Diebold thrown out of Florida by hacker

The Inquirer (A UK Tech Journal) ^ | December 20, 2005 | Nick Farrell

[ConservativeMind]

A FINNISH security expert has proved to the supervisor of elections in Leon County Florida that it is a doddle to hack Diebold voting machines.

Harri Hursti took part in a fake election in Leon County using what Diebold calls unhackable technology.

At the beginning of the test election the memory card programmed by Harri Hursti was inserted into an Optical Scan Diebold voting machine. Hursti had pre-loaded the memory card with plus and minus votes.

The eight ballots were run through the optical scan machine. Correct results should have been: Yes:2 ; No:6 However, just as Hursti had planned, the results tape read: Yes:7 ; No:1

To be fair to Diebold, the Hursti Hack requires a moderate level of inside access, however it does not require a password and it is the same level of access given thousands of poll workers across the USA.

More here.

[Publius6961]

We will screw around until the only safe way will be implanted chips.

Cool! I can send my dog to the polling place. He's already chipped...

[camle]

as I have said before, and will say again - he who programs the machines decides the election.

paper ballots and purple fingers, please - it's simpler and harder to fake.

[bmwcyle]

He can only vote with the dead.

[SquirrelKing]

We will screw around until the only safe way will be implanted chips.

Till someone hacks my chip.

Hey, that sounds like a good excuse:

"I'm sorry about eating the entire pound cake, honey. That Peterson kid must've hacked my chip again."

And so forth...

[ConservativeMind]

I think your idea is best.

There are better ways among the current options. I believe Optical Scanning machines are best and can be independently audited to validate their accuracy.

However, the independent mechanisms in your proposal make it almost fool and cheat-proof.

Several on this thread have suggested that we should just ignore the issue, as every automatic means can be easily tampered with. I vehemently disagree.

[ops33]

I've never understood why more states don't use the system we use here in Oklahoma. When arriving at the polling station, the individual's name is looked up on a computer printout of all the registered voters for that polling station. The individual signs next to his or her name. They are then given a ballot. On our ballots each candidate or question is followed by an arrow. The arrow is about 1 1/2 inches long with a gap in the middle of it. Each voter is given a special pen and makes his selection by connecting the two parts of the arrow with his pen. The ballots are then placed in a special box that tallies the votes electronically when they are inserted. The vote is taken electronically and you have a paper backup if needed. Its almost foolproof, even if you make a mistake. One year I accidentally connected the wrong arrow and voted for the wrong person. I then took the ballot to the poll workers, signed an affidavit that my ballot was marked in error. In my presence, the ballot was then marked so as to be voided and I was given a new ballot to vote on. Very simple, very efficient. In the 18 years I have lived in Oklahoma I have never heard of any election being contested because of a voting irregularity.

[Nathan Zachary]

I agree. That isn't "hacking". Even paper ballots can be "hacked" if this is what they call hacking. Anyone with access to the ballot box could scoop out half of the paper ballots and replace them with pre- prepared ones.
I say go with SS cards that have your info built into it like a bank card. When you vote, you swipe your SS card before you drop in your paper ballot, The person is automatically registered as having voted in a central data center. That way nobody can vote twice. An alarm would go off if someone tried to swipe twice.
No SS card? Too bad, non- citizens can't vote. Dead people and under age people can't vote.

[Carry_Okie]

I have to admit that I hadn't thought of purple fingers before the Iraq election, but it's a great idea.

[calcowgirl]

Why is Diebold the only company that seems to be on the radar?
All of these companies should be put to the same scrutiny.
Are Sequoia or any of the others any better?
Personally, I'd like to see electronic voting go in the dumpster.

[pepperhead]

I have to admit that I hadn't thought of purple fingers before the Iraq election, but it's a great idea.

It is, but the problem we have here in the US is all the absentee ballots.

[Nathan Zachary]

It is, in a normal society. But not this one. People will claim allergies and sue. They will complain that it can be washed off, or clashes with their wardrobe, is degrading somehow, making them feel like they aren't trusted, makes them feel like a criminal, etc etc.
There is no end to the bitching about anything and everything in this country, and democrats WILL bitch because they can't stand loosing.

[pepperhead]

Why is Diebold the only company that seems to be on the radar?

They were in Ohio.

[festus]

I thought they hacked them to switch Bush votes to Kerry.

How else do you explain the election in Ohio being close ?

;-)

[Steve_Seattle]

It seems like a misnomer to describe this guy as a "hacker." He inserted a card directly into the machine. I think the article was deliberately slanted to cater to Dem paranoia and rumor-mongering about Diebold. Not that I'm a big fan of this kind of technology; I used punch-cards for 30 years and no one ever said they were unreliable.

[Wristpin]

Haliburton...Diebold...Walmart...Evil Incarnate

[Dacula]

You all are going about this the wrong way. Diebold hires temporary employees. Go through their temp company. As long as you have a pulse and can turn on a computer, you are in. Once you are there, you can virtually do anything you want.

[AZLiberty]

An election official with similar access to ballot boxes could cause equivalent trouble.

[Steve_Seattle]

"It is, but the problem we have here in the US is all the absentee ballots."

Not to mention that a lot of counties are going to all-mail voting. The old-fashioned polling place may one day be a thing of the past.

[Wristpin]

Are their ATMs this hackable? Diebold ATM machines handle $$BILLIONS$$ on a daily basis.