In class we developed a list of steps in the election process in the US for presidential elections.

• Create an election bureaucracy
• Set up a voter rolls
• process for adding eligible voters
• process for removing ineligible voters
• create a ballot
• certify voter as eligible
• distribute ballot
• voter marks ballot
• ballots are collected
• votes are counted (discern voter intent, counted by hand or machine)
• votes are accumulated at the local level
• votes are accumulated at the state level
• electors are certified at the state level
• electors vote, and counts are accumulated
• winner is declared

Where do each of the failures discussed in the articles below fit in the process? What other issues do you know about?

• Green Party issues
• Election Day survey
  comment on survey by voters unite
• 10 most common computer failures
• Lessons Learned
• Voter Surpression Issues so far in 2008

  What role is appropriate for computers in elections?

  What role is appropriate for humans in elections?

  How should the human role be overseen?

  How should the computers role be over seen?

  What are some steps we can take as a society to ensure fair elections?

  • Transparency, Nothing in secret, everything done openly.
  • Accountability. When things go wrong, who is in charge.
  • Uniformity. When things go well, reuse that process as widely as possible.
  Back to the Daily Record.

  Back to the class web-page.