USA election study

MOBILE, Ala. - Who could forget the 2000 presidential election? The historical event involved recounts, hanging chads, and ballot design issues. Alec Yasinsac studied that watershed election.

"To have a race where one state was that close, such a small margin, and have the entire election depend on the outcome, it was a perfect storm of electoral problems," said Yasinsac.

The Dean of USA's School of Computer and Information Sciences, Yasinsac is now heading a multi-phase project to identify risks in voting systems. "Our goal is to create a tool that can be used by election officials to judge the tools and threats of different voting systems."

The $750,000 project should take around 10 months and consists of three phases; the first involves creating visual models of election systems.

"We want to make it applicable for as wide a range as possible for local to state to national," said Bob Sweeney, the Associate Professor for the same department.

Sweeney said this job is like a dream come true. "I can't think of anything I've done in academics, I’ve been in this business for 15 years, that's excited me like this. It's what we dream about when we get involved in these kind of projects."

The project analyzes voting systems like touch screens and paper ballots and then assesses threats to those systems. The final stage could involve creating software to counter those threats.

"If the people don't believe their vote counts," stated Yasinsac, "then their trust in government is at risk, so we're proud to have an impact in this area."

The project is slated to be completed next July.