[CAVO] (no subject)

[Brent Turner]

CAVO ENDORSES ALTERNATIVE TO ELIMINATING POLL SITE VOTING

SAN FRANCISCO -- SB 450 was signed into law last week by Governor Brown,
which could result in the elimination of poll sites in California. Voters
 would receive a paper ballot in the mail instead of going to local
neighborhood poll sites.

"I've been voting at a local polling place  for 30 years, and I was shocked
to learn I may have to trust my vote to the mail system or travel many
miles in order to deposit my ballot in person, I prefer the convenience and
security of voting in my neighborhood"  " said Jose Najera, a San Francisco
/ Bernal Heights native.

Counties are not required to adopt the new model, and many people are
looking for a way to make poll site voting more affordable. According to
elections analyst Alan Dechert - the solution has been made available.

Voting systems in use today are old and need to be replaced, but new
systems from the current vendors may not be affordable. "Setting up
proprietary voting systems for every precinct has become so expensive and
burdensome that there is a strong incentive to cut services by eliminating
poll sites," says analyst Dechert.

Mr. Dechert says there is a way to keep poll site voting, while reducing
costs and improving service via the use of free open source software and
inexpensive commonly available hardware. Recently the California
Association of Voting Officials met with Dechert and representatives of
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla ( D ) to discuss open source
voting progress. : http://openvoting.org/ad/dechert2SosAlexPadilla.pdf

The concept has been demonstrated in mock elections many times over the
years. High certification costs have presented a high barrier, but this can
be overcome as counties are showing interest in polling resources to make
their own low-cost voting equipment. San Francisco County  is a leader, and
has recently budgeted $300,000 to get started on the work.

The newly formed California Association of Voting Officials (CAVO), a
nonprofit consortium, can coordinate the work. CAVO plans to bring together
users and makers of the technology, pool resources, set standards, and make
sure vendors and others are trained to make the new open source voting
system work.

The new law won't impact the upcoming November 2016 elections. For more
information on CAVO and open source election system security solutions- see
www.cavo-us.org
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