<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Mike Ossipoff wrote in part:<span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>But here's something that many people seem to miss: Even when it isn't shown that a count is fraudulent, the<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>count is still non-legitimate if it isn't vefifiable. A political system's use of a non-verifiable machine-count<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>is ridiculous. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Maybe it could be somehow possible for a machine-count to be verifiable. But, untiil then, a handcount is<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>necessary. That's another disadvantage of rank-balloting voting systems--Most of them aren't feasibly<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>hand-countable.<span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>(End </span><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>partial</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> quote)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>There are actually two aspects to verification: 1) were all votes cast COUNTED (this has been a big problem in my precinct in Mississippi) and 2) was the counting done correctly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>There’s technology available that could be applied that does not require “hand counting” of ranked ballots. I use a very weak version to conduct “polls” for a college football/basketball/baseball “top 25 fans poll.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The “was the counting done correctly” (“2”) bit just requires that all the ranked ballots that were counted be published. Once we have every ranked ballot published anybody who knows the counting method and has a programmatic implementation of it can use theirs to validate the “official” counting program’s results since they have the same input. So “validation” only depends upon how available the ranked ballots are. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>A more subtle test of “legitimacy” is the “Did they count my vote or not?” question. (1)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Here’s what I would do to satisfy both objectives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>For each voting-place (precinct) define a “public key” that is unique to that voting place. For instance 2^state-code times 3^county-code times 5^precinct number. (Credit to Godel for the “for-instance” – uniqueness is guaranteed by the fundamental theorem of algebra.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The machine that records the voter’s ballot can generate a “private key” unique to every ballot cast at that location (it doesn’t matter how that is generated as long as every ballot cast at that location has a unique identifier) and prints that on the voter’s “receipt” that confirms the ballot was recorded.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The published record includes every ranked ballot with so that the accuracy of the counting-by-whatever-method can be independently verified while protecting the anonymity of the voter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>But any individual voter can find out which of their ballots is theirs by providing their “private key” and the components used to create the “public key” (i.e. I voted in this precinct in this county in this state) and if their ballot is either not provided with those keys or does not match the printed record of their ranked ballots then ANY voter would be able to declare the election “fraudulent.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I guess there’s a third angle to verifiability, namely that a vote was counted under my voter ID should match my ballot. This is actually the most important to me as a voter. If a vote were “counted” under my voter ID I need a way to see that what was counted was the same as the record I got when I voted. I should be able to compare the “counted” ballot to the one I submitted.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>And that gets to why I think “hand counting” is no longer useful as “verification” – what is there to “hand count” when there are no paper ballots except those printed by the machines that we’re auditing? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>.<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></body></html>