AU Finds Success with Voting System

Juan Gilbert

Juan Gilbert

The Prime III voting system developed by students and faculty at Auburn University's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering has tested well on three separate attempts.

Therefore its designers are confident it will continue to impress participants and especially judges at the University Voting Systems Competition in Portland, Ore., next month.

"Our plan is to go there and - what are we going to do, Jerome?" asked Dr. Juan Gilbert, an associate professor in the department of computer science and software engineering.

"Win," exclaims Jerome McClendon, a student member of the Prime III team. McClendon is a recent AU graduate in computer science, but plans to join the graduate program in the fall.

Because Prime III has "clear advantages over other systems out there," Gilbert is not only certain of an AU victory in Portland, but also of generating recognition and support with state and federal legislators. Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman is already a fan, according to Gilbert. It's only a matter of time before she gets others in Montgomery on board.

Then it's on to feds. Gilbert and others happen to be traveling to Washington, D.C., for a conference in August. He plans to invite all legislators to come test Prime III.

"Our claim is one machine, one vote, for every person," Gilbert says. "If you can't read, see or hear, or are even without limbs, you can still use our system."

Prime III gets its name from the three voting methods it offers - voice, touch and both. Instructions are provided through a headset or on the computer screen. Votes are cast by touching the screen or saying a corresponding number.

Between a test of students and faculty at Auburn last fall, of area senior citizens in February, and students at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind a few weeks ago, the system has been changed a bit. The paper ballots that were printed with the original test no longer exist. Gilbert said his team found that paper is not the ideal way to track or back up the electronic votes.

Instead, there is a video system that records what buttons are pressed. It also serves as an additional security measure. If hackers get into the system, Gilbert says they cannot go undetected.

"It is so straightforward for a voter and yet it is so complicated for a hacker," he says.

The test at the institute offered the team its first chance to test Prime III on its target audience - people with disabilities. Although there were some complications, Gilbert points out that it was the first time many of them voted without any assistance.

"That was just amazing," he says.

The team has yet to have hackers test the security measures, but Gilbert said it will happen. First things first, though: Win $10,000 in Oregon, get Alabama legislature support and then off to D.C. to change the world.

"That's the plan," Gilbert says. "We'll see if it pans out."

Source: Amy Weaver, Opelika-Auburn News