By Luther Weeks on July 13, 2019
“I think the biggest issue facing us is trust in the elections,” said Denise Merrill, Connecticut’s secretary of the state. – As Feds struggle, states create their own anti-election propaganda programs
Trust and confidence are important – Justified trust and justified confidence. – Luther Weeks, Facebook comment
As we have said before Connecticut is above average in election integrity and security for statewide elections, less so for local elections. Above average, is not saying much. Many states, including Connecticut, have a long way to go to achieve justified confidence. PR alone will not protect us from outsiders and insiders. Will not protect us form loss of confidence in democracy.
Posted in Common Sense, CT, CT Skulduggery and Errors
By Luther Weeks on July 26, 2017
At first this may not seem like Common Sense. We have the famous Turing Halting Problem which has some very important consequences for voting which may not, at first, make common sense:
Posted in Common Sense, Electronic Vulnerability
By Luther Weeks on June 10, 2016
Two events in the last week or so prompt this post. First, last Saturday I was at the Reason Rally at the Lincoln Memorial. One speaker said “Be skeptical of everything”. A later speaker assured us, among other things, that two things I believe to be true were actually conspiracy theories.
Second, a recent series of posts by Richard Charmin, essentially claiming that in many states the primary was stolen.
So, where do I come out? I stand with Carl Sagan who said, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” and the speaker at the Reason Rally who said to “be skeptical of everything”. Here we have competing extraordinary claims:
- By Richard Charmin: That, in a large number of states the election results were manipulated in favor of a single candidate.
- Implicitly by complacence: “Move on, nothing to see here, exit polls are always wrong in the U.S. Don’t be concerned that every time someone brings this up, they are always wrong in favor of one candidate or party”
Posted in Common Sense, HowDoWeKnow
By Luther Weeks on June 10, 2015
In one of his books, Gerry Weinberg pointed out that employee evaluations should be multiplicative not additive, that is, the various dimensions of performance and capabilities should be multiplied rather than added to determine the overall value of an employee.
There is an analogy with laws, including election laws. Laws must be Sufficient, Enforceable, and Enforced. Missing one of the three, all value is lost.
Posted in Chain of Custody, Common Sense, CT Law
By Luther Weeks on August 6, 2014
The Citizen Audit has just opened up our signup for the audits for the primary, which start fifteen days after the primary. The primary is August 12th, so the audits will begin Aug 27th.
Q: So, why bother signing to spend a day observing the audits?
A: To understand and the question ” [How] Do you know if your vote counted?”
Posted in Common Sense, Post-Election Audits
By Luther Weeks on May 4, 2014
We often take for granted the idea of the secret ballot. One alternative to the secret vote is the public vote. Sometimes we would prefer a public vote, sometimes it is necessary,
The Connecticut Constitution gives us the right to the secret vote. In considering the Constitutional Amendment this year, we note that it represents a third alternative: A semi-secret vote, if anything a worse alternative than either a secret vote or a public vote with the disadvantages of each
Posted in Common Sense, Legislature 2014, National
By Luther Weeks on September 2, 2013
In our last post in this series, Why Should Audits Be Independent, we ended with “When it comes to elections, are independent audits sufficient? Not really. We need public transparency and verifiability as well.” In this post, we will address transparency and verifiability.
Posted in Common Sense, National
By Luther Weeks on July 9, 2013
Why do we need independent audits for elections just as we have for other business and government functions?
Posted in Common Sense, National
By Luther Weeks on March 7, 2012
Many of the issues we discuss here and debate in the Legislature revolve around tradeoffs between Convenience, Confidence, and Costs. At a basic level we find three fundamental values/goals behind every initiative and debate: These tradeoffs and competing goals are the context within which we all constantly evaluate new laws and proposals.
Posted in Common Sense, National
By Luther Weeks on October 10, 2011
In this post, we address where Common Sense fails. Where what seems obvious to individuals and election officials is often counter to the facts or science. Those that are unfamiliar with technology and a specific area of science often overestimate how difficult or easy specific things are to accomplish.
Posted in Chain of Custody, Common Sense, CT, Electronic Vulnerability, FAQ, Internet Security Issues, Internet Voting, Skulduggery and Errors
