New Method to Guarantee Honest Vote Counting.

There are claims of fraud nearly every time there is a major election. The greatest problem is that almost all methods of voting provide the opportunity for fraud in voting and for fraud in recounts.

There is a better way.

There is a method to:

1) Provide fast counting of votes.

2) Provide almost foolproof auditing of the vote to prove any specific vote was counted correctly.

3) Enable any citizen to audit and count the votes.

The concept is quite simple. 1) Computerized voting machines at each booth record the vote.

2) Every citizen is given a unique random ticket number that corresponds to their vote (the ticket is optional on voter request).

3) Every vote is posted on Internet, in the county clerk's office, and in public libraries, and they are available on computer media at cost.

4) Every individual vote is available with the corresponding voter ticket number so every voter can audit his own vote to ensure it was recorded properly.

5) Computer programs in voting machines will be published and available for audit by anyone. (They are held secret today, so the public cannot know if they are honest.)

6) Phone lines (and any other communications equipment) will not be allowed to be attached to voting machines during the time of voting.

The only drawback of this method of voting is that corrupt officials could confiscate the ticket number from the voter to see if they voted the way they were told to. The danger of this is far less than the danger of continuing to hold elections in such a way that a citizen can never find out if his vote was properly recorded.

Don't believe anyone who says:

1) You can't use a public computer program.

Many computer programs are free, and many computer programmers would be willing to write these programs for free.

2) Too expensive.

Many precincts already use computers. They just need to be re-programmed with public programs.

In contrast to the proposed system, many precincts are already using computerized voting machines without any of the safeguards proposed above. Characteristics of the computerized voting machines now in use are: 1) Computer programs are secret. Therefore no citizen can know whether they are honest.

2) Phone lines are attached during voting so that problems with the machines can be repaired from a central office. This also allows the opportunity to tamper with the votes remotely.

3) No voter can ever go back to find out if his votes were properly registered and counted.

This new method of voting is being advocated by many people in the U.S. who are concerned about voter fraud.

If you agree with the proposed concept and know how to get the concept into place, please contact the author. Also, please forward this idea to the broadest audience possible.

January 1, 2001
Glen Burdue

(316) 488-2501

glenlb@hit.net (changing to glenlb@oldwiz.net )

The latest version of this document can be found at http://www.kslegiswatch.freeservers.com/votemethod.html