ISI Helps Form the Voting Systems Institute
Against a background of continuing controversy about the reliability, security
and accuracy of voting technology, the Digital Government Research Center at the
USC Viterbi School’s Information Sciences Institute has collaborated with the
Center for Governmental Studies to create the Voting Systems Institute (VSI).
The VSI will support a growing grassroots effort to develop objective test standards
for tamperproof, verifiable and technologically sound voting systems and it will
be a joint entity of both organizations
The Center for Governmental Studies is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group with a
20-year track record of using technology to empower the underserved and improve
communication between voters and candidates running for office. Funded by the
National Science Foundation and other agencies, the Digital Government Research
Center is a joint enterprise of USC and Columbia University, with a charter to
use digital technology to improve government efficiency and public access.
VSI will work closely with a coalition of state and county election officials,
computer and security experts, and voting equipment manufacturers who are creating
assessment methods for voting systems. The coalition is known as Voting Systems
Performance Rating or VSPR.
Tracy Westen, chief executive officer of the Center for Governmental Studies
said that their “aim is to improve confidence in U.S. election systems by providing
an open and objective basis for rating them.”
Advocates and election officials can use the coalition’s voting system assessments
during purchasing decisions, Westen said. “We expect over time that VSPR will
create a framework for innovation that will ultimately lead to increased voter
confidence and civic participation.”
Yigal Arens, co-director of the Digital Government Research Center and a division
director at ISI, noted that Voting Systems Performance Rating is modeled on the
highly successful Internet Engineering Task Force, the unincorporated entity responsible
for developing the standards that make the Internet work.
“We believe that VSI can introduce the same open, democratic methods for voting
systems that succeeded brilliantly in creating workable and universally accepted
standards for the Internet,” Arens said, adding that the new Voting Systems Institute
will be able to facilitate efforts by helping provide access to academic expertise
and, potentially, research funding.
He added that ISI, was deeply involved in the Internet Engineering Task Force,
“and we understand how to help build consensus among different parties from our
previous work there,” he said.
Arens and Westen said that the Voting Systems Institute will be headed by James
Dolbear, who has previously founded and run technology associations and has researched
voting developments extensively over the last several years.
Dolbear recounted that in the wake of problems with punch-card systems in Florida,
the “Help America Vote Act of 2002” provided funding to replace voting systems,
and as a result state and local election officials initiated a wide range of reforms
while vendors introduced new voting equipment.
“But progress has been tempered by continuing security concerns,” Dolbear said.
“And coming out of the November elections, absentee voting, provisional voting
and registration have been highlighted as potential issues.“
He said that Voting Systems Performance Rating offered a way to bring together
all parties to structure and define the relevant technical aspects of voting systems.
“We are embracing VSI as a natural outgrowth of our community building role
in digital government,” Arens said.
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