User interface design for elections

Tuesday Oct 26, 2004

According to an AP article published at www.cleveland.com, a ballot designed to be used inside of a voting machine was sent out as an absentee ballot. The arrows were added later and then instructions were added indicating that the arrows were to be ignored! These ballots randomized the order of the candidates (a good thing) so the one at electoral vote.com was just one example of which appeared to favor Kerry. This was in Cuyahoga county Ohio, another so-called "swing state." Each municipality has its own way of counting votes and each state can independently decide how its electoral college votes are allocated. Some Florida municipalities are using electronic voting this time, but I am skeptical that those unable to design a clear paper ballot will be able to evaluate the security, accuracy and usability of computer based designs.
Evoting software should definitely be open source. Ideally everything from chip design to firmware to the compiler should also be open to public scrutiny. But while it's probably obvious to most voters that the above paper ballot is poorly designed, it would be much more difficult to determine whether a computer based solution is flawed. In any case, a physical record of the vote should also be available. Optical cryptography solutions are interesting, but a simple printed name that would be deposited in a locked box would probably be the most cost effective tamper resistant and bribe resistant solution.
Ireland decided against electronic voting in its most recent election. This document points to some interesting test results of one e-voting implementation. Rounding error actually changed the makeup of German parliment after the 1992 German election. Might this be a good application for Sun interval math?

Active Directory and Java Desktop

Wednesday Oct 13, 2004

How to use Java Desktop in a Microsoft Windows network with Active Directory.

Stephen from Sun's desktop group in Ireland has a detailed howto on configuring JDS for use on a Microsoft Windows network with Active Directory(ADS).

How to use Solaris gcore

Fintanr has a short blog on how to use Solaris gcore for example, to capture a snapshot core of a running gnome-vfs process.

Sun Galway weekend away

Thursday Oct 07, 2004

Sun Ireland sports and social club members and guests enjoyed a weekend away in Galway. We bought a tin whistle and small bodhran for our music-loving little girl then we accidently found coral beach while looking for Roundstone. On the way home we visited the Ballinasloe (slow) horse show where I picked up a sextant It wasn't a bad price for a working model and it suits my interests in astronomy, sailing and scientific instruments. This one is similar to some Stanley replicas but without the Titanic plaque and mirror collimation screws. I guess I'll have to collimate with a hammer ;-). Some antique dealers try to pass these inexpensive brass imports off as real antiques, worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. Don't fall for that!