As a senator in the Unicameral, Mike Flood proposed an amendment which led to the change of how our voting system in Nebraska is now defined. He proposed that we add "any software or service" to be permissible in the "creating, casting, and counting" of ballots. ANY. The language of the statute leaves that completely undefined.
Look at the language of the amendment proposed by Flood--and voted on unanimously by our Unicameral--and you tell me if this doesn't leave our elections WIDE OPEN for the potential of abuse. And you tell me if permitting software to be used in the "creating, casting, and counting" of our ballots doesn't now put the definition of "voting system' in conflict with the existing statute which prohibits the use of an "electronic voting system' in our state.
I have been pressing our elected officials for answers on this. They are REFUSING to answer some very simple questions. Can software be used in our elections without the use of electronics? And if software (actually, "any software or service"--ANY!) can be used in the "creating, casting, and counting" of ballots, then in what part of our elections are we NOT now permitting the use of software?
Look, I get that they are claiming that the language of the statute doesn't mean what I am saying that it means. But they are refusing to answer the question of where it is in our statutes that any distinction is made between the revised definition of "voting system" and the definition of an "electronic voting system"--which our statues prohibit. The language, as it now stands, defining "voting system" in our state permits the use of "any software or service" (completely undefined!) in the "creating, casting, and counting" of ballots.
I'd love to hear how the "new and improved" NEGOP can explain their support for a Republican-led amendment which appears to only move us closer to permanently accepting the use of machines and ES&S services in our elections.
And the NEGOP is being extraordinarily dishonest with people when they suggest that Secretary of State Bob Evnen has ANY intention of removing "corrupt software" from our elections. Evnen is on the record as having clearly stated that he believes the machines are more trustworthy to count the votes than the people of Nebraska are.
You can read responses (which are in no way answers) from our elected officials on this matter here: