The Public Ballot

Privacy expert James Moyer and data analyst Jim Cropcho have discovered a critical flaw in Ohio's protection of voter's rights, exploitable by a method simple and practical enough to present a real, imminent threat to one of the fundamental principles of democracy. They are able to convincingly demonstrate, using newly released election data, a systematic method of determining a citizen's exact voting record.

Press Release (PDF)

My name is Jim Cropcho.

I have a strong interest in both technology and politics. As a core contributor to The Public Ballot (hey, I mean my name’s on the thing), my intention is to create a place on the web for the discussion of issues related to elections, with emphasis on election law and security.

Why am I worth your time?

I'm in my fourth year at The Ohio State University, and have (nearly!) completed a Bachelor of Science in Technology Venture Creation. I have been programming/involved with computers for over a decade, and I am currently chief developer at FindHolmes.com. Also, I teach computer programming to engineering students, and have done so since I was a first-year undergrad at The Ohio State University.

That’s pretty sweet, but what about the ‘politics’ part?

For what it’s worth, I served two years as a Senator in OSU’s Undergraduate Student Government, where I learned the true ins-and-outs of politics, and let’s just say that there’s a lot of ‘politics’ involved :-).

I’m an avid reader of The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. Also, I once stood in the same corridor as Newt Gingrich.

The Public Ballot is a blog which deals with voter privacy. Its emphasis is on Ohio, but it discusses topics from a variety of locales.