Updated: 06/29/25
Maintained by E. H. Spafford
A really good start in the area is to watch the video investigative report shown on HBO: Hacking Democracy. (You can actually watch the entire video for free online.)
Here's one recent article with good details of a recent flaw in Premier (Debold) systems such as are in use in Tippecanoe County and problems with the overall testing regime for voting machines. Of note is that the flaw was not discovered for a decade. How many votes were tabulated incorrectly in that time?
There was a special issue of The Bridge, the journal of the National Academy of Engineering, published in the summer of 2007 on the challenges and issues around e-voting.
One of the key roles in the voting process is serving as a local poll worker on elections day (and before). Tippecanoe County could definitely use help of motivated, qualified individuals. Service is defined by political affiliation, and you call a different number to volunteer depending on your registered preference (I guess that independents don't apply):
Ask candidates for any office what they think about the issue of voting machine verification and voting audits. This is an issue at the country level (where they buy the machines), at the state level (where standards on voting and audit are set), and the Federal level (where standards and rules can be set as guidance for the whole country).
There are a number of groups actively working in the area of voting equipment regulation and reform. These links are intended to give you some ideas for further exploration and education. This is by no means an exhaustive list.
This is a group devoted to the passage of legislation to require VVPR (voter-verified paper records) along with random audits. They are also concerned with the use of internet-based voting efforts. Their WWW site is <http://verifiedvoting.org/>.
The VV website has lots of good information on state-by-state and county-by-county regulations and equipment in use, along with information on current legislation.
This group maintains a resource of news stories of past malfunctions of voting machines. There is also well-done "Myths" document that can be shared with officials and members of the public who think there is no problem.
This group also wants paper records of ballots.
Their WWW site is at <http://www.votersunite.org/>.
One of the oldest and most vocal groups involved. Lots of resources at their site, including a number of videos showing evidence of both improper operation of systems and malfeasance of parties involved in the elections process.
Their WWW site is <http://www.blackboxvoting.org/>.
There is a group promoting "best practices" in election audits. Their WW site is <http://electionaudits.org/>.
The US Public Policy Committee of the ACM is devoted to providing sound technical information to policy makers and the public. ACM is a non-profit, non-partisan technical organization in computing with over 80,000 members world-wide. ACM is the largest and oldest educational and scientific society uniting computing professionals, researchers, educators, and students, worldwide.
USACM's e-voting materials are prepared based on consensus discussion by a committee of nearly 80 IT experts, with a core of a dozen professionals who have been working in security, reliability, and accessibility of voting technology for many years.
USACM's e-voting resources are here <http://usacm.acm.orgIssues/EVoting.htm>.
USACM also conducted a study of HAVA-mandated voter registration databases. That study and resulting recommendations is at <http://usacm.acm.org/usacm/VRD/>.
Disclaimer: The material in this page is presented for educational purposes only, and is intended as a starting point for independent investigation. Its presence implies no official support or endorsement by Purdue University, nor necessarily by Dr. Spafford (with the explicit exception of his role as chair of USACM).