NYT: New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/us/12vote.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

May 12, 2006

New Fears of Security Risks in Electronic Voting Systems

By MONICA DAVEY

CHICAGO, May 11 — With primary election dates fast approaching in many states, officials in Pennsylvania and California issued urgent directives in recent days about a potential security risk in their Diebold Election Systems touch-screen voting machines, while other states with similar equipment hurried to assess the seriousness of the problem.

"It's the most severe security flaw ever discovered in a voting system," said Michael I. Shamos, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University who is an examiner of electronic voting systems for Pennsylvania, where the primary is to take place on Tuesday.

Officials from Diebold and from elections' offices in numerous states minimized the significance of the risk and emphasized that there were no signs that any touch-screen machines had been tampered with. But computer scientists said the problem might allow someone to tamper with a machine's software, some saying they preferred not to discuss the flaw at all for fear of offering a roadmap to a hacker.

"This is the barn door being wide open, while people were arguing over the lock on the front door," said Douglas W. Jones, a professor of computer science at the University of Iowa, a state where the primary is June 6.

-snip-


Nah ... NO good American would EVER try to take advantage of weaknesses in the voting systems to try to force their own wills and beliefs onto thier own fellow citizens, right ? ....

WHO said they were good americans ?

Funny how Diebold says there are 'no signs that any touch-screen machines had been tampered with'.

They DESIGNED the system with the intent of altering the results to favor their own party.

Tampering is it's primary function; and the signs are ANYWHERE the 'Diebold Magic' arose ....

Ask Max Cleland about those signs ....

it encouraged and paid for this debacle.

like everything bushco does 'help america vote' does just the opposite. screws us out of our votes.

They did. They were the only ones who knew about the "defect".

I don't know whether to laugh or cry......

:banghead:

"there were no signs that any touch-screen machines had been tampered with."

Right.

That is because Die Bold covers their tracks.

is the current occupant of the WH.

covering this. She should get lots of support and encouragement to stay on this story!!

Thank you for (finally) covering (to some extent) the bedrock issue of electronic voting's subversion of American democracy.

It's about darn time the NY Times woke up its readers to this shocking and fundamental issue from which many of America and humanity's current problems flow.

I wish the "paper of record" with "all the news that's fit to print" had printed hundreds of articles on this subject over the past three to five years, but this shameful omission reflects on your employer, not you. I thank you very much for writing this article!

and has covered the issue in the past.

I guess this story came from that convention.

I attended it a few times.

from Harri Hursti himself... or they had to read about it in the New York Times.

long it took.

Here is the most telling quote;

"For there to be a problem here, you're basically assuming a premise where you have some evil and nefarious election officials who would sneak in and introduce a piece of software," he said. "I don't believe these evil elections people exist."

Like Ken Blackwell or Katherine Harris?

All the "glitches" went one way last time - but that was just God taking care of his favorte son!

"For there to be a problem here, you're basically assuming a premise where you have some evil and nefarious election officials who would sneak in and introduce a piece of software," he said. "I don't believe these evil elections people exist."
David Bear, spokesman for Diebold Election Systems
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/us/12vote.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

"I don't believe these evil elections people exist."

He's GOT to be kidding!!!!!!!!!!!! Could anyone on Earth be that naive? Does he think we are that naive?

that someone, somewhere, just 'might' wish to twist election results to favor their own party ? ...

Wow .. THAT would be a first, eh ?

Imagine that: Election fraud ... who'd have thunk it ? ....

NO one could possibly want that ... right ?

Fuck: I say we just leave the ballot boxes on the street corners, and count them the next day .....

:sarcasm:

This is the single most critical issue we face now. An accurate vote.


IMHO, we should be demanding pen and paper voting ("X" beside the name), hand-counted at the precinct level, immediately after the polls close, under public observation, and with results telephoned in to the Secretary of State's office.

Absolutely no deviation from "NO electronic/electromechanical/internet access will be allowed to cast or count votes."

that I care about, they are so disingenuous about the real problem OF COURSE.

Election Tampering; elections which ideally should be free of fraud ....

ANY introduction of any fraudulent counts should be considered tampering ...

But yes: they were DESIGNED to alter valid results, though invisible tampering functions that could be used by those who know they exist, and how to access them surreptitiously ...

THOSE machines work EXACTLY how they were designed to work: to defraud Democracy .....

Wasn't that the title of the NYT article within a week or two after the theft of the 2004 Presidential election?

:grr:

That is because the non-Bush conseervatives are beginning to realize that the old maxim "They came for the Jews, but I wasn't Jewish so I said nothing, so they came for the..." is true. The press could care less when the election fraud threatened the general election, i.e the Dems. They are all about protecting GOP voter rights. Ill bet they forget the issue this fall.

Election Reform News, daily thread"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x427505

I'd like to be kicking them!!:kick:

For those who need the info...

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And please note: Debra Bowen has put out a request for donations--running for Sec of State in Calif on a strong election reform platform, and just got the endorsement of the Calif Dems (with 80% of the vote!). See *** below for her web site.

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SOME RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II:

Hopeful signs - latest news:

California voters sue the state over Diebold:
www.VoterAction.org is suing the state of California and 18 Calif county registrars on behalf of 25 California voter/plaintiffs, on the illegal Diebold "certification" by Schwarzenegger appointee Bruce McPherson.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2180496
Seven of these counties just promised the judge they would use PAPER BALLOTS, and were dismissed from this lawsuit (4/27/06).
http://kcbs.com/pages/29285.php
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2249205

Maryland rejects Diebold:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418263

Florida - anti-trust accusations against Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia, re: heroic Florida election official Ion Sancho:
(FLA AG subpoenas the companies)
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legalissues/story/0,10801,110192,00.html
http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/MGBKSY8W8LE.html
(info & discussion)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2183630

Utah county clerk fights back!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x419226

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More resources for American Revolution II:

www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.UScountvotes.org (statistical monitoring of '06 and '08 elections--they need donations)

(Activist sites with links to state activist groups or info)
www.votetrustusa.org (news of this great movement from around the country)
www.votersunited.org (good general info, and state links)
www.verifiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)

www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.bradblog.com (also great, and devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)* :patriot: :applause: :patriot:
www.votepa.us (well-organized local group of citizen activists in Pennsylvania, where important legal issues are at stake, including state's rights over election systems)
Provisions of the PA lawsuit:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x423739

The Voter Confidence Resolution
http://tinyurl.com/rlnr2 (“We Do Not Consent”)
http://guvwurld.blogspot.com (GuvWurld blog main page)
http://tinyurl.com/amryg (Voter Confidence Resolution

***www.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
www.johnbonifaz.com (running for Massachusetts Sec of State on strong election reform and antiwar platform)

*Some tributes to TruthIsAll, who is very ill:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417231
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x675477

Congressional bills:

Russ Holt's HR 550 requires a real paper ballot, bans secret software in "voting machines", and has more than 170 co-sponsors, but the audit required is too weak, it promotes electronic voting and centralized power, and the secret software might be permitted to continue in the central tabulators (the bill is not clear). To sign the HR 550 petition: http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html
At lot of discussion at DU of the loopholes/pitfalls in HR 550:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x422926
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x421136
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=422967&mesg_id=422967
(Note: Senate Bill-SB 330 and House-HR704 simply require a "voter verified paper audit trail" (VVPAT), which may be best for the moment.)


Also of interest:

Michael Collins (Autorank)'s searing election reform article for New Zealand's Scoop.com
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x971363

Bob Koehler (-- four recent election reform initiatives in Ohio, predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over, on election day, into 60/40 LOSSES!--the biggest flipover we've seen yet; the election theft machines and their masters are now dictating election policy! Title: "Poll Shock" 11/24/05)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col321.htm

Bob Koehler's latest: "Trust us: Take this box and stuff it" (3/16/06)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col337.htm
More Koehler:
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk

Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

HOWARD DEAN remarks on electronic voting machines 04/06
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x994507

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Throw Diebold, ES&S and ALL election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:

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"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." --Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

designed to protect the wealthy. Why has it taken this long? The signals have been out there for five years now.

broached in the Times, I can't tell you. It feels like we have been wailing into the wilderness for so long, and this is just so vital to our existence as a country.