An '''open-source voting system''' (OSVS), also known as '''open-source voting''' (or '''OSV''')''',''' is a voting system that uses open-source software (and/or hardware) that is completely transparent in its design in order to be checked by anyone for bugs or issues.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-10-05 |title=The threat to our voting system that's more likely than hacking |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/threat-to-our-voting-system-hacking |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en-us}}</ref> Free and open-source systems can be adapted and used by others without paying licensing fees, improving the odds they achieve the scale usually needed for long-term success.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/2017_2018/2017-18_SFCGJ_Final_Report_Open_Source_Voting_in_San_Francisco.pdf|title=2017-2018 Civil Grand Jury Report on Open Source Voting in San Francisco|accessdate=December 5, 2022}}</ref> The development of open-source voting technology has shown a small but steady trend towards increased adoption since the first system was put into practice in Choctaw County, Mississippi in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Huseman |first=Jessica |title=The Way America Votes Is Broken. In One Rural County, a Nonprofit Showed a Way Forward. |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/the-way-america-votes-is-broken-in-one-rural-county-a-nonprofit-showed-a-way-forward |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=ProPublica |date=12 November 2019 |language=en}}</ref>{{Elections|image=|caption=}}
== Significance== ===Security and trust=== {{see also|Open-source software security|Security through obscurity}} Systems where more people can understand more of the process and get insights into details serve a similar purpose to election observers who help to inspire trust with increased transparency and verification.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Wofford |first=Ben |date=June 25, 2021 |title=One Man's Quest to Break Open the Secretive World of American Voting Machines |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/06/25/voting-machines-costs-election-technology-democracy-matthew-caulfield-483080 |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref> Additionally, when 90% of the market of election systems in the United States, for example, are run by 'murky' and 'inscrutable' private equity companies, conspiracy theories can flourish alongside serious vulnerabilities.<ref name=":0" /> With quicker identification and correction of issues than under proprietary systems, organizations such as the U.S. Defense Department and NASA opt to incorporate open-source software.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Woolsey |first1=R. James |last2=Fox |first2=Brian J. |date=2017-08-03 |title=Opinion {{!}} To Protect Voting, Use Open-Source Software |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/03/opinion/open-source-software-hacker-voting.html |access-date=2022-12-09 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Cities, for example, can have their own staff work on software with the vendors when out in the open, allowing for faster patches and enhancing their election security.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elder |first=Jeff |date=November 14, 2021 |title=How one company came to control San Francisco's elections |url=https://www.sfexaminer.com/archives/how-one-company-came-to-control-san-francisco-s-elections/article_7ad03095-dc2e-55e3-911a-a04796e754c8.html |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=San Francisco Examiner |language=en}}</ref> The consensus among the information security community is that a widely used open-source system should be more secure than a closed one, as more people tend to be willing and able to check for vulnerabilities.<ref name=":32">{{cite web|title=2017-2018 Civil Grand Jury Report on Open Source Voting in San Francisco|url=https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/2017_2018/2017-18_SFCGJ_Final_Report_Open_Source_Voting_in_San_Francisco.pdf|accessdate=December 5, 2022}}</ref>
=== Cost Savings === In addition to increased transparency creating more trust and security, open-source software can lower costs for elections. A VotingWorks bid in a Mississippi county, for example, was 50% less than the other vendors using proprietary software,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Guizerix |first=Anna |date=2021-08-18 |title=Warren County Supervisors approve purchase of new voting machines |url=https://www.vicksburgpost.com/2021/08/18/warren-county-supervisors-approve-purchase-of-new-voting-machines/ |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=The Vicksburg Post |language=en}}</ref> while its machines in 2021 were listed at 1/3 the price of the average machine.<ref name=":0" /> Open-source software allows maintenance costs to be controlled via vendor competition (rather than dependence on just a couple vendors), and to be shared with other jurisdictions as they employ the software.<ref name=":22">San Francisco Open Source Voting Technical Advisory Committee. May 14th 2019 Meeting. Committee Member Brandon Phillips. p. 39. https://osvtac.github.io/files/meetings/2020/2020-03-12/packet/DT_OSV_State_of_Art_Briefing_Feb_2020.pdf</ref>
Proprietary vendors are not transparent about their costs, estimates found that roughly 2/3 of their revenue came from support, maintenance and services.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Mestel |first=Spenser |date=February 28, 2024 |title=The Start-Up Busting the Voting Machine Monopoly |url=https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/start-busting-voting-machine-monopoly |work=Undark Magazine |via=Pulitzer Center}}</ref> Private vendors also have sued governments trying to switch to a more reliable process.<ref name=":1" />
== Development milestones == In 2004, Open Voting Consortium demonstrated a "Dechert Design" GPL open source paper ballot printing and scanner voting system.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/business/technology-briefing-software-voting-software-to-be-demonstrated.html|title=Technology Briefing | Software: Voting Software To Be Demonstrated|first=John|last=Schwartz (NYT)|date=April 1, 2004|work=The New York Times}}</ref> In 2008, Open Voting Consortium demonstrated the system at a mock election for LinuxWorld.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2532223/open-source-e-voting-gets-linuxworld-test-run.html|title=Open-source e-voting gets LinuxWorld test run|first=Todd R.|last=Weiss|date=August 6, 2008|website=Computerworld}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gage |first=Deborah |date=2008-08-02 |title=Voting machine gets LinuxWorld tryout |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Voting-machine-gets-LinuxWorld-tryout-3202455.php |access-date=2023-06-18 |website=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2019, Microsoft made its ElectionGuard software open-source, which the company claims is used by all major manufacturers of voting systems (in the United States),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Microsoft makes its open-source secure voting software available to all |url=https://www.engadget.com/2019-09-25-microsoft-open-source-secure-voting-software-electionguard.html |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=Engadget |date=25 September 2019 |language=en-US}}</ref> however they have come under fire for obstructing the adoption of open-source election software.<ref>[https://therealactivistmovie.com "The Real Activist"] 2021 Documentary. 15:45-20:55.</ref> In 2020, Los Angeles County became the first U.S. jurisdiction to implement its own publicly owned election system.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AP20:091 Los Angeles County VSAP 2.1 Voting System Certified :: California Secretary of State |url=https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/news-releases-and-advisories/2020-news-releases-and-advisories/ap20091-los-angeles-county-vsap-21-voting-system-certified |access-date=2022-12-05 |website=www.sos.ca.gov}}</ref> The Los Angeles attempt at open source voting was dismissed by Open Source Initiative as a failed project when it did not meet accepted open source standards. A condition of the Secretary of State's approval was to open-source the code by October 1, 2021,<ref>"Conditional Approval of Los Angeles County's Voting Solutions for All People (VSAP) 2.1 Voting System" by Alex Padilla, California Secretary of State. October 1, 2020. Condition 28, p. 6. https://votingsystems.cdn.sos.ca.gov/vendors/LAC/vsap2-1/vsap21-cert.pdf</ref> but had not met that commitment as of February 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 23, 2022 |title=Voting Security and the Status of Open Source Software |url=https://www.kalw.org/show/your-legal-rights/2022-02-23/voting-security-and-the-status-of-open-source-software |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=KALW |language=en}}</ref>
San Francisco applied to run a limited pilot in November 2022 using VotingWorks, but California's Secretary of State asked the City to resubmit their application when the nonprofit's ranked-choice voting module was closer to completion.<ref>"Update on Open-Source Pilot Program." [https://sfgov.org/electionscommission/sites/default/files/Documents/meetings/2022/2022-11-16-commission/Attachment%201.pdf Letter from Shirley N. Weber, California Secretary of State to John Arntz and the City and County of San Francisco. May 6, 2022. https://sfgov.org/electionscommission/sites/default/files/Documents/meetings/2022/2022-11-16-commission/Attachment%201.pdf]</ref>
== Adoption == Mississippi was the first state to have local jurisdictions use open-source voting systems to cast and count ballots. In New Hampshire, the towns of Ashland, Newington and Woodstock piloted that same open-sourced software system in the fall of 2022 with an eye to possible statewide adoption of VotingWorks' open-source systems by 2024.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=November 8, 2022 |title=3 N.H. towns are testing out new ballot counting machines that use open source software |url=https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/11/08/new-hampshire-new-voting-machines-open-source |access-date=2022-11-25 |website=www.wbur.org |language=en}}</ref>
Open-source election risk-limiting audit systems have been implemented statewide in the U.S. states of Georgia,<ref>{{cite web |date=November 10, 2022 |title=Georgia Sec. of State chooses own race for election audit |url=https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/elections/georgia-risk-limiting-audit-secretary-of-state-race/85-33529504-3a85-460c-84a1-59f16fdc7329 |access-date=2022-12-09 |website=11Alive.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Michigan, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia and in local jurisdictions in California, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Washington.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=VotingWorks FAQ |url=https://www.voting.works/faq |access-date=2022-12-04 |website=www.voting.works}}</ref>
== See also == *Election security *End-to-end auditable voting systems *VotingWorks
== References == <references /> {{Improve categories|date=December 2022}} voting Category:Voting