Organization wants voters to be able to verify electronic vote, have an independent paper audit trail for recounts and restore vote confidence

October 20, 2003

Montgomery County: Today the Campaign for Verifiable Voting in Maryland launched its statewide initiative to protect Maryland elections and voters from the flawed electronic voting machines currently being purchased by the state. A new citizen project, the Campaign for Verifiable Voting (www.TrueVoteMD.org) is dedicated to ensuring that votes in Maryland are voter verified and accurately counted, and that election results can be credibly audited and recounted. The new group represents a groundswell of a well-documented concern across the political spectrum that electronic voting machines are vulnerable to fraud, error, and computer crash.

As part of its kick-off, the Campaign for Verifiable Voting issued its first "Action Alert" galvanizing citizens across the state to write web-based letters urging the State Board of Elections and other elected officials to require recount and a paper trail audit capacity for Maryland's voting machines. "Investing public funds in machines proven to fail at basic functions like recounts is investing in electoral chaos for Maryland," states the action alert. The campaign can be viewed at www.TrueVoteMD.org. The Campaign urges Marylanders to, "Act now so their True Vote is counted." The flaws in the Diebold brand voting machines got national media attention this July 23 when Johns Hopkins and Rice University announced research showing the machines could be tampered with, make errors or fail to count votes.

In response to widespread public concern, Governor Ehrlich commissioned an evaluation of the Diebold machines and the findings of the Johns Hopkins-Rice study were confirmed. Indeed, the consultants found "328 security weaknesses, 26 of them critical." The review concluded that even if the proposed technical fixes were implemented, the Diebold system could not guarantee that votes are safe from "risks, vulnerabilities and threats."

National associations of computer professionals are raising the alarm that paper is the most secure method for independent audits and recounts, as part of an electronic or other system. Yet, rather than modify the Diebold contract to require a voter-verified paper trail, the State Board of Elections and Governor Ehrlich are moving forward swiftly with the $56 million purchase.

The Campaign for Verifiable Voting maintains that the key to restoring voter confidence is to ensure that voters can verify their vote before it is cast and that an independent paper trail is in place if election outcomes are close or in doubt. The Diebold machine does not provide either.

TrueVote MD
www.TrueVoteMD.org · 7711 Garland Ave., Takoma Park, MD 20912 ·
301-270-6150