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Time to Recall E-Vote Machines? (voting fraud)
http://www.wired.com ^
| Oct. 06, 2003
| Kim Zetter
Posted on 10/07/2003 2:31:07 PM PDT by getget
Edited on 06/29/2004 7:10:04 PM PDT by Jim Robinson.
[history]
As Californians head to the polls on Tuesday, voters in at least one county will cast their ballots electronically on machines that have been shown to be flawed.
Election officials around the country have been switching to new computerized polling machines with the hope of avoiding a repeat of the Florida debacle over punch-card voting that marred the 2000 presidential election.
(Excerpt) Read more at wired.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: electronicvoting; machines; recall; vote; voterfraud
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1
posted on
10/07/2003 2:31:08 PM PDT
by
getget
To: getget
The only party that commits voter fraud is the socialist-democrats.
2
posted on
10/07/2003 2:33:09 PM PDT
by
Roughneck
(9 out of 10 Terrorists prefer Democrats, the rest prefer Saddam Hussein)
To: All
3
posted on
10/07/2003 2:33:35 PM PDT
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: getget
David Dill, a computer science professor at Stanford University and critic of electronic voting machines that don't provide a verifiable paper trail, calls the information about the county's security "jaw-dropping."
That's it.
4
posted on
10/07/2003 2:34:15 PM PDT
by
Truth666
To: getget
Who's Running the Digital Show?
By Brad King | Also by this reporter Page 1 of 2 next »
02:00 AM Sep. 18, 2002 PT
While the federal government delayed the official announcement of its cybersecurity recommendations -- originally scheduled to take place Wednesday -- a draft release of the report suggests that lawmakers want to maintain a measure of control over what people do online.
More and more, companies are offering products that are easier to set up but come with restrictive technology. The trade-off has raised concern that a small number of businesses will ultimately control the flow of digital media on the Internet.
Last week, Microsoft announced that set-top box chip manufacturers would soon add support for the Windows Media Video 9 Series. On the surface, placing operations at the hardware level helps lower prices and moves the industry closer to its goal of easy interoperability of devices.
"This impacts set-top boxes," said Michael Aldridge, Microsoft lead product manager for Windows digital media. "One of the chipmakers is making a Pioneer digital library which can pull your content from your PC and play it on your home theater. This will enable you to move content from your PC to play on other devices and it will allow you to play back and store content directly from the Internet."
Once those functions are embedded at the hardware level, however, consumers no longer control their machines. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) makes it illegal to break encryption technology that comes with digital media. Essentially, Hollywood studios could limit how consumers watch a video streamed via Windows Media Video 9.
Microsoft is by no means the only company integrating its software into hardware devices. Sony, for example, allows open-source developers some access to its Playstation 2 home console.
Congress amended the copyright law so that all DVD players must include Macrovision, a technology that keeps people from copying movies on VHS tapes. The Audio Home Recording Act requires DAT tapes to degrade sound quality after a certain number of copies have been made. Also, MP3 files can only be uploaded to portable music players.
But selling devices with built-in restrictions does even more to limit the control consumers have over their home entertainment systems and computer networks.
"Consumers may not realize that there is this pre-existing prohibition on modifying (devices) in a way that defeats the security protections without breaking the law," said Professor Jessica Litman of Detroit's Wayne State University Law School.
A similar debate rages over digital television. Cable companies continue to push for a closed delivery system, while satellite businesses have opened their networks. The mix allows consumers to choose which system they want. 02:00 AM Sep. 18, 2002 PT
All-inclusive products could make it difficult for consumers to opt for more open devices, however. The Hewlett-Packard Windows Media Center PC, expected to sell for less than $2,000, comes with a DVD player, a television card and a built-in personal video recorder with its own electronic programming guide.
While the rights-management system built into the system can be turned off, according to a Microsoft spokesman, doing so limits its functionality. Movies, music and other files with digital protection wouldn't run with rights management disabled.
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Cookies store information about users in digital files. When they visit a website, cookies verify who users are. Cookies can be turned off, but two things happen: Users are denied entry to some parts of the Web and they must introduce themselves anew to any website that requires a password to log in.
Open-source advocates fear that lawmakers will soon turn this experience into law before consumers realize they can weigh in. A handful of Linux developers are hoping to persuade PC retail outlets that open-source software is a good way to make money.
"Linux is a very good alternative to Microsoft, but retailers aren't just going to put up Linux boxes if they think those are going to collect dust," said Blake Couch, webmaster at WeWantLinux.org. "People think it is hard to install and very difficult to configure, but if they had the opportunity to buy a computer with Linux preloaded, that would negate that argument."
5
posted on
10/07/2003 2:34:49 PM PDT
by
getget
To: getget
Let's see. Punch-card voting is out. Now electronic voting is out. We're running out of options.
6
posted on
10/07/2003 2:36:48 PM PDT
by
kevao
(Fuques France!)
To: Truth666
7
posted on
10/07/2003 2:36:54 PM PDT
by
getget
To: kevao
paper
8
posted on
10/07/2003 2:40:09 PM PDT
by
getget
To: kevao
Punch-card ballots from today's historic recall election are sure to get a going-over by political activists, but some computer scientists think touch-screen voting machines deserve just as much scrutiny. Though punch-card ballots caused headaches for Florida election officials with their "hanging" and "pregnant" chads, nearly one in 10 California voters will be using touch-screen machines, which don't produce printouts voters can see. And no paper printouts, the scientists say, would make a legitimate recount impossible.
"You can't do a meaningful recount if the question is about the integrity of the voting machines themselves," said David Dill, a professor of computer science at Stanford University. He urged voters in the four counties using touch-screen terminals to vote with absentee ballots.
The concern of Dill and some of his colleagues was dismissed as overblown and irresponsible by county registrars and executives at the companies that sell and update the electronic voting machines.
None of the elections officials who supervise the 50,000 touch-screen machines serviced nationwide by Diebold Election Systems has reported glitches or computer hacks that have resulted in known miscounts or fraud, said Mark Radke, director of the voting industry division of North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold.
But according to a July study by Johns Hopkins and Rice universities, any clever hacker could break into Diebold's system and vote multiple times. Researchers found it was theoretically possible to insert "back doors" into software code that would allow hackers or insiders to change future voters' choices and determine the outcome.
Activists are demanding that ballot machine vendors include printers that produce paper receipts so citizens can confirm that paper results match their touch-screen choices. Receipts would go into a county lock-box for use in recounts.
"It's horrifying and ridiculous that these machines don't have a voter-verifiable audit trail," said Rebecca Mercuri, a Harvard University research fellow who specializes in computer security and voting systems.
Officials from one affected county, Riverside County, have "total confidence" in the electronic system used by its 650,000 voters, said Mischelle Townsend, registrar of voters. On Election Day the county tests all 4,250 touch-screens for logic and accuracy, confirming that a "yes" vote is recorded as a "yes," Townsend emphasized.
"The machines have always been adjudicated to be reliable and accurate," said Townsend, who has supervised 19 touch-screen elections and five recounts since November 2000. "There's never been a single incident of what the scientists fear."
After polls close, elections officials make another accuracy check. They get printouts for 1 percent of voters in every precinct and compare the digital record with the printouts.
9
posted on
10/07/2003 2:47:07 PM PDT
by
getget
To: getget
These touchscreen voting machines are a disaster waiting to happen. They cost $3,000 each, so there will be fewer machines at each polling place. They take enough electricity that you could easily pop a 15 amp breaker in an elementary school gym if you have too many machines plugged into a single outlet. There is no paper trail for recounts. As the screens get more and more smudged, they get less sensitive to touches. As the machines age, the CRT display can distort underneath the touch sensitive area, so that the displayed "buttons" no longer line up with the proper touch screen grid co-ordinates.
The only way to go is with optically-scanned ballots. You can have 10 voting stations (simple suit case style booths) for the cost of one touch screen. Printed ballot provides a paper trail for manual recounts. You can have a single optical reader at a polling place that will verify the ballot was correctly filled out, and if not then give the voter a second chance to properly fill out ballot.
10
posted on
10/07/2003 2:52:46 PM PDT
by
Yo-Yo
To: Yo-Yo
On a geographical basis, British-based Sequoia takes the lead in the vote count in California counties. Twenty-one counties use Sequoia voting technology, 15 counties use ES&S, 14 - Diebold, 6 - DMF Associates, and 2 counties use PollStar. On the basis of registered voters, ES&S takes the lead with 7,305,680 voters, Sequoia - 3,682,051, Diebold - 2,412,971, PollStar - 1,308,789, and DMF Associates - 593,978.
11
posted on
10/07/2003 2:57:17 PM PDT
by
getget
To: Yo-Yo
Election-Fraud Website Removed Before Tuesday Recall Vote
Voting Machine Memos Suggest Suspect California Election, As Domain Register Company Refuses To Allow Blocked BlackBoxVoting.org To Move To New Internet Server Until After today's Electronic Vote-Count. Site's Explosive Book & Memos Raise Serious Ballot-Count Questions.
By Tom Flocco
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON -- October 7, 2003 -- "The results of this today's California recall election should be challenged in the courts," said Beverly Harris, advocate of honest voting and owner of BlackBoxVoting.org, in a phone interview yesterday.
The vibrant 52 year-old activist-grandmother told us that internet service provider Advance Internet Technologies (AIT) notified her that BlackBoxVoting.org--devoted to exposing election fraud in America--had been flagged for ten to fourteen days, effectively blocking the site and its damaging information from public view until after the California recall/gubernatorial election ballots are counted.
At issue is the controversial contents of Harris' website and potential candidate vote-count challenges that could result after today's election--regardless who wins. "At the website, there is analysis of internal memos and actual files from Diebold Corporation's Global Election Management Systems (GEMS), maker of both touch-screen and optical-scan voting machines to be used in 14 California counties on Tuesday--including the two largest minority and ethnic--Los Angeles and Oakland-Alemeda," Harris said, adding "the memos indicate plausible deniability regarding election vote-rigging in Tuesday's recall election."
12
posted on
10/07/2003 2:58:19 PM PDT
by
getget
To: Yo-Yo
You can't do a meaningful recount if the question is about the integrity of the voting machines themselves," said David Dill, a computer science professor at Stanford University. He urged voters in the four counties using touch-screen terminals to vote with absentee ballots.
The concern of Dill and some of his colleagues was dismissed as overblown and irresponsible by county registrars and executives at the companies that sell and update the electronic voting machines.
None of the elections officials who supervise the 50,000 touch-screen machines serviced nationwide by Diebold Election Systems has reported glitches or computer hacks that have resulted in known miscounts or fraud, said Mark Radke, director of the voting industry division of North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold.
But according to a July study by Johns Hopkins and Rice universities, any clever hacker could break into Diebold's system and vote multiple times. Researchers found it was theoretically possible to insert "back doors" into software code that would allow hackers -- or insiders -- to change future voters' choices and determine the outcome.
Activists are demanding that ballot machine vendors include printers that produce paper receipts so citizens can confirm that paper results match their touch-screen choices. Receipts would go into a county lock-box for use in recounts.
"It's horrifying and ridiculous that these machines don't have a voter-verifiable audit trail," said Rebecca Mercuri, a Harvard University research fellow who specializes in computer security and voting systems.
13
posted on
10/07/2003 3:11:43 PM PDT
by
getget
To: getget
I wonder if the Dems own the company that "researched" the flaw.
14
posted on
10/07/2003 3:20:58 PM PDT
by
teeples
(A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. Sir Winston Churchill)
To: getget
Are the 14 Diebold counties all touch-screen ?
15
posted on
10/07/2003 3:31:59 PM PDT
by
Truth666
To: getget
One other thing about touch screen machines. What happens to them after this election is over? They get packed up and stored in some warehouse that is probably not climate controlled.
They get taken out again in 2 years for the next Primary, and you think they'll all work?
16
posted on
10/07/2003 3:40:11 PM PDT
by
Yo-Yo
To: kevao
They'll just kill time by going back and forth from one to the other... Anything to get into court where they can RULE! We really need a better rat fumigation system ;)
17
posted on
10/07/2003 3:47:39 PM PDT
by
Libertina
(God Bless our proud troops and support their families!)
To: Yo-Yo
You forgot the most important part : installing the software update adapted to the candidates of the next election.
18
posted on
10/07/2003 3:48:37 PM PDT
by
Truth666
To: getget
Researchers found it was theoretically possible to insert "back doors" into software code that would allow hackers -- or insiders -- to change future voters' choices and determine the outcome. From what I've read elsewhere, it appears that supposedly-minor changes are often done to the voting software without recertifying it. What's the point of even having a code review if there's no way of ensuring that the code which is reviewed is in fact the code that's being run?
19
posted on
10/07/2003 3:50:41 PM PDT
by
supercat
(Why is it that the more "gun safety" laws are passed, the less safe my guns seem?)
To: getget
"I was appalled by what happened in Florida," he said. "I wanted to make sure that this time all votes would get counted." What is remarkable is that this lie keeps on getting repeated.All the votes in florida were counted (twice).
I wonder what the excuse will be in 2004 - Imagine the Pubbies getting 235 House Seats, maybe 55 Senate Seats, and the Presidency. It will be a crack-up of supreme order on Election Day 2004.
20
posted on
10/07/2003 3:54:03 PM PDT
by
HitmanLV
(I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.)
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