How Come There Aren't More Technologists On The Board Setting Voting Tech Standards?

Ed Felten raises a rather important question concerning the lack of knowledgeable computer scientists or other voting technology experts on the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Board of Advisors. As Felten notes, the EAC is in charge of setting voting technology standards, and four slots (out of 39) on the board are specifically allocated for "members representing professionals in the field of science and technology." Already, only 4 out of 39 seats seems rather low, considering how important the technology choices are -- but it's even worse when the people filling those slots aren't actually technologists. Yes, Felten points out that three of the four slots are held by folks who are:

accomplished people who have something to offer on the board. But as far as I can tell they are not "professionals in the field of science and technology," so their appropriate positions on the board would be somewhere in the other thirty-five seats.

So, basically, as it stands, the group in charge of setting voting tech standards appears to have only one technologist on board, and that person, Barbara Simons, was only recently appointed.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Posted: 8/5/2008 5:17:54 AM

Link: techdirt.com

Technology Links

Gadget News & Reviews
TheGadgetBox.com provides gadget news, shopping, reviews and commentary on a wide variety of gadgets.

Find Reviews
ReviewFinder.com is a comprehensive directory of online product reviews.

Digital Media Guide
Smacki.com features information on digital media products and technologies.

I Am Not A Geek
Reference database of files in windows, spyware, viruses and 3rd party apps