole debate. Willie Brown is the moderator. Senator Bowen received over eighty percent of the delegates' votes!
No Opposition
I've said it a few times in public. There's "no opposition" to the OVC project. The challenge is in gathering together the support needed to accomplish steps toward our ultimate goal.
So when Jackie Goldberg's office (of the CA Assembly Member that's carrying our bill, AB 2097) informed me that lobbyists were showing up saying that industry is making it a priority to kill our bill, I had to re-think that just a bit.
There is some opposition. We ran into that. Tom Umberg's staff didn't seem to like the bill. The American Electronics Association (AeA), a large industry association was represented at the hearing. Deborah Seiler (former Diebold salesperson) of Solano County and Jill LaVine of Sacramento testified on behalf of the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials (CACEO, Conny McCormack of Los Angeles, president). There was also opposition from another large industrial consortium, the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), which had sent a long opposition letter signed by representatives of ES&S and Sequoia. Two of McPherson's senior staff members represented the Secretary of State's office, explaining his position.
Keepin’ it Real with Will & Willie
How to Steal an Election
The Washington Post has a great graphic that details the differences in regulation between Vegas slot machines and proprietary electronic voting machines.The State of Nevada has access to all of the software that runs slot machines, and it's illegal for casinos to use software that's not on file. Meanwhile, Diebold, Sequoia and other vendors aren't required to disclose software code for their voting machines because it is a "trade secret."
Tell McPherson Diebold is No Good for California!
In just the past seven days, more than 2500 people have emailed Secretary of State Bruce McPherson through my website, urging him to reverse his decision to re-certify Diebold voting machines.
The people of California deserve a full and transparent process for managing elections, a process that welcomes their participation and input -- not backroom deals and secret studies that only see the light of day after final decisions have already been made.
Apparently, email messages from 2500 concerned citizens aren't enough to make Secretary McPherson change his mind -- so we need to make sure he hears from thousands more people, like you. That's why I'm asking you, urgently, to forward an email to the Secretary of State as well.
Urge Secretary of State McPherson to reverse his decision on Diebold -- email him today!
Bowen slams voting systems in S.C. speech
By Nancy Pasternack
sentinel staff writer
SANTA CRUZ — State Sen. Debra Bowen ventured onto Bruce McPherson's home turf Saturday to let voters know she's gunning for his job.
The tech-savvy legislator, D-Marina del Rey, spoke to a group of 20 Santa Cruz Democrats in the basement of the Veterans Hall about inconsistencies and a lack of security in American and California voting systems.
"You cannot maintain a democracy where a significant number of people have doubts about the legitimacy of an election," Bowen said. She criticized Secretary of State McPherson for certifying on Feb. 17 voting systems made by Diebold Election Systems of Canton, Ohio, whose CEO made campaign contributions to the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign.
$10,000 Challenge Grant received
Friends, we have received a $10,000 challenge grant from OVC supporter Chris Franklin. Here's what he had to say about it:
In thriving democracies, vote counting is observed by representatives from all of the parties involved. This process makes cheating and/or mistakes almost impossible. Use of closed, proprietary, software to count the vote eliminates any observation, making the vote totals inherently untrustworthy. Open voting systems, that can be examined by all parties involved, is the only way to retain this crucial oversight when votes are counted by machine. OVC is a central part of making sure this is done.
I am making this donation with the expectation that others will match my contribution. People who, like me, want to look their children in the eye and know that they have done everything in their power to hand down a great country with a democratically elected government. Only with a voting system that is completely open to voter oversight, can that be ensured. If we lose our democracy to secret vote counting, our children will not enjoy the freedoms that we have today.
Please help match Chris' contribution by donating what you can today.
