ELVIS Committee approves annual report, drafts new remote-voting security rules

WAYLAND — September 6, 2023 — Wayland's ELVIS Committee approves annual report and advances new remote-voting security requirements. Meeting Wednesday by Zoom, the committee voted 5-0 to adopt the annual report and unanimously approved Jan. 26 minutes before turning to Section 4 of its draft requirements document, which would encrypt all remote vote traffic, block double check-ins, and post a public audit table showing every voter's last vote by secret code. Chair Dave Bernstein reported House Bill 2053, filed in February by Rep. Carmine Gentile, has stalled since an April hearing, and that the Finance Committee ultimately backed the underlying Article 19 by a 5-1 vote after he produced data showing on-premises voting costs have declined modestly. Member Alan Reiss proposed a running-sum column on the audit table — "you just earned your paycheck, Alan," Bernstein said — and floated issuing fresh secret codes for each vote to deter vote-selling. Bernstein will redraft the section for the next meeting.