Electronic Voting Company Produces A Paper Trail.

A coalition of liberal and progressive groups called Velvet Revolution has asked nine electronic voting machine companies to produce machines that count votes in a transparent and accountable manner. The coalition challenged the 9 companies to produce machines that will create a voter verified paper ballot, a system operating on open source code, a staff that has no involvement in partisan election, and provide independent analysis of their machines.

None of those companies rose to the challenge, including Diebold, whose stock has fallen by over 30% since Velvet Revolution launched the campaign. However, another company, which was not initially challenged by the group, did rise to the challenge and produced an electronic voting machine that adheres to all of the group’s demands, and put it in writing.

That company is Accupoll. In a letter sent to the group, the CEO of the company, Frank Wiebe, said, “Accupoll proud to say that we meet all of your demands and that our philosophy and actions demonstrate that we are different than our competitors.”

Accupoll uses a system on their machines they call VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail), open sourced hardware and software, does not have any working modems on the machines that could produce a vulnerability to outside hacking via the internet, and has a corporate policy that prohibits any Accupoll employee from supporting any electoral candidates.

So far the company has received certification for their machines in 13 states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and is working on getting certified by several more for the 2006 Congressional elections. As always, call your state representatives and governor and tell them what you think about the subject.