Thought about voting procedure
A friend at work and I were discussing the controversy over electronic voting systems in the US (Diebold etc.) We chatted about how it seemed a bit unnecessary, and wondered how we could instead improve current procedures. Here's what we came up with. Any comments? (Sorry for the long post)
Voting procedure
================
Monitoring staff
----------------
Polling stations manned by a group of people from the constituency, selected at random in the manner of a trial jury. These people should be trained in the procedures for monitoring the polling station, as described below.
Identification
--------------
(not initially considered in detail apart from "there should be some secure method of identification to ensure that only those eligible may vote, and then only once")
There should be a list, created from the electoral register, of all the people eligible to vote within a constituency, contained on an isolated computing device along with a definitive way of identification of the individuals concerned (perhaps biometric information). Obviously, this machine needs to be secure in and of itself, exercise for the reader, etc.
The system also requires that individuals have a single specific polling station they are eligible to vote at (is that the case now?)
The Ballot paper and voting
---------------------------
The ballot papers consist of a batch of small books with identical covers. Inside the front cover there will be a unique machine-readable code. There will be a page in the book for each possible option the voters have. Each page has its central portion uniquely coloured, is perforated vertically in the centre, and each half of the page also contains the unique code.
As the electoral register should hold an exact record of the number of eligible voters, it should be possible to print precisely the correct number of books. The books shall be sent out in batches to the polling stations, in the correct numbers for each station's eligible voters.
Once a voter's identity has been confirmed, they should proceed along to pick up a ballot paper of their choice. A member of the monitoring staff should ensure that precisely one is taken, but should not be shown the unique code for that paper. This is intended to prevent a connection between a voter and the vote they cast.
The voter will go into a polling booth of some design, that should prevent viewing of the paper. The voter should detach the page corresponding to the vote they wish to cast, ensuring the corresponding counterfoil remains in the book. Once done, they close the book, fold the removed page so the code is out of view, and then proceed to deposit book and page in separate locked, opaque boxes.
Counting votes
--------------
The primary method of counting votes should be that of counting the contents the boxes of counterfoils from the polling stations. Counting devices would be used on the unfolded pages to automatically count (in the manner of paper money counting machines) and ensure each book has only been used once. All the recorded codes should be logged centrally, and any duplicates found will discount both pages.
The boxes containing the books with the remaining pages and counterfoil provide a secondary counting method. This to be done by hand, each book should be checked for having a single page removed. Any with multiple pages missing should be discounted.
Voting procedure
================
Monitoring staff
----------------
Polling stations manned by a group of people from the constituency, selected at random in the manner of a trial jury. These people should be trained in the procedures for monitoring the polling station, as described below.
Identification
--------------
(not initially considered in detail apart from "there should be some secure method of identification to ensure that only those eligible may vote, and then only once")
There should be a list, created from the electoral register, of all the people eligible to vote within a constituency, contained on an isolated computing device along with a definitive way of identification of the individuals concerned (perhaps biometric information). Obviously, this machine needs to be secure in and of itself, exercise for the reader, etc.
The system also requires that individuals have a single specific polling station they are eligible to vote at (is that the case now?)
The Ballot paper and voting
---------------------------
The ballot papers consist of a batch of small books with identical covers. Inside the front cover there will be a unique machine-readable code. There will be a page in the book for each possible option the voters have. Each page has its central portion uniquely coloured, is perforated vertically in the centre, and each half of the page also contains the unique code.
As the electoral register should hold an exact record of the number of eligible voters, it should be possible to print precisely the correct number of books. The books shall be sent out in batches to the polling stations, in the correct numbers for each station's eligible voters.
Once a voter's identity has been confirmed, they should proceed along to pick up a ballot paper of their choice. A member of the monitoring staff should ensure that precisely one is taken, but should not be shown the unique code for that paper. This is intended to prevent a connection between a voter and the vote they cast.
The voter will go into a polling booth of some design, that should prevent viewing of the paper. The voter should detach the page corresponding to the vote they wish to cast, ensuring the corresponding counterfoil remains in the book. Once done, they close the book, fold the removed page so the code is out of view, and then proceed to deposit book and page in separate locked, opaque boxes.
Counting votes
--------------
The primary method of counting votes should be that of counting the contents the boxes of counterfoils from the polling stations. Counting devices would be used on the unfolded pages to automatically count (in the manner of paper money counting machines) and ensure each book has only been used once. All the recorded codes should be logged centrally, and any duplicates found will discount both pages.
The boxes containing the books with the remaining pages and counterfoil provide a secondary counting method. This to be done by hand, each book should be checked for having a single page removed. Any with multiple pages missing should be discounted.