Paper Trails And Source Code Needed

It looks like folks in Wisconsin have been paying attention to the problems found in many e-voting systems. The Governor there has signed into law a requirement that all e-voting machines include a verifiable paper trail that would let a voter check his or her vote before leaving the booth -- and which can be used for an official recount, if necessary. Perhaps more interesting, though almost entirely ignored by most press accounts of this new law, is a separate claim that this law not only requires e-voting providers to hand over their source code (similar to other states), but that the companies need to make that source code "publicly accessible" so that it "may be used to independently verify the accuracy and reliability of the operating and tallying procedures to be employed at any election." This is a big step forward that, hopefully, other states will emulate.