A common sense solution to defective voting

This state of affairs is not caused by corruption. It is caused by malfunctioning voting machines. Since 2002, federal, state and local governments have spent billions on electronic voting systems. These systems are complex, consisting of tens of thousands of lines of computer code.

And when, as is inevitable, some machines malfunction on the first Tuesday in November, it is election officials who will be asked to explain. They will struggle to cope with these problems while under enormous pressure to produce timely and accurate results.

One would think that information about voting machine malfunctions would be just as open as the democracy for which, they are, quite literally the linchpin. Instead, defects or failures in voting machines are treated as secrets. For the most part, voting system manufacturers are under no obligation to publicly report malfunctions to a central authority. Officials in each of the nation’s approximately 4,700 election jurisdictions are left to fend for themselves.

The contrast with the auto industry is instructive.  In June 2009, researchers mining the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s complaint database discovered a high rate of failure for Chinese valve stems.  These findings ultimately led to the recall of millions of valve stems in vehicle tires and almost certainly prevented unnecessary problems for thousands of car owners.

A recent comprehensive report by the Brennan Center for Justice demonstrates that problems with voting machines in one jurisdiction will often crop up in another. To cite but one example, Ohio officials discovered that at least 1,000 votes were undercounted in nine of the state’s 44 counties in a March 2008 state primary. Little did election officials know that the identical problem with the same vendor’s machines had happened next door in Illinois four years earlier. As it stands now, officials depend on the manufacturers to alert them to problems with their equipment.

There is no reason voting machines should be treated differently than cars, lawn mowers or baseball bats. There is already a federal entity, the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), that serves as a clearinghouse for election administration information. The Brennan Center report recommends that the EAC or another federal agency be given the authority and resources to serve as the home for a national online database for reporting voting machine problems. Voting machine vendors would be required to report system failures and vulnerabilities, as well as the actions they took to solve a problem. To ensure compliance, failure to report could result in penalties.

Additionally, there is action that can be taken right now to improve the voting in November. Election officials should ask that voting system vendors to create their own databases, listing reported problems and their solutions. By erring on the side of disclosure now, manufacturers can avoid the embarrassment of a formal investigation later.

There have been hundreds of reports in the last several years of voting machine malfunctions. The consequences of not treating this matter systematically are two-fold: some voters are disenfranchised and public confidence in the electoral system is eroded. Applying the same level of transparency and enforcement to voting machines that already applies to thousands of consumer products is a simple method for restoring a modicum of faith in our democracy.

Lawrence Norden is senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and author of “Voting System Failures: A Database
Solution.“