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Posted on behalf of Barry Herron.
"The potential for wireless transmission of precinct
results in some or all precincts".
We will be much closer to being able to provide this feature
with the release of the 2.0 AccuVote firmware. The 2.0 release support
transmission of results over TCP/IP. TCP/IP is the protocol used in the
internet, and most of the bi-directional wireless networking solutions out
there. 2.0 is expected this spring.
After 2.0 is released, there are really no technical barriers
to making this work. It would probably take two or three dedicated months
from our current development team to get something running.
I think, though, that some serious thought should be put into
whether this is really a very smart way of conducting an election. My
first reservation is reliability. It would be an awfully expensive lesson
to find that sun-spots on the day of election caused us report late.
Second is cost. Wireless modems still seem to live in the $400-$600
range. Buying a piece of equipment like that just so that poll workers
don't have to find a phone jack sounds questionable. Finally, is
security. It is all fine and well to upload results over the internet, but
we don't exactly have a lot of experience in internet security in this company,
and government computers are crackers favorite targets.
I will move this RCR directly onto the Open track since there
really is no current plans for development. After AccuTouch integration
and AccuVote 2.0 are in place, the project manager for Minnesota should follow
up on this RCR and explore where it fits in our company's long term development
plans.
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Ken Clark |