SACRAMENTO, July 29, 2007
Calif.: All Vote Machines Tested Hackable
Secretary Of State Report Shows No System Tested Was Immune From Tampering
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Electronic voting machines have come under further scrutiny, as California's Secretary of State considers a report which shows that none of the systems used in the state that was tested was immune from having vote data compromised. (Getty Images/Karen Bleier)
It found that computer experts were able to breach all the systems they studied and change the machines' results. But the experts did that under artificial conditions, with unimpeded access to the equipment, a situation that ordinarily would not occur.
Matt Bishop, a computer scientist at the University of California, Davis, who led the team, said the findings must be evaluated in light of the security systems that county election officials have in place before any conclusions can be reached about whether the machines are reliable.
Bowen, who has made electronic voting security the centerpiece of her administration, said she needed to spend the weekend reviewing the reports before commenting on them.
"I am still in analysis mode," she said during a conference call with reporters, "and do not have any conclusion based on reports I have not read."
The review has been rushed because of the earlier-than-ever primary on Feb. 5. It did not include voting systems used in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Contra Costa counties.
Bowen said that was because the company that makes the machines, Election Systems & Software, had refused to give her the information she needed in time. A company spokesman said they delayed because they wanted more information about how the review would be conducted.
By law, Bowen must let counties know six months before the election that she is going to decertify their equipment. That means she must decide by Aug. 3, too soon to complete reviews of Election Systems & Software's equipment.
Instead, a spokeswoman for Bowen said she could subject that equipment to higher standards.
County elections officials see Bowen's "top-to-bottom review" as unnecessary. They say their equipment already meets federal standards and was approved by Bowen's predecessor, Bruce McPherson.
Steve Weir, president of the state association of registrars, said it was not news that voting systems could be breached under ideal conditions.
"They were given permission to get into the systems," he said. "It's not a real world test."
Experts examined systems built by Diebold Election Systems, Hart InterCivic and Sequoia Voting Systems.
One team tried to breach the machines' security. Another tested to see how accessible they were for voters with disabilities. A third group looked at the source code used in the machines. That report was withheld Friday because of concerns that it might contain proprietary information.
Among the findings:
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I HOPE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION DID NOT READ THIS REPORT. THEY WILL SEND OUT THEIR GEEK SQUAD, AND HACK ALL THE MACHINES BEFORE THE NEXT ELECTIONS.
STAY THE COURSE.
In Canada, when we vote, we go into a large room where there are tables. There are two people sitting at each table.In front of them they have a list of all names. When you go to a table the first thing that happens is you show two pieces of ID of who you are and then they put a line through your name. They then give you a folded piece of paper with the candidates names on it. You then go into a booth and mark your choice and refold the paper. When you come back out NO ONE touches that paper but you. YOU put it through a narrow slot in a SEALED box.
STAY THE COURSE. "
Posted by crater7
"Will"? Did you say "will" as in the future tense?
The neocon fascists are arranging to never lose an election again, and they won't have to worry about an election per curiam, like the one that put their head chimp in power.
I hope Californians will go after the county officials. Your guess is as good as mine whether of not Bowen will approve the machines, she has left herself--with the shoddy tests-- plenty of wiggle room in any event.
WHY?
1. IT'S PAPER
2. YOU CAN MAKE A COPY OF IT (if you have a scanner/copy machine at home or nearby).
Again:
VOTE ABSENTEE BALLOT ONLY!
If there is any question regarding the outcome of any election, independent election officials should have the ability to correctly tally votes by hand, if necessary.
This is not a partisan issue. Whether one is Democratic, Republican, or Independent, the veracity & dependability of the electoral system needs to be restored nationally, regardless of the cost. The trust & honor of the American voting system depends on it.
California wound up with two "open borders" "AMNESTY" supporters for Senators.
Paper ballots,pinkie finger dipped into pink/red ink after voting part of the solution
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
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
Afte all the "extra" votes Bush received in this past election, does anyone really think a hacker caused the unexplained votes just for fun?
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.
"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.
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'!!!
As the saying goes:
The advancements in technology have made people easier to use.
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.
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...
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
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'.
Dirty democrats and rotten republicans!!
Posted by erasmus6 at 02:53 PM : Jul 29, 2007
That's pretty much the same in my city in Texas.
Posted by lorinkundert at 12:20 AM : Jul 30, 2007
I AGREE BUT DO WE HAVE THE OPTION IN ALL STATES TO ASK FOR A PAPER BALLOT
Don't ask, DEMAND paper ballots. And you need to start RIGHT NOW! Start phoning and writing letters and keep doing it until they all know you mean business! And if they don't do it then EVERYONE should be telling them they will refuse to vote. They need to throw those machines out. And if there is paper ballots, if it isn't handled properly you could still have a problem.
Someone in an earlier post said that they also had paper ballots but that some volunteer forgot to turn them in, they were in his trunk! I have never heard of anything so ridiculous in my life! The ballots shouldn't be left to the volunteer to take in, they should be picked up by someone assigned to do so and then they can be held accountable if something happens to them.
These ballots need to be protected every inch of the way from someone being able to tamper with them.
We need paper ballots that can be traced to each and every voter and vote.
If the republicans win anything in 08, it will be those voting machines that were tampered with.
Ironic really. America has INSISTED that there be POLL WATCHERS in third world elections.
There were some poll watchers in 2006 and guess what - they found some really interesting irregularities that they'd probably not even find in those third world countries. Nothing like America showing the world CORRUPTION rather than Democracy.
Posted by starleo146 at 01:56 PM : Jul 30, 2007
We won't. We now have Stevens and Roberts! :) It went from 5-4 leaning left to 5-4 leaning right. nice of you to blame the lefties for siding with Bush! LOL
Of course the government will try hard to keep you thinking your vote actually counts.....
There are noteworthy errors. In 2004, Franklin Co., Ohio Bush got 3893 extra votes from nowhere, Bush 4258 to Kerry 260, with 638 total votes in that precinct. In Florida, a machine allowed only 32,000 votes, after it hit 32,000 it started counting backward. In North Carolina 4,500 votes were lost after there was simply no more hard disk space available. According to USA Today, more than 20% of the machines tested failed to accurately record votes. These are problems with the machines, before any hacking or tampering.
Imagine a candidate getting an extra 3893 votes in just 1% of the precincts nationwide. Is it coincidence that the machines that gave bush the 3893 extra votes were by Diebold, whose CEO Walden O'Dell had promised to deliver Ohio's electoral votes for Bush?
Imagine a candidate getting an extra 3893 votes in just 1% of the precincts nationwide. Is it coincidence that the machines that gave bush the 3893 extra votes were by Diebold, whose CEO Walden O'Dell had promised to deliver Ohio's electoral votes for Bush?
Posted by firststate at 09:55 PM : Jul 30, 2007"
That is exactly the point. Now these machines are qualified to be put 2008 November elections. Good job Diebold & 2008 is to be delivered .
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by gunownerdan
August 1, 2007 7:59 AM PDT
- Not only are we forced to vote for either a dirty democrat or a rotten republican, the stupid voting machines are easily hackable or secretly programmed.
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See all 50 CommentsThe next president will be whoever big-money wants and most Americans couldn't care less.
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The cause of liberty, the cause of American, cannot succeed with any lesser effort."
- President John F. Kennedy, January 29, 1961