Digital Meanderings
Meanderings of a coder

Tonight I read an article in Dr. Dobbs Journal by Ed Nisley titled “Root the Vote: Wetware.” Although the article discusses the problems of voting machines, it doesn’t offer any idea on how to resolve them. A brief Google search didn’t yield any usable results, at least as far as I’m concerned. The question I have is this: What is so hard about writing voting machine software?

Here is my proposed solution:

1. Voter Verification
To insure that only the votes of registered people are countered there needs to be a method to validate them. Allow the machine to perform the verification. The voter swipes their card and is asked a series of questions to determine and validate their identity.

2. Voter Database
In order for the above to work the voting machine will need to have access to a database of voter data. Since setting up a network may prove difficult, copy the database to each machine. I don’t think the databases will be prohibitively large.

Since voters need to be registered a certain length of time before they vote the machines can be synced up well before the voting begins.

I do notice a big problem with this, and I will discuss it later on.

3. Vote Validation (for the Voter)
After the voter has cast his ballot bring up a simple screen that displays the position, the person that was voted for and two buttons: “Submit Ballot” and “Change.”

The “Submit Ballot” button would officially and irrevocably cast the voter’s ballot. The “Change” button would bring the voter to a screen that would allow him to fix which ever positions were found to be in error.

4. Determining the Winner
Each machine would be synced with a central computer. This computer would copy each machine’s data to its database. Thereby creating a duplicate of the information.

Having a local copy of the voter database does pose a problem, namely fraud. Since each machine has a copy of the voter database, and a record of who voted, it is possible for someone to vote on multiple machines. To prevent this the sync process would identify the votes that have been cast more than once and would only use the earliest recorded vote in its tally.

Once all the machines have been synced, and the votes verified, then the winner can be determined by simply counting the votes.

5. Vote Validation (for the Auditors)
Each machine would keep track of the voters who logged in and who they voted for. A simple database query could display this data.

Once the machines have been synced a report would be available to show any votes that weren’t counted for whatever reason.

I understand that I’ve taken a terribly simplistic approach to this but I just wanted to get my ideas out there for the public to tear apart. I am by no means an expert on electronic voting machines and I don’t since the issue with getting them correct. Maybe I’m dense or maybe I understand the complexities. Please feel free to leave a comment.

So, after watching the iPhone announcement
—the gadget we’ve all been jonesing for—what’s the first thing we all do? That’s right, figure out all the things that are wrong with it and why it’s not going to be the “killer app” for Apple.It happened to the iPod, why not the iPhone…

read more | digg story

As I’ve mentioned many times on my blog, I’m moving to South Dakota and I’m starting a new job. One of the interesting things about this move is the fact that my current company wants to keep me on as a part time consultant! I’ve always liked the idea of consulting but I’ve never been in the financial position to live the life. Thankfully with a part time gig I will be able to do it. Working as a consultant has one hangup - taxes.

A consultant is self-employed so they have to take care of their own taxes. This often means filing quarterly taxes, along with a payment. Consultants also have to pay extra taxes to make up for the taxes that are normally paid by the employer.

I’ve never liked filing my taxes. Thankfully since I’m single and I don’t play the stock market I’ve always filed the 1040-EZ. Now, as a consultant, my taxes will get more complicated. So I’ve been looking into a book keeping service. I’ve been thinking about Quickbooks but the software alone only takes me so far. I still like the idea of having a professional looking over my work and doing the actual filing. Enter payroll and bookkeeping services from Accounting Paradise.

With Accounting Paradise you sign up for an online Quickbooks account and fill in the required information. For a monthly fee (starting at $10/mo) they will prepare the necessary forms and help you file them. To see more how this works check out their “Working Together” page.

This post brought to you by the payroll and bookkeeping services from Accounting Paradise.

CNN is running an articled titled Low pay threatens judiciary, Roberts warns. The whole gist of article is that John Roberts, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, says that the low salaries given to federal judges will allow only the rich to serve. Sounds like a valid argument until you read the what these judges get paid:

• Federal district court judges - $165,200
• Appeals court judges - $175,100
• Associate justices of the Supreme Court - $203,000
• Chief justice of the Supreme Court - $212,100

I understand that people in the private sector make gobs more but is a yearly salary of over $100,000 USD something to complain about? According to GlobalRichList.com making $165,200 a year puts you in the top .23% of the richest people in the world! If you are a married Federal district court judge making $165,200.00 a year and you jointly file your taxes you would pay $64,564.80* in federal income tax and net $100,635.20. This still puts you in top .64% of the richest people in the world!

I would love to understand why Roberts is quoted as saying that this problem “has now reached the level of a constitutional crisis.” Protecting and shaping this country’s legal system should be a privilege that is valued more than wages.

Roberts is also quoted as saying “Inadequate compensation directly threatens the viability of life tenure, and if tenure in office is made uncertain, the strength and independence judges need to uphold the rule of law — even when it is unpopular to do so — will be seriously eroded.” I think the more serious threat is the greed that shown by these judges. As I’ve proven previously their salaries are great. I realize DC is expensive but a net pay of $100,635.20 will most certainly provide for a comfortable life.

What are your feelings on the matter? Feel free to post a comment.

*Federal income tax is based on the 2006 Federal Tax Schedule.

In light of the popularity of reality television, I think PayPerPost is trying to hop on the bandwagon with their Postie Patrol. It is basically a video clip of the Postie Patrol having a contestant do random things related to a product provided by the advertiser. In this case HP, the advertiser, wants the contestent to use their Digital Photo Printing products. Although I find the video to be rather long and uneventful at times I think it is nice to see people winning free stuff. I’ve embedded the video below, why don’t you let me know what you think?

This post was brought to you by HP.