Supervisor Malia Cohen has announced she now supports a state-level effort to provide matching funds to develop an open source voting system in San Francisco after hearing from thousands of residents backing the effort. Cohen’s support comes after the San Francisco Examiner reported Sunday that she was not willing to commit to sending a letter to Sacramento representatives backing the funding plan to help cities like San Francisco develop an open source voting system. Cohen said she changed her mind and sent a letter in support Tuesday after hearing from “thousands of our citywide constituents over the last 24 hours” supporting open source voting.
Mayor Mark Farrell, however, has yet to support the effort and his position hasn’t changed since he told the San Francisco Examiner Friday he wouldn’t until he figures out if it’s a priority for San Francisco.
Open source voting means software codes would be available for public auditing and The City would no longer be beholden to voting machine companies, who keep their software private. Supporters say open source voting is more transparent, secure and, over time, cost effective.
Full Article: State funding proposal for open source voting gains support – by j_sabatini – April 4, 2018 – The San Francisco Examiner.