From the bookshelf...........

Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting

Over the holidays I managed to digest a few books which to me is very relaxing and helps me to unwind. I have a rather large "to be read" stack which I didn't even make a dent in but that is a topic for another time.

I work with computers every day to make a living in addition to enjoying them as a hobby. I also have more than just a passing interest in politics trying to make sure that I cast an informed vote in every election in which I am eligible. With these two factors in mind I have followed a number of stories in the press and on the Internet about electronic voting since it's inception.

I had been a big proponent of electronic voting even before it had been implemented. My "geek side" looked at the subject and saw no reason why this fundamental process in American government should not be brought into the twentieth century. As I grew older and wiser however I started to see electronic voting through a different set of lenses. As I studied the subject I became aware of just how hard it would be to implement a system that would allow citizens to vote with what were in the end just computers without creating a system that could be manipulated for nefarious purposes.

When I heard about Avi D. Rubin's book on the subject I had to have it. I can't remember exactly how long it has been sitting in that "to be read" pile but I made sure it floated to the top over the holidays. Almost as soon as I started reading it I was at once fascinated and horrified. This book confirmed some of my worst suspicions about how fragile and open to subversion an electronic voting system could be.

Avi David Rubin is a professor of computer science at John Hopkins University and this book tells the story of how he became involved in a nation wide debate on the use and security of electronic voting machines in general and the DieBold system in particular. The book never explains, probably because it wasn't known, how the source code to the DieBold machines came to be posted on DieBold's corporate web site. It may have been a simple error on someones part or it may have been a disgruntled or worried employee intentionally wanting to expose the systems flaws. Whatever the reason once it was found and downloaded it spread across the Internet like wild fire, being brought to Rubin's attention by one of his colleagues.

Source code is human readable set of instructions that the computer follows to carry out its tasks written by programmers. If you have the source code for a system you can see exactly how the machine functions and what safeguards have been put in place to avoid tampering. What made the DieBold code so interesting was that Rubin shared it with his class and first year students who immediately pointed out glaring faults in the codes logic. It became a case study of how not to create a secure system for voting.

Knowing that his home state had committed to buy and use DieBold machines in upcoming primary and general elections Rubin brought his concerns to both local and state officials. Those of you old enough to remember, the reason that Ralph Nader name is in the public eye today is a book he wrote in 1965 exposing the auto industries efforts to cover up design flaws related to safety most notably on the Chevrolet Corvair. I think history will portray Rubin as the "Nader" of the electronic voting age. Much like General Motors tried to smear Nader DieBold mounted a campaign to ruin Rubin both personally and professionally. Like GM's efforts against Nader DieBold's efforts against Rubin failed. The strange thing to me at least is that the bulk of DieBold's business is building, selling and servicing automatic teller machines. (ATM's) To the best of my knowledge ATM's are well designed and secure. At least until someone hooks a tow chain around one and drives off with it! I might add that after Rubin's exposure of the systems flaws that DieBold spun off it's voting machine operations as a separate business now called Premier Election Solutions.

One of the reasons this book is so important is that Rubin has the rare quality to take a highly technical subject and put it in layman's terms that the average person can understand and do it without "talking down" to his reader. In addition he as taken this chain of events and presented it as a very readable story. So much so that is sounds like a plot to a thriller or a movie script at times.

If you have any interest in this subject at all you will find the book fascinating. If it is not something that piques you interest I suggest that you pick up the book and read it anyway because the subject can have such a profound effect on the country that you live in. In either case I think you will enjoy the story. I have put links in this posting to web sites where you can find additional information. Enjoy!

The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Brave New Ballot

Wikipedia on Aviel D. Rubin