Background

Last year (2011), party leaders suggested that we ought to use electronic keypads at our Nominating Convention this year, to save time and to improve accuracy.

Since the Utah County Republican Party used electronic keypads in a series of its central committee meetings in 2009, and published detailed results of each vote, I too have been a proponent of their use. But my support of the idea has always hinged on transparency! Votes must be published so each delegate can confirm that his vote was received and tallied correctly.

Proposal

To that end, I put together a system of web pages that provides this transparency. In early March (2012), I attended an Elections Committee Meeting, where I introduced the system (shown on the next few web pages). These web pages are designed to (dovetail with and) publish what the electronic keypad system captures, and to enable any delegate to confirm that his vote was CAST correctly and also TALLIED correctly. The proposal was appreciatively received, but was not adopted.

Currently (as of April 5, 2012), the Elections Committee does NOT intend to publish detailed results of each election. I hope that the committee will reconsider. By detailed results, I mean 4000 lines (one line for each delegate) showing the serial number of each keypad, along with the vote that was cast by that keypad--one such file for each ballot of each election conducted by electronic keypad. Keypads could be traded among delegates to preserve anonymity.

Concerns

Members of the Election Committee worried that allowing delegates to confirm their vote during the convention would take too much time. I agree that doing this the first time or two would take some time. But isn't a slow, verifiable system better than a fast, unverifiable system? I think delegates would quickly get the hang of the system, and thereafter vote verification would occur quickly and smoothly.

Members worried that a few delegates might falsely claim that the system messed up their votes, and thereby cast doubt on the veracity of the elections. But the proposed system allows a delegate to correct his vote before the vote is declared final--leaving a claimant without excuse if he really wants to claim an error and change his vote.

Members worried that many delegates would not have the means to access the web from the seats in the convention hall. But I think that, if properly advertised and invited, interested delegates would bring to the convention a mobile web-aware device (like an iPhone), or sit by a friend with one, so they could verify their votes during the convention.

On Thursday, April 12, 2012, I visited with Joe Rugggieri, Sales Manager at the South Towne Expo Center. He reported that their wireless system could accommodate only 300 to 350 devices, although they have a DS-3 "pipe" that is big enough to handle the traffic of 4000 users. Could we bring in our own wi-fi connections? Yes, but would they conflict with the wireless bands being used by the electronic keypads? I don't know.

On Friday, April 13, 2012, I submitted the following, low-tech proposal:

Unfortunately, this proposal was rejected as well, on fears that seeing these (preliminary) results might influence a delegate to his change his vote, which might change the outcome of the election, and swamp the convention (occupy lots more time) with delegates changing their votes.

Summary

I believe that voting by electronic keypad would be a great step forward into the 21st century. But, to guarantee fair elections and attain the full confidence of the delegates, I believe that the system must be transparent.

Please review the proposed system (click Continue below). When you return to this page, click feedback to tell me what you think.

Lowell Nelson, Vice Chair, Utah Republican Party.