15 December 2003

Electronic Voting Investigator Bev Harris to Reveal Newly Discovered Potential Electronic Voting Security Breaches at Seattle News Conference On December 16th

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
Monday December 15, 2003

Bev Harris, author of "Black Box Voting" and Andy Stephenson, a Democratic candidate for Washington State Secretary of State, have uncovered new holes in the electoral system in King County (Seattle) and in as many as 14 additional states.

These security breaches affect both the optical scan systems (fill-in-the-dot or draw-the-line) and touch screen voting systems, and may also indicate significant security problems with absentee voting procedures.

At the Tuesday press conference, Harris and Stephenson will distribute a packet of documents to support their findings. Whereas electronic voting concerns have focused on complex issues like cryptographic security and computer source code, the new security flaws uncovered by Harris and Stephenson are more serious and also easier to explain. Because the subject matter is sensitive, reporters will want copies of the original documents to substantiate the findings, and these will be released at the news conference.

This information affects four counties in Washington State and locations in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Maryland and Virginia.

"What we have are two intertwined security breaches which deserve immediate attention from the U.S. Congress," says Stephenson. "We need to address procedural safeguards as soon as possible to put a halt to these problems and prevent them from ever happening again."

A 20-page dossier will provide the specific U.S. locations affected, as well as the details on multiple security breaches which may have compromised the integrity of at least two dozen elections.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

BuzzFlash Report

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