Miami Herald Editorial: FLAWS IN SYSTEM, NEED FOR PAPER TRAIL

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13419065.htm

No excuses for gaps in election security
OUR OPINION: TESTS SHOW FLAWS IN SYSTEM, NEED FOR PAPER TRAIL

Some people will think that the Tallahassee election supervisor's experiment of hacking into his voting machines was just a bit of grandstanding. But even if it were -- and we don't think it was -- anyone responsible for, or interested in, accurate election results should pay close attention. The tests by Leon County election supervisor Ion Sancho showed that even voting equipment believed to be secure can remain vulnerable to a determined hacker.

A paper trail

...

What is troubling, though, is that the Florida Legislature and state election officials haven't done all that they can to make sure that Florida's elections aren't an invitation to fraud or abuse. Florida does not require a paper trail for votes, which would give election supervisors a means to verify the accuracy of a machine count.

Uniform standards

Broward and Miami-Dade election officials say they are aware of the need to make the entire voting system -- equipment, personnel, facilities and procedures -- as secure as possible. But the lack of uniform standards across the state -- despite the snafus and problems of the 2000 election that led to widespread complaints from voters -- means that Florida elections are still vulnerable to abuse.

At minimum, the state should require more testing of voting machines and audits of elections. Ultimately, though, the state should require that all voting machinery provide a paper trail. Banks already do that with receipts for ATM transactions. Voters deserve the same consideration.

they knew it long before our election 2004; they knew it in 2002 (?) in the election between McBride and Janet Reno; they knew it in 2004 in the election between Kerry and Bush ... they have known it all along. they just wanted to sit jeb bush at the governor's mansion here in florida, and they wanted to sit the other bush boy in the oval office ...and while PAPER TRAILS ae most welcome, their little editorial and moral editorializing is a little too late...they got what they wanted and now fiedler is washing his hands like a pontious pilate who wants to be be free of guilt.

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afterall, DIEBOLD makes ATMs as well.

So all this business with the lack of a paper trail and issues with the touch screen, and issues with security are nothing more than a smoke screen. Diebold has the technology to provide all these. They already do so with ATMs, so this BS about shrugging their shoulders and pretending like these issues don't exist is just a bunch of hogwash.

in Florida have been thrown out because the company refused to release the code which runs the machines.

There was no way that the police could verify that the machines were truly accurate. The code would have verified the convictions, but the company complained "intellectual property" rights would be violated, and that their competitors would steal the code for their machines.

Imagine - a company could be sued by the police for causing false readings . . .

Voters don't need paper "receipts"--voters need paper ballots to begin with, and a system of random auditing.

Trying to revamp touchscreens to spit out paper receipts is a smokescreen to cover the sins of election officials in jumping into bed with Diebold.