County first to verify voting software

‘ ‘ ‘ For Allegheny County voters, election day should progress smoothly and securely. ‘ ‘ ‘ … ‘ ‘ ‘ For Allegheny County voters, election day should progress smoothly and securely. ‘ ‘ ‘ Following petitioning from several local voters’ rights groups, Allegheny County announced Monday that it had completed a verification of the software on 18 of its iVotronic electronic voting machines. ‘ ‘ ‘ Officials from the Pennsylvania State Department oversaw the tests conducted by Systest Labs, which began last Thursday and ended yesterday. ‘ ‘ ‘ According to Kevin Evanto, spokesperson for Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, Allegheny County is the only county in the United States to verify the iVotronic system software. ‘ ‘ ‘ The iVotronic system used by Allegheny County is also used by several other counties in Pennsylvania, including Beaver, Butler, Westmoreland, Greene and Mercer counties. ‘ ‘ ‘ The county also plans to certify the software again after the Nov. 4 election to ensure greater security, said Evanto. ‘ ‘ ‘ King cited a report conducted by Ohio State University called the Everest report, which called into doubt the security of the iVotronic system. The report revealed several potential issues with knowledgeable individuals who were able to hack into the system. The iVotronic system passed the Pennsylvania Department of State’s examination in 2006. ‘ ‘ ‘ The voters’ rights groups, VoteAllegheny, VotePA and PA League of Young Voters, are working to replace the touch screen voting machines in Allegheny County with optical scan machines, which, unlike the touch screen system, leave a paper trail that can be checked against an electronic result, said Richard King, a member of VoteAllegheny. ‘ ‘ ‘ King said that the software verification could have happened two months ago through the National Institute for Standards in Technology. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘What you are looking at is stall and delay, without any reason for it,’ said King. ‘ ‘ ‘ King said that a test of 18 machines is not enough to say with certainty that all of Allegheny County’s machines are secure. The verification process is ‘making the best of a horrible setup,’ according to King. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘In the big picture, these machines are not securable,’ said King. ‘ ‘ ‘ In addition to the extra precaution of the software verification, the County Elections Board took several other precautions, including a mock election held on all of the county’s 4,700 machines held before Election Day, according to Elections Board spokesperson Mark Wolosik. ‘ ‘ ‘ The CPA firm of Parente Randolph will also come in on the Election Day and empirically test a random sample of the machines to guard against software hacking, said Wolosik. Allegheny County is the only county in Pennsylvania that does this, Evanto said. ‘ ‘ ‘ On Nov. 4, the Elections Board will also hand count 2,000 votes and match them against the electronic results, according to Wolosik. ‘ ‘ ‘ Evanto said, ‘We believe it is the right thing to do and are confident in the security of the system.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002 in response to the controversy over ballot counting in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. Part of the bill requires all 3,000 counties in the United States to begin using an electronic voting system. ‘ ‘ ‘ The states determine which systems meet the standards of the act, and counties have the choice to purchase any of the approved systems. Pennsylvania is fully compliant with the Help America Vote Act and certifies the systems according to federal standards. ‘ ‘ ‘ Michael Shamos, a CMU computer science professor, is also an examiner of electronic voting machines for the Pennsylvania Department of State. He examined and approved in 2006 the Election Systems ‘amp; Software iVotronic voting system that Allegheny County is using this election. ‘ ‘ ‘ When Shamos submitted his report to the Pennsylvania secretary of state, he said the system was approved for use in Pennsylvania with certain restrictions. Restrictions are normal, because manufacturers cannot design systems meant for use nationwide to adhere to the details of voting law in all 3,000 counties, according to Shamos. ‘ ‘ ‘ Of the 17 voting systems the Pennsylvania Department of State examined since 2005, 12 have been certified for use in Pennsylvania, three without any restrictions, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State’s Web site.