Business Models for Election Boards' Adoption of Open Source Election Technology
From Trust The Vote
In some U.S. election jurisdictions, the board of elections (or similar body) is considering a possible shift from the use of proprietary voting system products to voting system technology that is non-proprietary, open-source, and freely available for public use. Such a shift raises questions about a BoE's "business model" for acquiring voting systems and procuring services and support. There is a range of such models, based on two primary characteristics: whether the voting system is composed of commodity off-the-shelf (COTS) components, and whether the BoE bears the primary responsibility for servicing and supporting its voting system components.
Self-Vending: Two Models
At one end of the spectrum is a self-vending COTS model. In this model, the BoE acquires COTS hardware components (commodity PCs, printers, scanners, etc.) and integrates them with open-source software that implements the functions of the various components of a voting system. The integration is performed by BoE employees, possibly supplemented by contractors, or by an integration services company retained to perform the project of installing and testing the voting system software on the COTS hardware. The BoE's IT staff are responsible for on-going support of the voting systems, including periodic supplement with contractors during the preparation phase of an election cycle.
A second model is a variant in which not all voting system components are COTS. Instead, some components of a voting system are vertically integrated devices. For example, consider the voting system component that is a polling place device for casting and counting paper ballots, using optical scanning and digital image processing technology. Such a system can be composed of COTS PC hardware and commodity scanner and display products, but this may not be suitable for some jurisdictions. In such cases, the BoE would prefer to use a vertically integrated device in which these commodity components have been integrated in a single chassis, designed for ease of transport and setup, including a simple but secure physical connection to a ballot strong-box. Such a BoE could engage with custom device manufacturer to produce the required ballot scanning device. BoE expertise could be supplemented by consultants with experience in translating operational requirements into manufacturing specifications.
In this model, however, some election technology remains COTS-based. For example, in addition to acquiring an open-source a voting system, a BoE would acquire open source election software for related functions, such as data management of election process data (contests, candidates, districts, precincts, etc.), and software tools for the design of printed ballots and e-ballots. These software components typically run in a BoE IT environment on commodity PC systems, and need not be vertically integrated. The same may be true of central office ballot scanning and counting systems.
Competitive Acquisition: Two Models
A third model is a variant in which the voting system is COTS, but the county out-sources to an IT integration, services, and support company. The services company would perform the hardware/software integration and testing, be responsible for technical support, and provide other services such as deployment and training. Because the hardware is COTS and the software is open-source, there can be a competitive environment for the procurement of these services, and a BoE can be unconstrained in terms of periodic re-bid of support contracts.
A fourth model is like the third, but with vertically integrated systems. The IT integration, services, and support company bears the responsibility for working with the custom device manufacturer and delivering the vertically integrated devices to the BoE. Similarly, the IT services company provides on-going support as in the third model. As a result, the IT services company appears at first to be a de-facto voting systems vendor, delivering custom systems, services, and support. However, after the initial delivery of the vertically integrated systems, support contracts can be re-bid with competition for ongoing support of both the already delivered vertically integrated systems, and the COTS-based components.
All four of these models share some common features and benefits. Hardware, software, services (and optionally manufacturing) can be provided as separate components, with the BoE being in control of the costs of hardware and software (and optionally manufacturing), including direct acquisition that is separate from services. The services components can then be provided on a pure services basis, with direct competition on rates for similar services, and on bundled services pricing and discounting.
Certification
One potentially non-uniform feature is certification. Currently, Federal and state voting systems certification regimes are designed for proprietary voting systems products, and place requirements on those products' vendors. These certification programs require the vendors to participate in a testing program, to contract with accredited test labs, and bear certain costs of the testing and certification process. In the four variant self-vending models, there is no vendor per se. The hardware can come from various sources; a variety of open source software packages can be used for various components: operating system, voting system software for various components, and a variety of support software that the voting system software depends on; and for hardware integration, device-specific software may come from yet other sources.
In the initial purely self-vending COTS model, the BoE could be viewed in some sense as a vendor, or at least an integrator -- but is no product per se, no vendor/customer relationship. In the other 3 variants, the vendor role is even more diffused among multiple parties. Therefore, it is an open issue, on the legal and regulatory front, to define the conditions under which a self-vending BoE could legally use voting systems that are based on open source software, and which do not have a single vendor.
