Computer and Voting Experts Respond Online to 'Electronic Voting' Press Conference and Utah's On-going Voting Machines Decision

9/23/2004 11:35:00 AM

To: National and Assignment desks, Technology and Political reporters

Contact: Kathy Dopp of Utah Count Votes, 435-608-1382 or email: kathy@directell.com

News Advisory:

What: Response to "American Attitudes about Electronic Voting" Press Conference

When: Today (Sept. 23) at 10:30 a.m. MDT

Who: Fifteen Computer Scientists and voting experts

Where: University of Utah Computer Science Dept, outdoors, northeast corner of Merrill Engineering Building (MEB), Salt Lake City, Utah.

Press Release: http://UtahCountVotes.org/Voting_systems.pdf Details:

Fifteen Computer Science professors and voting experts, including Phillip Windley, associate professor of computer science at Bringham Young University and former CIO of the state of Utah under Gov. Leavitt; and Barbara Simons, IBM Research (ret.), former president, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the largest association of computer professionals in America, are releasing their response to the "American Attitudes about Electronic Voting" Survey co-authored by Professors Thad Hall and Michael Alvarez and offering sound advice to the Utah Election Office regarding its ion of voting equipment.

The State of Utah is in the process of purchasing new voting machines, and Utah Count Votes is concerned that the "American Attitudes about Electronic Voting" survey could have a major adverse impact on that political decision. Utah Count Votes urged Utah's Election office to write a more specific request for proposal (RFP) next spring that details the state's real requirements, including open source, a voter verifiable paper ballot (VVPB), and allow sufficient time for a thorough review, including outside experts, to ensure that Utah's voting system will be the most secure and trustworthy in America.

Editors Note:

Questions from press will be welcomed. The full press release is available on-line at:

http://UtahCountVotes.org/Voting_systems.pdf

Media representatives who cannot attend are encouraged to email kathy@directell.com for telephone numbers to arrange interviews with members of Utah Count Votes.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

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