Posted on 12/21/2005 7:09:03 AM PST by smithone
In the wake of successful vote-hacking tests in Florida, California is putting off approval of Diebold's latest voting system until the firm has critical software evaluated by an outside lab.
Diebold Election Systems relies on its own, nonstandard software language, known as AccuBasic, to program local election details into virtually all of its voting machines, using memory cards or PC cards. Voting-system experts say the practice appears to violate federal voting system standards, and independent computer experts have been using Diebold's own code to hack vote totals on its machines.
Tuesday, California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson cited "unresolved significant security concerns" in ordering Diebold to submit the software on its memory cards and PC cards to a designated testing lab for review.
Such reviews typically take weeks to monthsand stand to cost Diebold market share in California, which buys more voting equipment than any other state. A third of the state's counties — including Los Angeles, Alameda, San Diego, San Joaquin and Marin counties — have been planning or considering use of Diebold's latest system for the 2006 elections.
(Excerpt) Read more at insidebayarea.com ...
whoever writes the code that counts the ballots controls the election.
I do not trust these machines....
give me paper anytime............
In Ohio, at least, the Diebold machines print the vote out on a paper trail that the voter is supposed to check before hitting the "SUBMIT VOTE" button on the screen. I suspect many voters will check them as carefully as they listen to the airline safety announcements...
The machines are not hooked to a central computer. In order to hack the machine they would have to have access to the machine in front of Republican and Democrat poll judges.
It aint happening.
"I do not trust these machines.... "
Hugo Chavez does.
Venezuela's last election was a Diebold affair.
It is not a question of security, It's a matter of humanity. Hand counts will always contain mistakes and probably more fraud than reliable machines would ever allow but there is something comforting in the knowledge that my vote, drawn in my hand, is preserved for all to review, as many times as necessary to satisfy the society.
If machines present themselves in my precinct I will revert to absentee, which must, by present procedure, create a preservable, unique document. When my personal freedom hinges on an unverifiable, unreproducible, personal action, a line in the sand has been crossed
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.