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CONTACT: MARY GERAGHTY KENYON
100 Old Public Library
Iowa City IA 52242
(319) 384-0011; fax (319) 384-0024
e-mail: mary-geraghty@uiowa.edu

Release: May 21, 2001

UI computer science professor to testify before Congress on voting technology May 22

IOWA CITY, Iowa (UI News Service) -- Douglas W. Jones, associate professor of computer science in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts, is scheduled to testify Tuesday, May 22 at a U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee hearing on "Improving Voting Technology: The Role of Standards."

Jones has been asked to address the following questions:

-- What kinds of problems have been identified in various voting systems used throughout the United States?

-- Which of these problems could be addressed by developing or improving standards, and what kinds of standards, if any, would need to be developed or improved?

-- What kinds of research, testing, or data collecting activity do you think are necessary in order to develop effective voting standards?

Jones has done extensive research on the use of computers and technology in elections and was called to testify at a January U.S. Civil Rights Commission hearing in Tallahassee, Fla. on voting machine technology and whether the rights of voters were violated during the 2000 election.

He is chairman of the Iowa Board of Examiners for Voting Machines and Electronic Voting Systems and has been a member of the board since 1994. He also was named to the Iowa Election Reform Task Force, which was convened this year by Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver.

Tuesday’s Congressional hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m.-noon in Room 2318, Rayburn Office Building. Jones is available for comment until 11:30 a.m. Monday, May 21, when he will leave Iowa City for Washington, D.C. He expects to return late Tuesday night. He will post his testimony to his Web page http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~dwjones/voting/ by Wednesday. Also on that Web page is a copy of his May 16 presentation to the Johnson County League of Women Voters, which previews some of what he will say in his Congressional testimony.

UI News Service