NewsForge has posted an interview with University of California Davis student and Open Vote Foundation founder Scott Ritchie about how the open source election software he wanted to bring to the United States was being abandoned for a more proprietary approach.

“When he accepted a request to speak at OSCON last month, Scott Ritchie did not know he would be talking about how the open source election software he wanted to bring to the United States was being abandoned for a more proprietary approach. And while the speech he was to deliver on behalf of eVACS software maker Software Improvements — which deployed its open source, GPLed software and system in an Australian election three years ago — may have been a rude awakening, it has also spurred Ritchie to push even harder for an open source election solution for American voters. NewsForge talked to Ritchie, who is currently overhauling the Open Vote Foundation site, about what happened and what’s ahead.”