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Colorado Statewide Database Requirements Meeting

6-19-2003 Al Kolwicz NOTES:  for HAVA Public Hearing

Before beginning, ask the Secretary of State:

1. What is the governance process for the development of the new system?

2. Where will public comments be documented and published?

3. What is the resolution process for issues brought out in the public process?

THE SOS REPLIED THAT THERE IS NO PROCESS; NO PLAN TO DOCUMENT OR PUBLISH PUBLIC COMMENTS; AND NO PLAN TO RESPOND TO PUBLIC COMMENT.

Detailed questions regarding the HAVA plan document:

1. Because of its intensive promotion by election officials, the use of absentee voting has significantly increased.  Where can we read about how the reformed system addresses absentee and mandatory mail ballot voting?
    

2. We have informed your office of many problems related to poll watchers, independent oversight, and timely and complete access to election records and processes.  Where can we read about how the reformed system addresses these problems?

The plan must include quantifiable requirements for such elements as:
 

1.      Database

a.  The application must run on an off-the-shelf open standard SQL data base

b.  The database must be transactional with a detailed, secure, permanent historical audit trail of all additions and changes.  Records should be retained for at least ten years.

c.  Batch updates must be applied to the database within one working day of their receipt.  Where appropriate, updates should be real-time.

d.  A residence table that is separate from the person table.

e.  The residence table should be created and maintained from property records – not voter registration forms.  All properties must be included.

f.  The person table should be linked to birth and death records, as well as other records that identify the person and their eligibility.

g.  Provisions for homeless, confidential, long term out of district, federal only, and other special situations must be provided.

h.  Detailed vote history for each voter must be retained for a minimum of ten years. 

i.  Aggregates of residences that define precincts and other districts must be transactional so that the aggregations can be recalled for any point in time.

j.  Performance must support simultaneous use by 10,000 simultaneous users with no apparent latency during periods of peak demand.

k.  The application source programs must be publicly disclosed.

l.  The system must incorporate state of the art security provisions.

m.  A near real-time copy of the database should be deployed for public access by authorized users.  For example, a voter can access their own records.

2.       Vote marking equipment

a.  Must be voter-intimidation proof.  Consequently, all voting equipment must be in a secure private voting place; Internet voting is not permitted.

b.  Must not support vote selling or gifting.  Consequently there must be no receipt removed by the voter; not cameras in the voting place.

c.  All errors must be detectable and correctable.  Voters must personally cast their own voter verified paper ballot.

3.      System

a.  Total election and voting system requirements must be documented and quantified.

b.  This must include: acceptable error rates, security provisions, privacy provisions, and independent oversight provisions.

c.  The system must address all methods of voting – precinct, early, absentee, provisional, and mail ballot.

What is the documentation plan?

1.      External functional specifications

2.      Internal functional specifications

3.      Test specifications

4.      Performance specifications including scale and speed

5.      Portability requirements – vendor independence

6.      Maintenance plan

What is the development plan?

1.      Management

2.      Resources

3.      Costs

4.      Schedules – including entry and exit criteria

What are the test plans?

1.      Function testing, system testing, performance testing, security testing, end-to-end testing, maintenance testing.

What is the ongoing governance?

1.      Change control process?

2.      Systems administration

3.      Oversight

CAMBER is a dedicated group of volunteers who are working to ensure that
every voter gets to vote once, every vote is counted once, and that every ballot is secure and anonymous.
Contact Al Kolwicz at 303-494-1540 or AlKolwicz@qwest.net