Privacy that is Assured Through Transparency Lillie Coney National Committee for Voting Integrity Washington, DC

Privacy and Public Elections Voter Privacy Fighting Fraud & Voter Intimidation Secret Ballots Voting Compartment Spacing Laws outlawing Vote Buying and Voter Coercion Changes in Poll Place Practices

Elections and Privacy Voter Registration Voter’s Actions Bumper Stickers Yard Signs Casting a Vote Public Information Voters who voted Totals for the Smallest Political Subdivision

So Why the Fuss About Privacy? Efficacy and legitimacy of Government Peaceful transition of power Remove obstacles to political participation Discourage aberrant political activity

Election Privacy is Still an Issue Lynne Gobbell an employee of Enviromate was fired because she placed a Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker on her car (The Providence Journal 9/19/04 Pg. E-09) In Wisconsin 30 of 94 vehicles intended for use on Election Day by the Bush-Cheney re-election effort had their tires slashed (Chicago Tribune 11/3/04 Pg. 16)

Transparency and Elections Good Government Efforts by Citizens Clean Up Government End Corruption Restore Confidence in Elections Ensure direct elections

Transparency is not... Finding agreement Seeking approval Getting Conscienses An admission of guilt

Problems Brewing Over Transparency When more effort is placed on scripting than reporting events Technical language that limit communication When it is not a state of mind supported by policy and implementation procedures The Internet makes transparency much easier and privacy much harder

Transparency and Voting Technology Have it in mind from the start of R&D Finding the solution is hard, but convincing non-technologists of its validity and value is much harder If you can explain it to a notice without making them feel put out or put down then you have achieved the goal of transparency

What are the Challenges Today? Technology complicates the goal of transparency Technologists communicate well with other technologists Election officials communicate well with other election officials Voting rights advocates communicate well with other voting rights advocates How do they speak with each other?

Nexus of Privacy and Transparency Voting is a private matter with public import Constituencies of public elections must have buy into the process Trust that voters must have to engage the process means they must trust the message and the messengers Technology challenges transparency

The Answer is Mutuality Sympathy Empathy Support Affinity

Sympathy Election Officials have the hard job they must conduct elections with the hand they have been dealt. Voting Rights Advocates have recognized the imperfections of the election process with little attention or assistance.

Empathy Not all Election officials share the same perspectives Not all voting rights organizations have the same view of voting technology How to create common ground to enter into a dialogue that will help when it is time to advance beta tests, research efforts and

Support How can you help? Election Officials Voting Rights Advocates Policy Makers Candidates Voters Media

Affinity We all want good elections We may not all do everything extremely well, but the best effort should be assumed to be the case. Finding the resources within the community to bridge communication gaps is essential.

Some States are Outsourcing Accenture: Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Wisconsin and Wyoming Arkansas, Nebraska New Mexico have selected voting equipment manufacturers

The Only Game in Town U.S. Election Assistance Commission AKA EAC First office opened in April 2004, with a budget of $1.5 million Budget of over $3 Billion to give to states No authority to enforce voting rules that they determine may be necessary

Where are the Technologists? Doing research Attending events Writing papers Doing lectures

Who are you speaking to? Other Technologists Election Officials Media Policy Makers Elected Officials

Who is missing? Voting Rights Advocates Civil Rights Advocates

National Committee for Voting Integrity http://www.votingintegrity.org/ Lillie Coney Associate Director Electronic Privacy information Center http://www.epic.org/