In reading Doug Lewis' testimony, now you can gain some perspective into where he's coming from. Doug Kellner has told us where he’s coming from. Avi Rubin has permitted us to observe his learning curve. For full disclosure, this is where I’m coming from: I would concur with Doug Lewis on certain objections to the Holt bill.
Doug Lewis’s Testimony Regarding the Holt Bill:
"The process described in HR811 is unworkable and unnecessary."
"it is my understanding from my colleagues around the nation there is no state
yet which could comply with the paper trail system as specified in HR811. So the 27 states that have previously taken action would have to scrap what they have already done and spend hundreds of millions of dollars to revamp once again. Surely this Congress does not intend for that to happen. And what could they buy if they wanted to continue with DREs? From what we=re told, nothing currently manufactured as a DRE can comply."
I agree- Holt's bill is unworkable and creates unfunded mandates, requiring us to purchase machines that don't exist and we can't afford. But does that mean we should conclude, as Doug Lewis does, that therefore we should hang on to our malfunctioning DREs, which the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has now told us on two occasions, are so pervasively problematic they "could damage the integrity of ballots, votes and voting-system software by allowing unauthorized modifications." See October 2005 Report http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05956.pdf, and the latest study, PDF format released March 7, 2007, wherein the GAO Information Technology Architecture and Systems Director, Randolph C. Hite, testified that electronic voting systems can break an election! (It should definitely be observed that the GAO report refers to electronic voting systems, which includes both DREs and Optical Scanners as being unreliable, but Holt’s Bill focuses on DREs). From Hite’s testimony:
“[E]lectronic voting systems are an undeniably critical link in the overall election chain. While this link alone cannot make an election, it can break one. The problems that some jurisdictions have experienced and the serious concerns that have surfaced highlight the potential for continuing difficulties in upcoming national elections if these challenges are not effectively addressed”
If the GAO told you the cars you’re driving are likely to blow up when you hit 50 miles/hour or that they break down with regularity while you're driving, would you keep driving? If there was no safe alternative and you had to take your child to school- would you a) take public transportation; b) walk; c) risk yours and your child's life?
Lewis says stick with the car that could kill you because he’s comfortable denying reality (see his testimony on how well the elections went in 2006 and how infallible machines are). Holt says we have a new model—it’s not ready yet and you won’t be able to afford it when it comes out, but whenever it does, it’s still going to be likely to blow up when you hit 50/ mph and it’s going to keep breaking down while you’re driving it, but we’re improving things—we’re putting in a couple of air bags and a fancy new navigator that can talk to you (in 8 different languages) [see Ralph Neas testimony- the transcript and the audio are at Brad Freeman’s article http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4299] I don’t believe that would be considered “effectively address[ing]” the problem, pursuant the to the GAO’s wake up call.
I would also agree with Lewis’s objections about audits:
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