Re: Hand Recounts of votes recorded on DREs
What happens if statistical tests or exit polls conflict with the reported
results? We've seen in Washington State that the challenger has to pay
roughly $750K to have a recount for governor, even with a difference of only
42 votes. We have seen in Ohio that a partisan election official might be
able to delay a recount for the presidency until it's too late for the
recount to have any impact. We know that Gore would have won Florida in
2000 had all of the votes been recounted. But the Gore campaign wasn't even
allowed to complete a limited recount.
Obviously, our restrictive laws on recounts are not the fault of paperless
DREs. But, we cannot assume away a problem by offering a solution that in
most cases does not correspond to reality.
Regards,
Barbara
On 12/7/04 9:35, "Dick Johnson" <dick.johnson@oracle.com> wrote:
> Arthur,
>
> A testing of the DREs used in an election should allow you to evaluate
> the system within statistical limits. Simulating the election should
> give you the information you want; you can compare known inputs to
> observed outputs. Since this is post election, it does not satisfy the
> same requirements as would AVVPAT. An automated test system should fill
> the bill very well, however, of estimating the performance of a given
> voting system.
>
> This is my personal and professional opinion, and it does not
> necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer.
>
> Cheers!
>
> -- Dick
>
> Richard C. Johnson, Ph.D.
> Applications Architect
> Oracle Corporation
> 631-689-3736
>
>
>
> Arthur Keller wrote:
>
>> At 2:24 AM -0600 12/7/04, Vern Williams wrote:
>>
>>> It would be interesting if you would compare the accuracy of the
>>> DRE voting systems with Mark Sense and see which is more accurate.
>>
>>
>> I understand how you go back and check the accuracy of the Mark Sense
>> systems by hand comparing the paper record with the electronic
>> record. The thing many people are concerned about is how you
>> determine the accuracy of a DRE voting system, particularly in a real
>> election. What do you use, exit polls? The benefit of a
>> combination of paper and electronic records (such as in DREs with
>> AVVPATs or precinct-based optical scanned paper ballots) is that you
>> can do effective audit and recount checks.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Arthur
>>
>> --
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --
>>
>> Arthur M. Keller, Visiting Associate Professor, Computer Science Dept.
>> University of California, Baskin School of Engineering, Room 153B,
>> 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95066-1077
>> tel +1(831)459-1485, fax +1(831)459-4829, www.soe.ucsc.edu/~ark
>
>