Comments on: Calif.: All Vote Machines Tested Hackable

Secretary Of State Report Shows No System Tested Was Immune From Tampering

[gunownerdan]

What's the point of hacking voting machines, we only get two choices to begin with!
Dirty democrats and rotten republicans!!

[usayesterday]

Why do you think electronic voting machines are so popular with Republicans?
Posted by samrensho at 03:11 AM : Jul 30, 2007
...........

The answer is simple...


...because it serves them well.

Any device that can be used to help an entity of power retain their power, that device will be used.

Any event that can be used to help an entity of power retain their power, that event will be used for extreme manipulation.

Any statements that can be said to help an entity of power retain their power, those statements will be used, and repeated... and repeated... and repeated to brainwash the uninformed successfully.

Any persons or entity that can be used as a scapegoat to help another entity of power retain their power, those people will be the target of accusations and lies, and repeated... and repeated... and repeated to brainwash the uninformed into thinking that the accused was the cause of the problem.

I hope this fully answers your question 'samrensho'.

[samrensho]

Why do you think electronic voting machines are so popular with Republicans?

[searingtruth]

Ummmm ....

As a computer hardware/firmware/software designer with over two decades of experience working for some of our countries most prestigious high technology companies, including HP, Cisco, Sun, and LSI Technologies, I can confirm that "electronic voting machines" are simply a toy in the hands of any above average engineer.

And our country is full of them.

In fact a computer programmer named Clinton Curtis testified before the U.S. House Judiciary committee in Ohio in October 2000 that Representative Tom Feeney, of course a Republican (from Florida), requested that he develop just such a program to rig computerized voting machines to alter election results in a way that couldn't be detected.

He developed the software and gave it to Representative Feeney, and stated that the only way to detect whether or not fraud had been committed was if independent voter exit polls were compared to the "official tally" (fraudulent electronic voting machines), and differed beyond statistical probability. This is usually 3.5% to 4%.

Don't believe it?

Go to http://alternet.org/blogs/video/40755 and watch the actual testimony before the house.

Aahhh ... Republicans.

Treason just seems to be in their blood.

After all, they worked diligently for over thirty years to bring us America's first dictatorship.

Just disgusting.
ST


"When everything is secret, everything is legal."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[brianbwb-2009]

Paper or digital, it doesn't matter. Even if you know how you and your neighbor voted, the nationwide totals can never be truly verified.

Even with a paper trail, the electoral college routinely nullifies millions of votes, by ignoring the votes of the minority, and it is cheaper and more certain for the outcome, to simply bribe the electoral college voters.

Democracy has been an illusion from the start, mechanisms were built in, and modified over the years, to deny the poor, non landowners, and ethnic "minorities" the right to "one man one vote...

[kesac4650]

Democrats demanded a change in voting machines after the 2000 elections. Now that they have gotten what they wanted, it is all wrong, and all bad, and if you read what most of these silly posters below have to say, it is obvious that most are children that cannot for the life of them remember the 2000 elections, or they are so eaten up with their partisan hatreds that they will intentionally spout any possible deciet.

[toldyouso21]

The question is are we going to live by fear? We've seen what happens when an administration rules by fear. Have we learned anything from the experience?
Posted by likeitis5050 at 07:47 PM : Jul 29, 2007


We learned that we cannot trust the Bush Administration and not only are their policies called into question but also the legitimacy of any of his Presidential terms. As an auditor and investigator for years, I can say that paper trails can provide corroboration that any equipment which can be tampered with can NEVER do. Besides a receipt to the voter, the machine itself should produce results every few minutes to validate the present tallies and who voted for who. That way, there is a multiple check on the system. This is too important to leave to chance and the GOP has never adequately explained why, whenever a supplemental system to verify such as a paper trail--be allowed--why they ALWAYS vociferously voted against it. There is the sneaking suspicion that without the machines--there just might be little to no Republican winners--and the GOP knows this.

[lorinkundert]

I'll just continue demanding a paper ballot when I vote as I always do.

[firststate]

A touch screen system could record the votes internally, but also print a paper ballot showing each voter's selections for their review. They would verify the selections and deposit it into a ballot box. Those printed ballot forms could be counted by an optical scan system. If discrepancies appear between the touch screen and ballot scans, hand recounts of the paper copies could determine the winner. As a control, random hand recounts could be used to keep both the automated systems honest. There is some combination of simple, readily available technologies that can accomplish accurate election results. Keep it simple and verifiable.

[harp1963]

Great news for the Republican Mafia!!!!

[usayesterday]

Voting machines are the weapons to help destroy our democracy. They should be outlawed everywhere! Paper ballots should only be used. Sure, voting fraud and crimes can be achieved even when using paper ballots, but like a gun versus a knife... computers/electronic machines makes manipulation much easier on a much broader scale like killing people with a gun. Killing people with a knife takes more time and cannot be done as discretely than with a gun.

As the saying goes:

The advancements in technology have made people easier to use.

[usayesterday]

All of you using your computer to comment on this news story knows how easy it is to manipulate the software within your computer. It's the entire reason why a multi-billion dollar business model, (the creation of anit-spyware, anti-virus, and other utility software), was created.

So we Americans have been forced by those in power, to use a piece of machinery to "elect" people who will have power over us?! Isn't it as plain and clear as can be?! The well connected, who are currently in power, or have the opportunity to gain power, will dictate the methods used to gain them or keep them in power!

A paper trail will be simply useless! How many people keep their receipts for things they buy, in a place where it does not get lost or washed in the laundry? How many people would contest the results if they feel that, "well, more people must have voted for the 'other guy'." And, if you push button 'A', and the machine (internally) says you pushed button 'B', how would you be able to contest that you pushed button 'A'... WHEN THE PAPER TRAIL SHOWED THAT YOU PUSHED BUTTON 'B'!!!

[usayesterday]

The voting machines were forced upon us so that only the well connected, not the well educated, not the well informed, and certainly not the well admired, would be elected to power.

[erasmus6]

coffeehead

"It makes no difference-we had some of our ballot volunteers "forget" to deliver the bags of ballots..."

I can assure you that here, it isn't left to the volunteers to get it to where it is supposed to go. What would be the point of having them not handle the papers and them being put into a sealed box if it was going to be left up to them to get it to where it was going. That would be very stupid, indeed. Those boxes are are carefully looked after to make sure that no one tampers with them.

[micma-2009]

I guess this is how Bush actually ended up being re-elected after he'd already proved, to the nation and the world, that he was criminaly incompetent.

[jjp735i]

Hackers as less of a problem than the companies who make the machines. It is the companies that run a greater risk of making the vote go towards the candidate they wish in office.

Afte all the "extra" votes Bush received in this past election, does anyone really think a hacker caused the unexplained votes just for fun?

[likeitis5050]

Well, if they can throw enough doubt or disgust now to discourage even 5% of first time voters...win-win. Fear based reporting. Most people have access to absentee voting now. There is a way to cast doubt on any method. If it disrupts the voting system by even a fraction of a percent, it has worked to someone's favor. The question is are we going to live by fear? We've seen what happens when an administration rules by fear. Have we learned anything from the experience?

[jn122736]

I Have posted several comments, on this and other sites, pointing out the lack of action being taken to correct or eliminate the undependable electronic voting systems set up in most state%u2019s voting precincts. I have yet to get a response, even from other poster, to my comments, let alone reading or hearing any report about corrective work being done on the subject.

As I have said before, the 2006 victory for democrats probably instilled a FALSE sense in many people that there really was no problem in the first place.

This article is about TESTING the systems but so far nothing has been mention about any corrective/preventative action or guarantying that all voting machines have verifying paper backups.

By the time any such action is taken, if at all, it will no doubt be too late to implement before the 2008 elections

[vancouverboo]

Does it really matter? By the time the voter gets to choose there is only a choice between Tweedledum and Tweedledee, always candidates of and for The Rich People.

[coffeehead-2009]

You need to throw out those machines. Your voting system is corrupt.

In Canada, when we vote, we go into a large room where there are tables. When you come back out NO ONE touches that paper but you. YOU put it through a narrow slot in a SEALED box.
Posted by erasmus6 at 02:53 PM : Jul 29, 20

erasmus - we also have a similar scenerio here -
the line to the electonic machine had 2 folks in it while our lines to the booths were 12 deep.
It makes no difference - we had some of our ballot volunteers "forget" to deliver the bags of ballots - two days later they "reminded" him and he had them in his trunk. It's a farce.

Diebold Memos Disclose Florida 2000 E-Voting Fraud
Friday, 24 October 2003, 11:18 am
Article: Alastair Thompson
NOTE: The names below each extract link to the full text of the emails in the appendices below.)


I need some answers! Our department is being audited by the County. I have been waiting for someone to give me an explanation as to why Precinct 216 gave Al Gore a minus 16022 when it was uploaded. Will someone please explain this so that I have the information to give the auditor instead of standing here "looking dumb".
Lana Hires %u2013 Volusia County Florida - January 17, 2001 8:07 AM

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0310/S00211.htm