California Association of Voting Officials
{{Short description|US non-profit organization}}
California Association of Voting Officials (CAVO) is a non-profit organization that works with community members and voting officials to develop open source voting systems for use in public elections. In addition, CAVO provides training and education to election officials for the effective employment of open source voting technologies and management practices.{{Cite web|url=https://opensource.com/government/15/3/open-source-transparent-voting|title=Who's leading the charge for transparency in democratic elections?|last=Ibanez|first=Luis|date=5 Mar 2015|publisher=Red Hat, Inc.|access-date=21 June 2016}} Utilizing proprietary software and hardware, current voting systems have been reported as being riddled with shortcomings and "...affected by critical flaws" in testing, certification, accuracy, accessibility, and security, while exhibiting a lack of transparency and conflicts of interest.{{Cite journal|last=Prandini|first=Marco|date=Summer 2012|title=A Model for E-voting Systems Evaluation Based on International Standards: Definition and Experimental Validation|jstor=10.2979/eservicej.8.3.42|journal=E-Service Journal|volume=8|issue=3|pages=42|doi=10.2979/eservicej.8.3.42}} CAVO 's intent is to develop secure and transparent voting systems to ensure accurate vote counts coupled with the utmost in security by utilizing free open source software and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) commodity components.
Overview of voting systems
Voting systems across the United States garnered public and media attention during the 2000 United States presidential election—commonly referred to as "the year of the hanging chad"—after failing paper-based punch machines recorded 172,000 "mis-votes". After numerous recounts and the eventual interceding by the Supreme Court, jurisdictions across the country replaced manual voting machines with computerized systems. These systems have been reported as running "largely on 1990s computer designs" and are "now so antiquated (they are) in danger of breaking down".{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/15/2016-election-old-voting-machines-hanging-chad|title=Hanging chad redux? US heading for 2000-style election catastrophe, report finds|last=Pilkington|first=Ed|date=15 September 2015|work=The Guardian|access-date=21 June 2016}}{{Cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/27/the-state-of-election-technology-is-improving/?ncid=rss&sr_share=twitter|title=The state of election technology is...improving|last=Kiniry|first=Joe|date=27 April 2016|work=techcrunch.com|access-date=29 June 2016}} The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute, recently published a report on the current state of crisis regarding America's elections, citing serious security and reliability flaws. While the report does not mention open source voting software, it does highlight the use of COTS components as an affordable alternative to proprietary hardware.{{Cite news|url=https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/americas-voting-machines-risk|title=America's Voting Machines At Risk|last=Norden|first=Lawrence|date=15 September 2015|work=Brennan Center for Justice|access-date=21 June 2016}} The cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, the latter under CAVO's guiding expertise, are planning on replacing their outdated systems with open source voting technology and COTS hardware, with plans for both systems to be up and running in time for the 2020 elections.{{Cite news|url=https://gcn.com/articles/2016/06/02/sf-open-source-voting.aspx|title=San Francisco funds open source voting|last=Hickey|first=Kathleen|date=2 June 2016|work=Government Computer News|access-date=21 June 2016}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.sfbos.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=52577|title=Study on Open Source Voting Systems: Final Report|last=Fried|first=Jason|date=23 October 2015|work=San Francisco Local Agency Formation Commission|access-date=21 June 2016}}
Founding and focus in California
CAVO was formed in December 2013 following the passing of legislation (SB360) penned by California Secretary of State Alex Padilla which paved the way for open source election systems in California.{{Cite news|url=http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140SB360|title=SB-360 - Certification of Voting Systems|last=Padilla|first=Alex|date=5 October 2013|work=California Legislative Information|access-date=23 May 2016}} Reinforcing the Help America Vote Act is an important area of CAVO's work, particularly in ensuring that all registered voters have the same opportunity for access and participation in elections. Recognizing the work by predecessor Open Voting Consortium (OVC), CAVO continues to work toward creating funding and resources for the certification and implementation of affordable and secure voting systems that are reliable, trustworthy, more easily auditable, and more convenient to use by voters of all abilities. OVC dissolved in 2011, and CAVO has now taken the lead on open source voting projects in San Francisco County and other counties throughout the state.{{Cite news|url=http://www.sfexaminer.com/san-francisco-could-lead-on-open-source-voting/|title=San Francisco could lead on open source voting|last=Sabatini|first=Joshua|date=26 October 2015|work=San Francisco Examiner|access-date=23 May 2016}}{{Cite news|url=http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/02/09/s-f-officials-push-for-adoption-of-pioneering-open-source-voting-system|title=S.F. Officials Push for Adoption of Pioneering Open-Source Voting System|last=Goldberg|first=Ted|date=9 February 2016|work=KQED News|access-date=23 May 2016}}
CAVO's input in New Hampshire
Most recently, New Hampshire Secretary of State William M. Gardner, directly and actively supported by CAVO, utilized open source software and COTS hardware during the 2014 State Primary and General election, reporting great success, particularly in regards to improved accessibility for voters with disabilities.{{Cite news|url=http://www.cavo-us.org/PDFS/Open_source_letter_from_Bill_Gardner.pdf|title=one4all, New Hampshire's Open Source Accessible Voting System|last=Gardner|first=William M.|date=13 May 2016|work=New Hampshire Department of State|access-date=24 June 2016}}{{Cite news|url=http://nhpr.org/post/tablet-based-ballot-system-blind-voters-debut-during-nh-primary|title=Tablet-Based Ballot System for Blind Voters to Debut During N.H. Primary|last=Ganley|first=Rick|date=8 February 2016|work=New Hampshire Public Radio|access-date=22 June 2016}} As a result, open source voting systems will be used throughout the state of New Hampshire in the 2016 Presidential election. New Hampshire's open source voting software is called one4all and is based on the Prime III system developed by CAVO Advisory Board member Dr. Juan E. Gilbert.{{Cite news|url=http://theconversation.com/how-universal-design-can-help-every-voter-cast-a-ballot-54373|title=How universal design can help every voter cast a ballot|last=Gilbert|first=Juan E.|date=2 May 2016|work=The Conversation|access-date=24 June 2016}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cise.ufl.edu/content/gilbert-voters|title=Technology pioneered by Dr. Juan Gilbert provides improved access for disabled voters|date=4 December 2014|publisher=University of Florida College of Computer & Information Science & Engineering|access-date=23 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611014308/https://www.cise.ufl.edu/content/gilbert-voters|archive-date=11 June 2015}}
Board of Directors, past and present
Members of CAVO's Board of Directors include Brian D. Newby, Executive Director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and Brian Fox, creator of Bash (Unix shell). Kammi Foote, elected Registrar of Voters for Inyo County and former President of CAVO, continues to advocate for voting systems that utilize open source software.{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/techonomy/2015/02/06/can-open-source-voting-tech-fix-the-u-s-elections-system/#6b5037d544db|title=Can Open-Source Voting Tech Fix The U.S. Elections System?|last=Babe|first=Ann|date=6 February 2015|work=Forbes|access-date=21 June 2016}} CAVO Secretary Brent Turner is known as a catalyst for the open source election reform movement, and contributed open source language to the 2016 California Democratic Party Platform.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cadem.org/our-california/platform/2016-platform-political-reform|title=2016 Platform: Political Reform|last=Burton|first=John|date=28 February 2016|publisher=California Democratic Party|access-date=23 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518180543/http://www.cadem.org/our-california/platform/2016-platform-political-reform|archive-date=18 May 2016}} Lawrence Rosen, a CAVO Advisory Board member, is the author of the Academic Free License and the Open Software License. Dr. Elizabeth Clarkson, a statistician at Wichita State University and a proponent of citizen-run exit polls and auditing voting systems for accuracy,{{Cite news|url=http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/election/article93210872.html?fb_action_ids=10154007843990756&fb_action_types=og.comments|title=WSU expert runs exit poll as suspicions linger over voting machines|last=Lefler|first=Dion|date=2 August 2016|work=The Wichita Eagle|access-date=27 November 2016|via=kansas.com}} is also on CAVO's Advisory Board.
References
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External links
- [http://cavo-us.org/ Official website]