Results 1 -
8 of
8
Automated Analysis of Election Audit Logs
"... The voting audit logs produced by electronic voting systems contain data that could be useful for uncovering procedural errors and election anomalies, but they are currently unwieldy and difficult for election officials to use in post-election audits. In this work, we develop new methods to analyze ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 3 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
The voting audit logs produced by electronic voting systems contain data that could be useful for uncovering procedural errors and election anomalies, but they are currently unwieldy and difficult for election officials to use in post-election audits. In this work, we develop new methods to analyze these audit logs for the detection of both procedural errors and system deficiencies. Our methods can be used to detect votes that were not included in the final tally, machines that may have experienced hardware problems during the election, and polling locations that exhibited long lines. We tested our analyses on data from the South Carolina 2010 elections and were able to uncover, solely through the analysis of audit logs, a variety of problems, including vote miscounts. We created a public web application that applies these methods to uploaded audit logs and generates useful feedback on any detected issues. 1
Auditing a DRE-based election in South Carolina
- In Proceedings of EVT/WOTE 2011
, 2011
"... Following a highly publicized and anomalous outcome in the South Carolina statewide Democratic primary South Carolina in June 2010, the authors undertook to audit the election results based on data obtainable through the Freedom of Information Act. The state votes entirely on paperless ES&S iVot ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 2 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Following a highly publicized and anomalous outcome in the South Carolina statewide Democratic primary South Carolina in June 2010, the authors undertook to audit the election results based on data obtainable through the Freedom of Information Act. The state votes entirely on paperless ES&S iVotronic Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) machines. There is thus no auditable primary data (such as paper ballots), but there are several audit trail files that are produced by the software of the ES&S system. We have analyzed these files and have been able to show that votes were not counted, that procedures that should have been checked automatically were not checked, and that vote data to support the certified counts has not been collected or stored. 1
Determining the Causes of AccuVote Optical Scan Voting Terminal Memory Card Failures ∗
"... Optical scan (OS) voting systems play an increasing role in the United States elections, with over 40 states deploying such systems. The AccuVote optical scanners (AV-OS) manufactured by ES&S account for over 20 % of all OS systems. OS systems typically use removable media (cards) to provide ele ..."
Abstract
-
Cited by 1 (0 self)
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Optical scan (OS) voting systems play an increasing role in the United States elections, with over 40 states deploying such systems. The AccuVote optical scanners (AV-OS) manufactured by ES&S account for over 20 % of all OS systems. OS systems typically use removable media (cards) to provide election-specific programming to the scanners and to convey precinct election results for central tabulation. Several reports document occurrences of AV-OS memory card failures, with up to 15 % of all cards failing in some cases. This paper reports on determining the causes of memory card failures that lead to complete loss of data from the card. An initial experimental analysis identified the battery discharge as a significant part of the problem. This finding led to the question of the dependability of the built-in function of the AccuVote OS system that issues a warning when the memory card contains a lowvoltage battery. We identified the components used to implement this function in one type of AccuVote memory card. Using the specifications of the commodity batteries that are used in these cards, we determined the time interval from the instant when a battery warning is issued by the AccuVote to the point when the battery does not have enough voltage to retain data on the memory card. We show that such interval is about 2 weeks. Thus timely warnings cannot be provided to protect against battery discharge and loss of data during the election process. The factors contributing to the short warning interval are likely to apply to other battery-backed RAM cards, such as those used in the ES&S Model 100. Recommendations for mitigating the problem are made in light of the expected behavior of the warning system.
Enabling More Meaningful Post-Election Investigations by
"... All rights reserved. ..."
(Show Context)
by Arel Lee CorderoAbstract Enabling More Meaningful Post-Election Investigations by
, 2010
"... Post-election audits and investigations can produce more transparent, trustworthy, and secure elections. However, such investigations are limited in cases by inadequate tools and methods, an absence of meaningful evidence, and high costs. In this dissertation, I address these concerns in the followi ..."
Abstract
- Add to MetaCart
(Show Context)
Post-election audits and investigations can produce more transparent, trustworthy, and secure elections. However, such investigations are limited in cases by inadequate tools and methods, an absence of meaningful evidence, and high costs. In this dissertation, I address these concerns in the following three lines of research. First, I describe my research on verifiable and transparent random sample selection for post-election audits. I investigate how counties have typically approached random sample selection, and I analyze the implications and limitations of those approaches. I propose a sampling method that has since found use in counties across the country. Second, I describe a novel approach for logging events in direct recording electronic (DRE) voting systems. My approach gives investigators more meaningful evidence about the behavior of DREs on election day. In particular, I propose to record interactions between the voter and the voting machine such that they can be replayed by investigators while preserving the anonymity of the voter. Last, I describe a novel process for efficiently verifying elections that use optical scan voting systems. My process uses image superposition to let an investigator visualize the content of many ballot images simultaneously while allowing individual treatment of anomalous ballots. I evaluate this process and demonstrate an order of magnitude improvement in the time it takes to inspect ballot images individually. This approach will let investigators more cost-effectively verify that all ballots have been accurately counted as intended by the voters.
LOG ENGINEERING: TOWARDS SYSTEMATIC LOG MINING TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF ULTRA-LARGE SCALE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS
, 2014
"... Much of the research in software engineering focuses on understanding the dy-namic nature of software systems. Such research typically uses automatedinstrumentation or profiling techniques on the code. In this thesis, we exam-ine logs as another source of dynamic information. Such information is gen ..."
Abstract
- Add to MetaCart
Much of the research in software engineering focuses on understanding the dy-namic nature of software systems. Such research typically uses automatedinstrumentation or profiling techniques on the code. In this thesis, we exam-ine logs as another source of dynamic information. Such information is generated from statements inserted into the code during development to draw the attention of system operators and developers to important run-time events. Such statements reflect the rich experience of system experts. The rich content of logs has led to a new market for log man-agement applications that assist in storing, querying and analyzing logs. Moreover, recent research has demonstrated the importance of logs in understanding and improving software systems. However, developers often treat logs as textual data. We believe that logs have much more potential in assisting developers. Therefore, in this thesis, we propose Log En-gineering to systematically leverage logs in order to support the development of ultra-large scale systems. To motivate this thesis, we first conduct a literature review on the state-of-the-art of software log mining. We find that logging statements and logs from the development envi-ronment are rarely leveraged by prior research. Further, current practices of software log
