Voter Registration Database
Iowa has a new $6 million statewide voter registration database (VRD) as required in the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Ours was built by an outfit called Saber Consulting of Salem, Oregon. This is a less controversial use of computers to run our elections, but one that must also be watched.
Computer professionals are watching and recently released a report on the risks that go with the new systems. Here is one that sounds a lot like the risks of computer voting machines:
7. Election officials should develop strategies for coping with potential Election Day failures of electronic registration databases.
VRDs are complex systems. It is likely that one or more aspects of the technology will fail at some point. Different strategies can be employed to adjust for various failures. For example, Election Day verifications can be done via any of the following: paper systems, personal computers or hand-held devices with DVD-ROMs or other methods of holding static copies of the voter list, or via personal computers or hand-held devices connected by electronic communication links to central VRDs. Regardless of the method used, a fallback process should be devised to deal with a VRD failure.
Other issues cited in the report include transparency, accountability, security, privacy, audit trails, the danger of merging lists with the department of motor vehicles, and the danger of inappropriate purging of voters. The report recommends that voters who are dropped from the roles be notified.