Then get new memory cards, save the current cards, and archive the data!
What in blazes is going on here??? I can't believe what I'm hearing.
What in blazes is going on here??? I can’t believe what I’m hearing
<><><><><><><>
Yup... it’s reading like a Babyloon Bee storyline....
Exactly! Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of computers would know this. Their argument is absolutely ridiculous.
One of the thing that our side would want would be a copy of each of these cards to make sure no hanky-panky is done to them.
Here's what I'd do: With observers present. The procedure below will create a validated image of the card that can be saved, and provided to anyone who wants to look at it from a forensics or data perspective.
All of the following is performed from just about any Unix/Linux computer, and is completely read-only on the card itself. At no point is the card even mounted for writing. In the following lines that start with "###" are my comments explaining what is being done. Lines that start with "$" are the actual commands being issued.
### First, create an empty directory $ mkdir votecard ### change to that directory $ cd votecard/ ### verify the directory is empty $ ls -l total 0 ### Without mounting the card, create an image of it on the local hard disk $ sudo dd if=/dev/sdd1 of=card1.img 246175+0 records in 246175+0 records out 126041600 bytes (126 MB, 120 MiB) copied, 16.1644 s, 7.8 MB/s ### verify that the image file exists. $ ls -l total 123088 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 126041600 Dec 5 15:38 card1.img ### Get a cryptographic hash of the image. Have all observers write this hash down. $ sha256sum card1.img c17e384050ce33ac2a715c8a75658194b56cfde60da7eac6208b779f4cbae8c4 card1.img ### Do the same thing, except this time dump the results into a file. $ sha256sum card1.img > card1.img.sha256.txt ### Validate the contents of the hash file. Observers can compare against written value $ cat card1.img.sha256.txt c17e384050ce33ac2a715c8a75658194b56cfde60da7eac6208b779f4cbae8c4 card1.img ### Mount the image file $ sudo mount -o loop card1.img /mnt ### Check contents of the mounted filesystem $ ls -l /mnt total 1448 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 534745 Dec 5 15:18 Data1.pdf -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 182297 Dec 5 15:18 Data2.txt -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 361228 Dec 5 15:18 Data3.txt -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 398098 Dec 5 15:18 Data4.txt -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Apr 14 2015 file.txt ### Get a cryptographic hash of each individual file. Write these down or take screen shot. $ sha256sum /mnt/* d2b8b2074603e125983ca592e38d4e19df4eef0206c4098744a3c66ab2ef6545 /mnt/Data1.pdf 8ed8bb156040cbff0a102bc75674923072295ad10be37345afab3e3bcbca0f69 /mnt/Data2.txt 74035a1111b76cbce1d1097895280e756ef164b9bc25e5d409c7cc56f3318c1d /mnt/Data3.txt 82b3b635828731b05bdb9f84e0febf18714944cc8a9a1eaa4b665fec26155a04 /mnt/Data4.txt e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855 /mnt/file.txt ### Get cryptographic hash of each individual file, and store it in a file. $ sha256sum /mnt/* > card1.files.sha256.txt ### Check contents of file hashes. Make sure the contents of the file matches ### the written hashes or screenshot. $ cat card1.files.sha256.txt d2b8b2074603e125983ca592e38d4e19df4eef0206c4098744a3c66ab2ef6545 /mnt/Data1.pdf 8ed8bb156040cbff0a102bc75674923072295ad10be37345afab3e3bcbca0f69 /mnt/Data2.txt 74035a1111b76cbce1d1097895280e756ef164b9bc25e5d409c7cc56f3318c1d /mnt/Data3.txt 82b3b635828731b05bdb9f84e0febf18714944cc8a9a1eaa4b665fec26155a04 /mnt/Data4.txt e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855 /mnt/file.txt $ ### Unmount the image file $ sudo umount /mnt ### take a look at the files that now exist in the directory. $ ls -l total 123096 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 404 Dec 5 15:41 card1.files.sha256.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 126041600 Dec 5 15:42 card1.img -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 76 Dec 5 15:39 card1.img.sha256.txt
If you look at this post you can see more information about why the 'sha256sum' program can be used to validate the contents of the files, and the image itself.
Once all of the above is complete on each card, the originals should be sealed until the all of the legal issues have been dealt with. The state can by a new stack of fresh cards/drives or whatever to use in the upcoming election.
Any competent Unix/Linux nerd can validate the above procedure. The disk images can be provided to any person or organization that would like to take a look at them. One of the cool things about using the 'dd' command to image the cards is that it actually provides a byte-for-byte copy of the card itself. There are tools you can use to see deleted files and other information on the card. It does not just copy the files/directories of the file, but is actually an exact image of the card itself.
Anyone can validate after that point that the hashes match. The computer used to generate all of this data can be a completely stand-alone box that has no network connection, and for the truly paranoid, could be installed from validated media immediately before this imaging process is initiated.