Yes, elections are handled locally. But we could have a simple, straightforward law that simply says "any software on any election equipment used for federal elections must be public property, the source thereof freely available and accessible." This would leave the states still free to use any systems they feel are best, with one needed but not at all difficult requirement.

This is a great idea, but I'm out of votes, and currently elections are handled locally correct?

Every single piece of election software should be 100% open. Not open source per se, but the code, all code, should be reviewable by anyone. As for companies that already have code, they can sell the code to 'the people' or it's not used. I guess it's up to the states whether they pay the price the company is asking for the code, or to seek elsewhere.

open source everything expect maybe security classes and protocols. Run tests via open source functions to make sure these closed functions don't affect results. Software should be loaded on ROM so it can't be rewritten and easily hacked. It would be have to be removed manually. Maybe store each vote on a database retrievable to each voter.

Open source code for voting machines is a great idea. The code must be developed by the open source community though. Private individuals and companies invested lots of time and money in proprietary technologies for a profit motive. It is not a good idea to strip them of that right. Sponsoring an open-source voting machine initiative satisfies both constraints.

How about getting rid of electronic voting altogether for something that can be audited! Use the technology to print cards that can be verified and then use optical scanning technology to count the ballots.

I agree that this should be added to "Ensure reliable & trustworthy election technologies". Open source - important as it is - is only part of the complete solution.

Hope this one gets more votes, an open and fair voting system should *NOT* be under valued.

Oh, and look at "Ensure reliable & trustworthy election technologies". It would be best to consolidate votes under a single topic.

@qrius
No, just the opposite. Security through obfuscation always fails. If the code is made public, open source, whatever, everyone has a chance to look at it, find the holes. If the code and algorithms are mathematically strong, as with PGP (a completely open standard), then even if you know the method something is done, the security is not broken. Check out PGP dot ORG

uh - wouldn't this make the software easier to hack???