An election day survey of US voters in Nevada has
revealed that a clear majority support the issue of paper receipts
for all votes cast electronically.
Lomardo Consulting surveyed 362 voters in Nevada - the only
state to use statewide voter-verified paper ballot printers
attached to electronic voting machines for the US presidential
election.
According to Lomardo, 81% of the voters said they would like a
private receipt, similar to a cash machine receipt, after casting a
vote electronically. And nearly a third said they had used their
paper receipt to check their votes had been recorded
accurately.
"That's a pretty strong result," said Peter Ventimiglia,
vice-president of Lombardo. Although the survey sample of 362
voters was small and the margin of error was plus or minus 5%,
Ventimiglia said he was "very comfortable" with the results.
Ohio University political sciences professor Michael Burton, who
helped set up the survey, said he viewed the results as evidence of
an "overwhelming desire to have some kind of private ATM-style
receipt" for e-voting systems. "We do see some disparity in the
accurate counting of the votes," he said. "Voters who use computers
and see their computers crash have some level of suspicion about
the integrity of the vote."
But questions have also surfaced about the integrity of the
survey, which was funded by VoteHere, a supplier of e-voting
systems that specialises in voter-verified paper receipt
technology. When asked about the appearance of undue influence on
the outcome of the survey, Jim Adler, founder and chief executive
of VoteHere, said the company wanted to know where voters stood on
the issue of paper receipts for the purpose of promoting its
business strategy.
He stressed, however, that the survey group "kept us at arm's
length". According to Venitmiglia, the survey takers were "aware
that there was ultimately a commercial interest, but they were in
no way coached".
The Nevada poll is the second such supplier-sponsored poll to
show that voters like the idea of a paper receipt they can use to
verify that their e-vote has been recorded properly. In August,
AccuPoll teamed up with research firm Public Opinion Strategies for
a survey that showed that 74% of likely voters felt e-voting
systems should produce a voter-verified paper audit trail.
"Right now, with any sort of balloting, you walk away and you
hope for the best," said Adler. "Now all we have are allegations
back and forth and we don't have proof of anything. We get a
receipt with electronic banking and UPS shipments. Why is voting so
different? It isn't."
Dan Verton writes for Computerworld