Open Source Software

Open source software is a term that refers to software that has the software language open for public viewing. This is a good thing. It means that any person who understands the language (most likely a computer software engineer_) can view the software code for accuracy. This does not mean that the average person can read the code or that the code cannot be tampered with.

It is our belief that even if we were comfortable with the code at any given time, we would be more comfortable if we could observe the count as citizens. One of the reasons given for suffering the expense of machine counts is that machines count faster than people. This makes it impossible for human beings to effectively monitor the counting of votes.

We think that counting of votes faster than the human eye can see is to create an opportunity for accidental error or outright fraud. It seems a waste of taxpayer’s money to spend large amounts of money to purchase, maintain and store machines that count faster than the eye can see.

When I was a child there were no computers counting votes and we had our results for a national election when we woke up in the morning. I ask you:

Is that not soon enough?