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1. Name: Rebecca Mercuri, Ph.D.  
2. Title: President, Notable Software, Inc.

3. Voting Machines
Position:
Con to the question "Do electronic voting machines improve the voting process?"
4. Reasoning:

"I am adamantly opposed to the use of fully electronic or Internet-based systems for use in anonymous balloting and vote tabulation applications." (Statement on electronic voting machines, available on her website, accessed 4/7/2006)

5. Credibility
Ranking:
 Experts
Election officials, people with post-graduate degrees in a computer science, J.D.s, Members of Congress, or elected officials with significant involvement in, or related to, electronic voting machine issues

6. Involvement:
  • President and Founder, Notable Software, Inc.
  • Has been researching and testifying on the subject of electronic voting since 1989
  • Popularized the "Mercuri Method" of voter verified balloting, which includes a paper audit trail that is used as the official record of votes, especially in case of dispute
  • Provided testimony about electronic voting systems before the U.S. House of Representatives, Federal Election Commission, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit (regarding the 2000 U.S. Presidential election), U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and United Kingdom Cabinet
7. Education:
  • Ph.D., Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania
  • M.S., Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
  • M.Sci., Computer Science, Drexel University
8. Relevant Affiliations/Honors:
  • 2004-2005 - Radcliffe Institute Fellow
  • Co-founder and board member of the Princeton Professional chapters of the Association of Computer Machinery (ACM) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society
  • Contributing Editor and Security Watch columnist, Communications of the ACM

9. Contact Info:
Phone: (609) 587-1886 Fax: None listed
E-Mail: mercuri (at) acm (dot) org
Web Sitehttp://www.notablesoftware.com/evote.html

10. Other: Author of over 30 publications, including:
  • "Verification for Electronic Balloting Systems," chapter in Secure Electronic Voting, 2003
  • "A Better Ballot Box?" IEEE Spectrum, 2002
  • "Explanation of Voter-Verified Ballot Systems," The Risks Digest, 2002
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