Cedar Rapids Gazette says Your Votes are Safe!

Yesterday's paper, above the fold headline (I can't find a link currently, they've changed their online system and I can't seem to get to yesterday's paper on it) was Your votes are safe.....and next to it, a lovely, Diebold Electronic voting diagram.

Here's the beginning, since I don't have a link:

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Your Votes are Safe
Electronic voting machine protected against fraud, Johnson and Linn auditors say
by Dick Hogan, The Gazette

With the advent of electronic voting as mandated by the federal government, stories and rumors have been springing up nationwide about how the electronic "touch screen" machines can be hacked, programmed or otherwise manipulated to commit election fraud.

"Its a form of terrorism." said Linn County Auditor Linda Langenberg. "Its making people lose confidence in the voting system without getting the other side from voting officials."

Langenberge and another longtime county auditor, Tom Slockett of Johnson County are emphatic in declaring the votes cast here are safeguarded and will be counted. "Our system is 100 percent safe against fraud, I'm totally confident in the equipment." Langenberg said. "We've been testing and testing and its come out perfect. We've been doing the testing ourselves. I don't believe there's any fraud as far as voting machines. We rarely have any problem with people either.

Slockett gave Johnson County's voting equipment a score of 100 percent on the paper ballots that go through scanners and 99 percent on electronic voting devices. "I don't believe they can be tampered with easily once in the possession of the Auditor's Office," Slockett said. "We have seals and ledgers and lots of precautions to keep track of computerized memory . We have surveillance cameras in the office. If the machines are tampered with, we would know it.

Snipped the rest....but you get the general impression! (Oh, the Continuation line from first page to last is: VOTING: Myths Dispelled.
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So, my question is this: are these officials that DUMB? Or do they think we're that stupid?

Our county uses optical scanners, but this article smacks of propaganda right before the election.

Terrorism indeed.

For some reason, this article just set me off and made me angry. Maybe I'm overreactng, but it sounds like proactive excuse making for a voting sytem with no paper trail!

Bettie

NOT!