I WAS one of the network technicians for Diebold in Georgia during the '04 elections. We tested, retested, and then restested these machines again. With double-blind test cards. Jeezus, we were meticulous in making sure everything went off without a hitch, right down to verifying the integrity of the remote connections we'd have to establish to the Secretary of States's office to send the final tallies. (We smoked their server and had to wait a week for them to upgrade the modem bank before we tried again.) And none of us were 'career' Diebold employees with a vested interest in rigging the voting - we were guns-for-hire with every manner of political persuasion and from every background. These machines are sealed, tagged, and stored in a secure place (such as a courthouse) between every election. No one is alone with them. Every machine is tracked. They can't be spirited away in the middle of the night. If Diebold was applying patches, or altering the software, it would take a conspiracy on multiple levels to even attempt it.
Given the souce of this story, WTF am I even trying to defend the system again for? It's just more Area 51 bullshit from the tinfoil hat crowd that are bored watching their X-Files DVD's in Mama's basement.
