Quite a few people don't understand how lame the Sequoia development really is. First, it is not "open source" they are proposing; rather, they propose to disclose some of the source code (they haven't said what parts). Now, partially disclosed is of no real value towards assessing what the code actually does.

Next, they will be hosting this partially disclosed code on a proprietary hardware system, most likely containing firmware components that they will not be allowed to disclose, because those components are made by other companies. If I own the hardware, ultimately I own the software that runs on it (in other words, the hardware can control the software).

Next, this new system would need to go through certification, a process that takes years. Don't expect to see anything people vote on that resembles this for many years.

Next, disclosing the code -- even if you disclose all of it -- does absolutely nothing to ensure that the disclosed code is what is running on any individual voting machine.

And last, disclosing the code does not change the fact that the machines conceal the counting of the votes from the public.

A much more robust approach is that recently taken by the nation of Germany, where the high court deemed use of the computerized vote counting system to be unconstitutional, in that it conceals essential processes of the public election from the public (thereby making the election non-public, a constitutional violation).

The German decision also requires that the public must be able to see and understand all essential components of the election without special expertise (public "observation" of disclosed source, problematic in authentication anyway, would still require special expertise.)

The German decision also states that no certification process, audit, or governmental examination can replace public right to see and authenticate the original counting of the actual votes.

Germany got it right; the entire nation has now returned to PUBLIC hand counting. Ireland is also doing this now, and the Netherlands just banned its e-voting system.

In the USA, we're still being told to run on hamster wheels. And some hamster wheels cause the little critters to die before they figure out how to get off.

Bev Harris
Director - BlackBoxVoting.org