Clipmark

Its proponents could put pressure on voting-machine makers, but critics say it's not a cure-all

Privacy, Please: Is open-source voting the solution to the United States’ election issues?

In the aftermath of the Florida recount debacle of the 2000 presidential election, the U.S. Congress appropriated billions of dollars for state and local governments to buy electronic voting systems. But in the years since, a string of problematic elections has led much of the voting public to join early critics in concluding that available machines are buggy, easily subverted, and impossible to accurately audit. 

So perhaps it was only a matter of time before members of the open-source movement would enter the fray, with the claim that their kind of technology can guarantee free and democratic elections. Already, two bellwether states, California and New York, have taken notice

This spring, California’s state assembly considered a bill mandating that new voting systems be based on open-source software.