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Truvote Founder, Athan Gibbs, killed in an auto accident
Sun Mar 21 18:46:36 2004
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Truvote Founder, Athan Gibbs, killed in an auto accident
http://www.thetennesseetribune.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=40618&sID=4

By: Ronald Weathersby Tennessee Tribune
3/19/2004

NASHVILLE, Tenn. —- Music City was stunned last weekend when it learned that Athan Lee Gibbs, Sr. founder of TruVote International was killed in a two-vehicle collision on 1-65 near Metro Center Drive Friday morning, March 12 at approximately 10:30 am.

Gibbs, 57 was an accountant, auditor and inventor who single-handedly changed the face of elections in America when he developed the first touch screen voting machines (DRE) equipped with a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).

He named his machine the TruVote Voter Validation and Verification System, certified it with the federal government and began marketing the machine in 2002.

During the unprecedented events surrounding the validity of the vote count in the 2000 presidential election, it became apparent to Gibbs that several inadequacies existed with the voting systems currently used in the United States.

His concerns about the problematic election and his selfdescribed “passion for democracy” led him to invent the TruVote System.

“The paper trail serves three purposes,” Gibbs once explained. “It provides a means to verify that the DRE voting machine is accurately recording each voter’s intent. It offers a means to manually recount votes in close elections. Lastly, it gives voters confidence that their votes are being recorded and reported as they intended. It eliminates blind faith voting.”

The TruVote Voter Validation System presents the voter with a userfriendly touch screen system. Once the ballot is cast, the machine provides the voter with a paper receipt to verify their ballot selections.

The receipt also serves as evidence that the voter’s ballot has been cast and included in the election totals.

For further confirmation that his or her ballot has been cast and counted in the total election results, the voter can use a secure site on the Internet, dial a tollfree telephone number, or review a printout at the election office.

A project sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation, Cal-Tech and M.I.T. determined between 4 to 6 million votes were lost in the 2000 election.

The report said that between 1.5 and 2 million votes were lost because of faulty equipment and confusing ballots. Their analysis indicates the U. S. can improve the situation by upgrading technology. Gibbs’ TruVote Voter Validation System effectively addresses the voting irregularities cited by the Cal-Tech/MIT project.

The Tennessee General Assembly presented Gibbs with a Joint Resolution honoring and congratulating him on his invention.

The resolution reads, in part, “Mr. Gibbs is the designer of the TruVote Voter Validation System, a tool that assures voters their votes have been correctly cast and counted, while protecting against voter tampering; his remarkable system eliminates the likelihood of voter mistakes, vote exclusion, vote addition and vote switch.”

Gibbs’ death comes at a critical moment for TruVote. The VVPAT has become a front-burner issue in the election business and in grassroots American political circles. Serious questions have been raised in scientific studies that have illuminated concerns about the security of touch screen voting systems.

His year in Florida and number of votes were “lost” in a closely contested special election that raised even further questions about electronic voting when election officials could not determine what happened to the uncounted votes.

The appeals for a VVPAT have increased in recent months and Congress has begun to listen and react.

Last summer Congressman Russ Holt (DNJ) introduced a bill that will mandate a VVPAT on every electronic voting device in America. His bill now has over 130 co-sponsors. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) have introduced a similar bill.

If these bills are passed, and there does not seem to be a great deal of organized opposition beyond the traditional election machine industry, the VVPAT will be the hottest item in the business with multimillion dollars worth of contracts at stake.

While congress is deliberating bills that will mandate the VVPAT, many states have moved in that direction unilaterally. California, Nevada and Ohio have executive orders directing county election officials to only buy electronic voting machines equipped with the VVPAT. More states are expected to do the same.

If the current trends continue many expect that in 2006 a majority of Americans who vote will do so by means of the technology Gibbs pioneered.

Gibbs a native of Shelby County, Tennessee moved to Nashville and attended Tennessee State University where he earned a bachelor of business administration degree. He later earned a bachelor of theology degree from American Baptist College.

His wife, Dorothy and two adult children Jonathan and Angela survive Gibbs.


He wanted every vote to matter; Athan Gibbs, Sr. dies in crash http://www.tennessean.com/obits/archives/04/03/48330576.shtml

By HOLLY EDWARDS Staff Writer

After more than 1 million votes went uncounted in the last presidential election, Athan Gibbs Sr. devoted his life to making sure voters in future elections would know their votes mattered.

The enterprising 57-year-old saw his invention of the TruVote vote- casting system as nothing less than the key to social justice and democracy in America.

As family members and business partners gathered at the TruVote office yesterday morning to mourn Mr. Gibbs' death, they vowed that his dream would not die with him.

Mr. Gibbs was killed about 10:30 a.m. Friday in a car crash on Interstate 65 near Eighth Avenue North as he drove from his north Nashville home to his downtown office at Tennessee State University's Business Incubation Center.

Metro police said Mr. Gibbs lost control of his Chevy Blazer after he cut in front of an 18-wheeler and the two vehicles collided. The Blazer rolled several times in the southbound lanes, went over the retaining wall and came to rest on its roof on the northbound side. Gibbs was ejected, police said.

Before his sudden death, friends and family said, Mr. Gibbs worked tirelessly on the TruVote system and, with backing from Microsoft Inc., was marketing his invention nationwide.

''He loved God, he loved people and he loved democracy, and we're going to keep his dream going,'' said Mr. Gibbs' 25-year-old son, Jonathan, who worked with his father on the project. ''It's more important than ever now to make sure his vision becomes a reality.''

Mr. Gibbs spent about three years and roughly $2 million — including thousands of dollars from his own bank account — to develop and market the electronic vote-casting system. TruVote allows voters to touch their candidates' names on a computer screen and receive receipts of their vote at the end of the process. They can then go to a Web site, punch in their voter validation number and make sure their vote was recorded.

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat who represents Davidson, the eastern half of Cheatham and the western half of Wilson County in Congress, said the TruVote system was ''one of the most promising technologies in the world for fixing democracies.''

With a federal mandate for states to review and upgrade their vote casting systems by 2006, Mr. Gibbs' invention was getting increasing attention nationwide, Cooper said.

''Every once in awhile, we see a fundamental need in this country and someone comes up with a fundamental discovery to fill that need, and that's what Athan had,'' Cooper said. ''This is a tragic loss for the entire country.''

Mr. Gibbs was driven by his experiences growing up in Memphis in the 1950s and '60s, when minorities were struggling to exercise their right to vote. After a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights study of the 2000 presidential election showed that votes cast by African- Americans in Florida, a decisive state, were 10 times more likely to be rejected, Mr. Gibbs knew he had to take action.

His quests for democracy and social equality also were driven by his religious faith, and he served as an associate minister at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Nashville.

''As an African-American clergyman, Athan was consumed by a desire for justice, equality and freedom for all people,'' said the Rev. Enoch Fuzz, pastor of Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church. ''And, he just ran out full speed ahead and tried to accomplish that.''

Mr. Gibbs was an accountant and financial auditor for 30 years and started his own company, INCO Tax Service of Tennessee. He received a bachelor of business administration degree from Tennessee State University and a bachelor of theology degree from American Baptist College.

In the 1970s, former U.S. Rep. Bob Clement hired Mr. Gibbs as a financial analyst when Clement headed the Tennessee Public Service Commission. The two remained close friends over the past three decades, and Clement had been serving as a business consultant for TruVote.

Clement said Mr. Gibbs' energy and idealism were infectious, and he called Mr. Gibbs ''one of the finest people I've met in my life.''

''We in the U.S. have one of the worst voting records in the world, and Athan was out to fix that,'' he said. ''A lot of people have ideas but never carry them out. Athan was following through on his dream, and his energy level was phenomenal. I don't think he ever slept.''

In addition to his son, Mr. Gibbs is survived by his wife, Dorothy, and a daughter, Angela.

Funeral arrangements are pending and will be handled by Lewis and Wright Funeral Home in Nashville.

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• ...and when I die? — A Patriot, Sun Mar 21 19:18