Burglars steal computers from Houston polling place

Houston Chronicle ^ | 12-07-09 | CHRIS MORAN

[Snickering Hound]

Burglars took two computers and other equipment during a break-in at an early voting station in northeast Houston, but appeared to have left electronic voting machines untouched, Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman said Monday.

A skeptic of voting machine security said the break-in underscores how vulnerable the county's electronic ballots are to tampering.

“It's very easy to do this in a surreptitious fashion. No tooling required, no screwdrivers, nothing fancy,” said Dan Wallach, a computer science professor at Rice University who was hired by the state of California to study the same Hart Intercivic machines used by Harris County. “If it's a tight election, and if the statistics for this voting center are anomalous, then the losing party will have a legitimate complaint.”

Kaufman acknowledged that someone in possession of the computers and a password to the registered voter database theoretically could alter someone's voting status from voted to not voted. But she called the scenario “far-fetched,” and said, “I'm dubious that they could do that.“

The computers contain personal information on voters that already is publicly available, said Hector de Leon, Kaufman's director of communications, adding he does not believe the computers make voters more vulnerable to identity theft.

[dumpthelibs]

If the truth ever comes out expect to see SEIU and ACORN at the heart of this. They’re getting ready for the rigging of the coming elections.

[coconutt2000]

Worrying about the security on the computers after they’ve been stolen is kind of silly when it is apparent the physical security of the polling station has even bigger problems.

[TexasRepublic]

I would expect the Gay Activist Nazi’s to do something like this. If Parker wins, she will do everything she can to force the gay agenda on Houston. That is some choice for mayor — Lee Brown II versus a dyke.

[a fool in paradise]

Houston vote fraud PING

[a fool in paradise]

All of these devices should have a tracking device. There would be no “missing” ballot machines discovered hours later in someone’s trunk.

[a fool in paradise]

The ballot machines were stolen from a NE polling center. Would the votes still be tallied even the machines are not recovered?

Seems that thousands of minority votes could be suppressed if so. Which demographic is more likely to vote for an inner city lesbian activist?

[TexasRepublic]

“Which demographic is more likely to vote for an inner city lesbian activist?”

I have heard that the minorities are less tolerant of homosexuality — I certainly hope so.

[a fool in paradise]

That’s because they cling to religion.

[Rocky]

Someone keep an eye out on E-bay.

[stevie_d_64]

Well this stinks...

I have to go pick up my “voting” supplies today or tomorrow for the run off...

But if these goobers who stole the laptop computers they use during the early voting ever see the light of day again, I do notthink their dissapearance will do anything to the election, yet it will certainly effect some folks individual privacy...Even though that info may already be available, it is just the fact that it is all in one place now...

This is just frappin’ great.../sarc

Funny how they kept Tom Moon’s name out of this article it looks like...Nothing wrong with him at all, but he is the lead guy on the elections in Harris County thats all...

I also do not believe there can be any real voter fraud as a result of the thefts of these laptops...You have to corrupt the JBC units, or tap into the voting booths (separate units) to do anything to skew the results...And that takes time and knowledge of the programming to do so...

The laptops are only used to qualify/verify voters...

What’s funny is that thesefolks will eventually be caught...And then we’ll see what its all about in the long run...And that will more than likely be just a stupid thug who could care less about elections or politics...

Just my opinion...