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27 September 2003
WHY WE HATE BUSH
It's the Stolen Election, Stupid
By Ted Rall
September 24, 2003
NEW YORK--"Have the Democrats totally flipped their lids?" asks David Brooks in The Weekly Standard, quasi-official organ of the Bush Administration. "Because every day some Democrat seems to make a manic or totally over-the-top statement about George Bush, the Republican party, and the state of the nation today."
True, Democrats loathe Dubya with greater intensity than any Republican standard-bearer in modern political history. Even the diabolical Richard Nixon--who, after all, created the EPA, went to China and imposed price controls to stop corporate gouging rates higher in liberal eyes. "It's mystifying," writes Brooks.
Let me explain.
--snip
Bush is guilty of a single irredeemable act so heinous and anti-American that Nixon's corruption and Reagan's intellectual inferiority pale by comparison. No matter what he does, Democrats and Republicans who love their country more than their party will never forgive him for it.
Bush stole the presidency.
--snip
Bush isn't president, but he plays one on TV. His presence in the White House is an affront to everything that this country stands for. His fake presidency is treasonous; our passive tolerance for it sad testimony to post-9/11 cowardice. As I wrote in December 2000, "George W. Bush is not the President of the United States of America." And millions of Americans agree.
Read Article
You bet we do!!!
It's the Stolen Election, Stupid
By Ted Rall
September 24, 2003
NEW YORK--"Have the Democrats totally flipped their lids?" asks David Brooks in The Weekly Standard, quasi-official organ of the Bush Administration. "Because every day some Democrat seems to make a manic or totally over-the-top statement about George Bush, the Republican party, and the state of the nation today."
True, Democrats loathe Dubya with greater intensity than any Republican standard-bearer in modern political history. Even the diabolical Richard Nixon--who, after all, created the EPA, went to China and imposed price controls to stop corporate gouging rates higher in liberal eyes. "It's mystifying," writes Brooks.
Let me explain.
--snip
Bush is guilty of a single irredeemable act so heinous and anti-American that Nixon's corruption and Reagan's intellectual inferiority pale by comparison. No matter what he does, Democrats and Republicans who love their country more than their party will never forgive him for it.
Bush stole the presidency.
--snip
Bush isn't president, but he plays one on TV. His presence in the White House is an affront to everything that this country stands for. His fake presidency is treasonous; our passive tolerance for it sad testimony to post-9/11 cowardice. As I wrote in December 2000, "George W. Bush is not the President of the United States of America." And millions of Americans agree.
Read Article
You bet we do!!!
Making Nice
For the Democrats, the second verse, same as the first
by Alan Bisbort
Hartford Advocate
September 25, 2003
Making nice is back in vogue in the federal government. It started in November 2000 when a collective shrug greeted the news that the ballots of thousands of black voters were stolen -- Hell, some black voters weren't even allowed access to the polling stations in order to get their ballots stolen! -- and, echoing DuBois, "representatives of stolen votes still sit in the nation's capital." To rub salt in the lash-wounds, the architect of the 2000 theft, Katherine Harris, "won" a Congressional seat in 2002.
Making nice within the ranks of the federal government actually began before the election, when Joe Lieberman set the paternal tone in the vice presidential debate. While Gore huffed and puffed with solemn rectitude in his debates with the goofy, almost surreally unqualified Texas governor, Gentleman Joe played patty-cake with Dick Cheney, arguably the single most corrupt and cynical man in American politics. Cheney, in turn, buttered Lieberman up, as if to tell Americans: "Why can't all Democrats be as humble and nice as this little one here?" I would not have been surprised if Cheney had reached over and patted Lieberman's head.
The making nice approached orgy stage once the Supreme Court inserted Bush/Cheney, not unlike a suppository up our democracy's rectum, in January 2001. It was embodied by "moderate" southern Democrats like Sens. John Breaux and Zell Miller who didn't let the ink dry on the coup before they were tonguing Bush's earlobe. They were followed closely by Tom Daschle in the Senate and Dick Gephardt in the House, alleged to be the leaders of their Party, holding open the doors of their respective chambers and, like flight attendants, saying, "If there's anything we can get for you, don't hesitate to ask."
--snip
I don't know about the rest of you, but I've been abused enough. I will not shake the hand or pat the back of someone bent on looting my treasury, poisoning my environment, killing my children in wars over oil and destroying my Bill of Rights.
Stripped of its verbose subterfuge and in its naked nastiness, this, then, is the new American creed.
Read Article
Amen, brother! You can say that again!!
For the Democrats, the second verse, same as the first
by Alan Bisbort
Hartford Advocate
September 25, 2003
Making nice is back in vogue in the federal government. It started in November 2000 when a collective shrug greeted the news that the ballots of thousands of black voters were stolen -- Hell, some black voters weren't even allowed access to the polling stations in order to get their ballots stolen! -- and, echoing DuBois, "representatives of stolen votes still sit in the nation's capital." To rub salt in the lash-wounds, the architect of the 2000 theft, Katherine Harris, "won" a Congressional seat in 2002.
Making nice within the ranks of the federal government actually began before the election, when Joe Lieberman set the paternal tone in the vice presidential debate. While Gore huffed and puffed with solemn rectitude in his debates with the goofy, almost surreally unqualified Texas governor, Gentleman Joe played patty-cake with Dick Cheney, arguably the single most corrupt and cynical man in American politics. Cheney, in turn, buttered Lieberman up, as if to tell Americans: "Why can't all Democrats be as humble and nice as this little one here?" I would not have been surprised if Cheney had reached over and patted Lieberman's head.
The making nice approached orgy stage once the Supreme Court inserted Bush/Cheney, not unlike a suppository up our democracy's rectum, in January 2001. It was embodied by "moderate" southern Democrats like Sens. John Breaux and Zell Miller who didn't let the ink dry on the coup before they were tonguing Bush's earlobe. They were followed closely by Tom Daschle in the Senate and Dick Gephardt in the House, alleged to be the leaders of their Party, holding open the doors of their respective chambers and, like flight attendants, saying, "If there's anything we can get for you, don't hesitate to ask."
--snip
I don't know about the rest of you, but I've been abused enough. I will not shake the hand or pat the back of someone bent on looting my treasury, poisoning my environment, killing my children in wars over oil and destroying my Bill of Rights.
Stripped of its verbose subterfuge and in its naked nastiness, this, then, is the new American creed.
Read Article
Amen, brother! You can say that again!!
Note posted at blackboxvoting.com
We have been granted access to our files and are even now downloading them. The org site will be back up as soon as we get set up in a new home. Many thanks to all who have been supporting us!
Blackboxvoting.com
Score one for the good guys! (Or in this case, the good GAL and guys.)
We have been granted access to our files and are even now downloading them. The org site will be back up as soon as we get set up in a new home. Many thanks to all who have been supporting us!
Blackboxvoting.com
Score one for the good guys! (Or in this case, the good GAL and guys.)
Piecing it Together
Blackboxvoting.com
I spent the weekend pondering what I heard at the ITAA/E-voting secret phone conference Friday. I then went and did a little checking into names and people and came up with some interesting facts and even more interesting questions.
These are just the list of some of the questions that are addressed in this article ... click on read article below to read the answers
Questions: How much money did these companies spend getting HAVA enacted? Who got the money?
Question: Why are defense contractors mucking about in our voting process?
Question: Didn't anyone wonder about a Saudi firm owning a company that makes voting machines for American elections?
Question: Isn't SAIC acting as a de facto independent testing authority for the state of Maryland, and thus ITAA would be in the position of providing "input" to SAIC, who have a VP on ITAA's board of directors?
Question: In any case, isn't it a conflict of interest, and at the very least rather improper for there to be a tie between ITAA and SAIC?
Question: Has SAIC disclosed this conflict to the state of Maryland?
Question: Has ITAA disclosed the conflict to its prospective clients in the e-voting industry?
Question: Why is the price of the contract a secret?
Question: Why is an offshore company, run by non-citizens, allowed to handle something as sensitive as military voting?
Question: Why is the military being given a voting process highly vulnerable to fraud or disruption?
Question: Isn't it rather improper for Lewis to be helping the e-voting industry form a lobby?
Read Article
Blackboxvoting.com
I spent the weekend pondering what I heard at the ITAA/E-voting secret phone conference Friday. I then went and did a little checking into names and people and came up with some interesting facts and even more interesting questions.
These are just the list of some of the questions that are addressed in this article ... click on read article below to read the answers
Questions: How much money did these companies spend getting HAVA enacted? Who got the money?
Question: Why are defense contractors mucking about in our voting process?
Question: Didn't anyone wonder about a Saudi firm owning a company that makes voting machines for American elections?
Question: Isn't SAIC acting as a de facto independent testing authority for the state of Maryland, and thus ITAA would be in the position of providing "input" to SAIC, who have a VP on ITAA's board of directors?
Question: In any case, isn't it a conflict of interest, and at the very least rather improper for there to be a tie between ITAA and SAIC?
Question: Has SAIC disclosed this conflict to the state of Maryland?
Question: Has ITAA disclosed the conflict to its prospective clients in the e-voting industry?
Question: Why is the price of the contract a secret?
Question: Why is an offshore company, run by non-citizens, allowed to handle something as sensitive as military voting?
Question: Why is the military being given a voting process highly vulnerable to fraud or disruption?
Question: Isn't it rather improper for Lewis to be helping the e-voting industry form a lobby?
Read Article
Chris Floyd's Global Eye
Vanishing Act
The St. Petersburg Times
September 23, 2003
It's a shell game, with money, companies and corporate brands switching in a blur of buy-outs and bogus fronts. It's a sinkhole, where mobbed-up operators, paid-off public servants, crazed Christian fascists, CIA shadow-jobbers, war-pimping arms dealers - and presidential family members - lie down together in the slime. It's a hacker's dream, with pork-funded, half-finished, secretly-programmed computer systems installed without basic security standards by politically-partisan private firms, and protected by law from public scrutiny.
It's how the United States, the "world's greatest democracy," casts its votes. And it's why George W. Bush will almost certainly be the next president of the United States - no matter what the ***people*** of the United States might want.
A MUST READ Article
Vanishing Act
The St. Petersburg Times
September 23, 2003
It's a shell game, with money, companies and corporate brands switching in a blur of buy-outs and bogus fronts. It's a sinkhole, where mobbed-up operators, paid-off public servants, crazed Christian fascists, CIA shadow-jobbers, war-pimping arms dealers - and presidential family members - lie down together in the slime. It's a hacker's dream, with pork-funded, half-finished, secretly-programmed computer systems installed without basic security standards by politically-partisan private firms, and protected by law from public scrutiny.
It's how the United States, the "world's greatest democracy," casts its votes. And it's why George W. Bush will almost certainly be the next president of the United States - no matter what the ***people*** of the United States might want.
A MUST READ Article
More on Diebold's attack on Blackboxvoting.org
Oh, and yes: Diebold has been playing whackamole. Or there is another way to look at it: Hiding the evidence of lawbreaking. After 15,000 internal memos were leaked, Diebold tried to force www.blackboxvoting.org to shut down, claiming copyright because of a LINK on the site, but also sent a cease & desist letter to Global Free Press demanding removal of a search engine which quickly and easily finds information in the memos. By running search terms like "fake" "hack" "fix" "broken" and "boogie man" it quickly becomes apparent that evidence critical to the public interest is being hidden.
Why is this company still selling voting machines?
Read Article
Oh, and yes: Diebold has been playing whackamole. Or there is another way to look at it: Hiding the evidence of lawbreaking. After 15,000 internal memos were leaked, Diebold tried to force www.blackboxvoting.org to shut down, claiming copyright because of a LINK on the site, but also sent a cease & desist letter to Global Free Press demanding removal of a search engine which quickly and easily finds information in the memos. By running search terms like "fake" "hack" "fix" "broken" and "boogie man" it quickly becomes apparent that evidence critical to the public interest is being hidden.
Why is this company still selling voting machines?
Read Article
Fiore presents: Electoral Dysfunction
A cute animated cartoon by Mark Fiore about the California recall election.
Watch Cartoon
A cute animated cartoon by Mark Fiore about the California recall election.
Watch Cartoon
DIEBOLD GOES POSTAL!
Subject: Fwd: All Black Box Voting files confiscated, including personal info on activists by Diebold.
From: Bev Harris Subject: All Black Box Voting files confiscated, including personal info on activists
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 02:11:26 -0700 (PDT)
Here's what you can do to help: Get the word out far and wide that Diebold has done this thing.
1. Diebold issued a pull-down demand under DMCA for the BlackBoxVoting.org web site, citing a link posted on a forum in the site, claiming that the link allowed web visitors to visit an unrelated page which contained items they say they own the copyright to.
2. Not only was BlackBoxVoting.org pulled down, but ALL of the documents, databases and programming for approximately 500 pages of material, most of which did not relate to Diebold at all, was confiscated. Dozens of web pages were pulled down which had nothing whatever to do with the disputed information. AIT Inc. has indicated that it believes it has the right to pull down the entire web site including unrelated pages. It then confiscated all of the material.
3. The confiscated pages included personal contact information for 200 activists, and the private strategy sessions for voting machine activists. BlackBoxVoting.org has yet to receive any explanation at all as to what authority was claimed to confiscate them. We demand their immediate return.
4. Most of the memos in question were written in Canada, and resided on a server in Canada up to and including 2003 after Diebold bought a Canadian company called Global Election Systems. In Canada, company correspondence, even internal memos, is not protected by copyright. To date we have been unable to find evidence, other than a claim in a letter, that Diebold even owns the copyright to these memos.
5. These memos are more properly termed "Evidence," because they contain evidence of a pattern of lawbreaking that dates back at least to 1999.
6. Lexis-Nexis would be a worthwhile exercise now for every one of these search terms pertaining to the origins of Global Election Systems: This firm was a wholly owned subsidiary of North American Professional Technologies, Inc., which was in turn a wholly owned subsidiary of MacroTrends Ventures International, Ltd. Charles Hong Lee is one of the principals with these firms; He has been tied in the press to participation in a scheme to bilk immigrants out of some $47 million; he is also connected with a scandal in which a Mr. Graye was prosecuted, relating to Vinex Wines. Charles Hong Lee was also involved with something called "The Vancouver Maneuver," a stock pump & dump scheme that bilked investors out of millions in connection with an entertainment company and something called Beverly Development. Charles Hong Lee was a principal with Global Election Systems, along with the late Clinton Rickards. Talbot Iredale, currently the V.P. for Research and Development for Diebold Election Systems, began with the company in 1991, right around the time the Vancouver Maneuver was exposed in Barron's magazine. This is the pedigree from whence the Diebold Memos arose.
What Really happened
Subject: Fwd: All Black Box Voting files confiscated, including personal info on activists by Diebold.
From: Bev Harris Subject: All Black Box Voting files confiscated, including personal info on activists
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 02:11:26 -0700 (PDT)
Here's what you can do to help: Get the word out far and wide that Diebold has done this thing.
1. Diebold issued a pull-down demand under DMCA for the BlackBoxVoting.org web site, citing a link posted on a forum in the site, claiming that the link allowed web visitors to visit an unrelated page which contained items they say they own the copyright to.
2. Not only was BlackBoxVoting.org pulled down, but ALL of the documents, databases and programming for approximately 500 pages of material, most of which did not relate to Diebold at all, was confiscated. Dozens of web pages were pulled down which had nothing whatever to do with the disputed information. AIT Inc. has indicated that it believes it has the right to pull down the entire web site including unrelated pages. It then confiscated all of the material.
3. The confiscated pages included personal contact information for 200 activists, and the private strategy sessions for voting machine activists. BlackBoxVoting.org has yet to receive any explanation at all as to what authority was claimed to confiscate them. We demand their immediate return.
4. Most of the memos in question were written in Canada, and resided on a server in Canada up to and including 2003 after Diebold bought a Canadian company called Global Election Systems. In Canada, company correspondence, even internal memos, is not protected by copyright. To date we have been unable to find evidence, other than a claim in a letter, that Diebold even owns the copyright to these memos.
5. These memos are more properly termed "Evidence," because they contain evidence of a pattern of lawbreaking that dates back at least to 1999.
6. Lexis-Nexis would be a worthwhile exercise now for every one of these search terms pertaining to the origins of Global Election Systems: This firm was a wholly owned subsidiary of North American Professional Technologies, Inc., which was in turn a wholly owned subsidiary of MacroTrends Ventures International, Ltd. Charles Hong Lee is one of the principals with these firms; He has been tied in the press to participation in a scheme to bilk immigrants out of some $47 million; he is also connected with a scandal in which a Mr. Graye was prosecuted, relating to Vinex Wines. Charles Hong Lee was also involved with something called "The Vancouver Maneuver," a stock pump & dump scheme that bilked investors out of millions in connection with an entertainment company and something called Beverly Development. Charles Hong Lee was a principal with Global Election Systems, along with the late Clinton Rickards. Talbot Iredale, currently the V.P. for Research and Development for Diebold Election Systems, began with the company in 1991, right around the time the Vancouver Maneuver was exposed in Barron's magazine. This is the pedigree from whence the Diebold Memos arose.
What Really happened
High-tech election gear about to go?
Even chads are looking good to Broward leaders, who are considering dumping their electronic voting machines for a lower tech system.
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD
Miami Herald
Sep. 24, 2003
California counties under pressure to abandon punch-card voting may be able to pick up a bargain from Broward commissioners, who are now talking about getting rid of the county's two-year-old, $17.2 million touch-screen voting system.
After saying ''so long, chad'' and embracing touch-screen voting equipment, Broward commissioners are thinking about replacing their electronic equipment with an optical-scan system that leaves a paper trail.
''We might,'' said Commissioner Ilene Lieberman.
Commissioners want a report on how to retrofit their 5,200 touch-screen machines to print out paper records.
But, they reasoned, if the price is right, why not trade microchips for pencil and paper? At an estimated cost of $1,000 per touch-screen machine to add printers, some commissioners say they could sell off the high-tech system and buy the cheaper optical-scan equipment. It achieves the same result, commissioners point out: a paper record of votes.
''People want a printed piece of paper showing what they voted for,'' said Commissioner Lori Parrish. ``People want a hard copy of something for a recount.''
Read Article
Big old SMOOCH to Broward County! I just wish the rest of the country would get a clue and do the same! This is a really good article and gives a good explanation of why optical-scan systems are preferable and CHEAPER than touch screen machines, in addition to being far more secure.
Even chads are looking good to Broward leaders, who are considering dumping their electronic voting machines for a lower tech system.
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD
Miami Herald
Sep. 24, 2003
California counties under pressure to abandon punch-card voting may be able to pick up a bargain from Broward commissioners, who are now talking about getting rid of the county's two-year-old, $17.2 million touch-screen voting system.
After saying ''so long, chad'' and embracing touch-screen voting equipment, Broward commissioners are thinking about replacing their electronic equipment with an optical-scan system that leaves a paper trail.
''We might,'' said Commissioner Ilene Lieberman.
Commissioners want a report on how to retrofit their 5,200 touch-screen machines to print out paper records.
But, they reasoned, if the price is right, why not trade microchips for pencil and paper? At an estimated cost of $1,000 per touch-screen machine to add printers, some commissioners say they could sell off the high-tech system and buy the cheaper optical-scan equipment. It achieves the same result, commissioners point out: a paper record of votes.
''People want a printed piece of paper showing what they voted for,'' said Commissioner Lori Parrish. ``People want a hard copy of something for a recount.''
Read Article
Big old SMOOCH to Broward County! I just wish the rest of the country would get a clue and do the same! This is a really good article and gives a good explanation of why optical-scan systems are preferable and CHEAPER than touch screen machines, in addition to being far more secure.
Elections chief tightens vote security
By Keith Ervin
Seattle Times staff reporter
September 25, 2003
King County's newly appointed elections chief has taken steps to reduce the possibility of computerized vote-tampering while he studies questions raised about possible security flaws in software the county uses to tally election results.
Dean Logan, who became director of records, elections and licensing services this month, said yesterday he has tightened security by restricting employee access to a key election software program and removing other software from the elections computer.
Logan also said he will ask for a formal response by Diebold Election Systems to claims that the company's vote-counting systems may be vulnerable to tampering.
"We're going to take it extremely seriously because we want to be sure that voters are confident that their votes are counted and counted as they intended them to be counted," Logan said.
"If there are problems with the software, we're going to get to the bottom of that."
Read Article
By Keith Ervin
Seattle Times staff reporter
September 25, 2003
King County's newly appointed elections chief has taken steps to reduce the possibility of computerized vote-tampering while he studies questions raised about possible security flaws in software the county uses to tally election results.
Dean Logan, who became director of records, elections and licensing services this month, said yesterday he has tightened security by restricting employee access to a key election software program and removing other software from the elections computer.
Logan also said he will ask for a formal response by Diebold Election Systems to claims that the company's vote-counting systems may be vulnerable to tampering.
"We're going to take it extremely seriously because we want to be sure that voters are confident that their votes are counted and counted as they intended them to be counted," Logan said.
"If there are problems with the software, we're going to get to the bottom of that."
Read Article
Ethics panel to scrutinize Md. lobbyist
By David Nitkin
Sunspot.net, Maryland
September 26, 2003
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. asked the State Ethics Commission Friday to examine the relationships of a well-known Annapolis lobbyist after learning that he represents competing interests in the debate over whether Maryland should buy costly new touch-screen voting machines.
Top Ehrlich aides said they did not learn until this week that Gilbert J. Genn, who was registered to lobby on behalf of Diebold Election Systems, the manufacturer of the electronic voting machines, was also authorized to represent Science Applications International Corp., hired by Ehrlich to determine whether the voting system is secure enough to use
--snip
The examination by California-based SAIC revealed serious security flaws in Maryland's voting system, but state officials determined the problems could be fixed before the March primary election and decided to proceed with the purchase and installation of $55.6 million worth of Diebold touch-screen technology.
--snip
Genn, a former Democratic delegate from Montgomery County, said all of his recent work on the voting-machine issue has been on behalf of Diebold, which paid him $67,182 in the past year, making the company his top client, records show. Genn earned $213,000 overall from lobbying activities during this year's legislative session.
--snip
James Browning, executive director of Common Cause/Maryland, said he uncovered Genn's connections when researching Diebold and SAIC weeks ago. Browning said he's troubled by the appearance of connections between the companies, but that their significance is "not clear-cut."
The research also revealed that Diebold and SAIC are members of the Information Technology Association of America's Information Security Committee, which according to a recent article in the Akron Beacon Journal has begun an effort to improve the public image of electronic voting.
Complicating the picture, he also learned that Bill Owens, a former SAIC president, sits on the board of VoteHere, a company that competes with Diebold in the electronic-voting market.
"There are not many degrees of separation between these voting machine companies," Browning said. "There can be no virgin birth here. Only insiders will know how the software works."
--snip
State officials say they withheld the information to avoid providing a "roadmap" for hackers to disrupt election results.
Read Article
By David Nitkin
Sunspot.net, Maryland
September 26, 2003
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. asked the State Ethics Commission Friday to examine the relationships of a well-known Annapolis lobbyist after learning that he represents competing interests in the debate over whether Maryland should buy costly new touch-screen voting machines.
Top Ehrlich aides said they did not learn until this week that Gilbert J. Genn, who was registered to lobby on behalf of Diebold Election Systems, the manufacturer of the electronic voting machines, was also authorized to represent Science Applications International Corp., hired by Ehrlich to determine whether the voting system is secure enough to use
--snip
The examination by California-based SAIC revealed serious security flaws in Maryland's voting system, but state officials determined the problems could be fixed before the March primary election and decided to proceed with the purchase and installation of $55.6 million worth of Diebold touch-screen technology.
--snip
Genn, a former Democratic delegate from Montgomery County, said all of his recent work on the voting-machine issue has been on behalf of Diebold, which paid him $67,182 in the past year, making the company his top client, records show. Genn earned $213,000 overall from lobbying activities during this year's legislative session.
--snip
James Browning, executive director of Common Cause/Maryland, said he uncovered Genn's connections when researching Diebold and SAIC weeks ago. Browning said he's troubled by the appearance of connections between the companies, but that their significance is "not clear-cut."
The research also revealed that Diebold and SAIC are members of the Information Technology Association of America's Information Security Committee, which according to a recent article in the Akron Beacon Journal has begun an effort to improve the public image of electronic voting.
Complicating the picture, he also learned that Bill Owens, a former SAIC president, sits on the board of VoteHere, a company that competes with Diebold in the electronic-voting market.
"There are not many degrees of separation between these voting machine companies," Browning said. "There can be no virgin birth here. Only insiders will know how the software works."
--snip
State officials say they withheld the information to avoid providing a "roadmap" for hackers to disrupt election results.
Read Article
The Felonious Elephant
Florida Rethug's $311,000 fine wiped clean
September 11, 2003
Florida state Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla is walking tall today thanks to a 3rd District Court of Appeals ruling that overturned a $311,000 fine levied against the legislator by the Florida Elections Commission. The Republican politician dodged criminal charges in the case, but was fined for 311 separate counts of campaign finance reporting violations stemming from a 1999 special election. The appeals court ordered the state legislature to come up with a more workable system of campaign finance reporting guidelines. Wait, did I just say that three appealate judges ordered another branch of government to change the law to their specification? Uh, aren't Republicans supposed to be the party of judicial restraint?
This story found here:
The Felonious Elephant
Original Article
(The link to the original article gives a page not found message for some reason.)
September 11, 2003
Florida state Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla is walking tall today thanks to a 3rd District Court of Appeals ruling that overturned a $311,000 fine levied against the legislator by the Florida Elections Commission. The Republican politician dodged criminal charges in the case, but was fined for 311 separate counts of campaign finance reporting violations stemming from a 1999 special election. The appeals court ordered the state legislature to come up with a more workable system of campaign finance reporting guidelines. Wait, did I just say that three appealate judges ordered another branch of government to change the law to their specification? Uh, aren't Republicans supposed to be the party of judicial restraint?
This story found here:
The Felonious Elephant
Original Article
(The link to the original article gives a page not found message for some reason.)
25 September 2003
Dueling Quotes
Diebold Press Release
9/24/03
"We are pleased to be moving forward," said Thomas W. Swidarski, president of Diebold Election Systems. "The thorough system assessment conducted by SAIC verifies that the Diebold voting station provides an unprecedented level of election security."
Risk Assessment Report Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting System and Processes
SAIC Report, Page 10
9/2/03
2.5. Overall Risk Rating
The system, as implemented in policy, procedure, and technology, is at high risk of compromise. Application of the listed mitigations will reduce the risk to the system. Any computerized voting system implemented using the present set of policies and procedures would require these same mitigations.
They should change their name to LIEBOLD.
Unbelievable!! The shameless crooks, lying like dogs!! How could they POSSIBLY imagine that they could get away with that when the report says the exact opposite?! If they had a brain cell left, they might have figured out that there is a LOT of interest in this subject and in their company at the moment, and that they are no longer going to be able to carry on their criminal activities out of the blinding glare of hundreds of pairs of eyeballs focused directly on them at all times. Or, to quote a quote from the website, Thoughtcrimes, where "Dueling Quotes" was found ... "John Stewart beat me to the punch on this one, so I'll just quote him. 'Do they think we're retarded?'"
Thoughtcrimes
Diebold Press Release
9/24/03
"We are pleased to be moving forward," said Thomas W. Swidarski, president of Diebold Election Systems. "The thorough system assessment conducted by SAIC verifies that the Diebold voting station provides an unprecedented level of election security."
Risk Assessment Report Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting System and Processes
SAIC Report, Page 10
9/2/03
2.5. Overall Risk Rating
The system, as implemented in policy, procedure, and technology, is at high risk of compromise. Application of the listed mitigations will reduce the risk to the system. Any computerized voting system implemented using the present set of policies and procedures would require these same mitigations.
They should change their name to LIEBOLD.
Unbelievable!! The shameless crooks, lying like dogs!! How could they POSSIBLY imagine that they could get away with that when the report says the exact opposite?! If they had a brain cell left, they might have figured out that there is a LOT of interest in this subject and in their company at the moment, and that they are no longer going to be able to carry on their criminal activities out of the blinding glare of hundreds of pairs of eyeballs focused directly on them at all times. Or, to quote a quote from the website, Thoughtcrimes, where "Dueling Quotes" was found ... "John Stewart beat me to the punch on this one, so I'll just quote him. 'Do they think we're retarded?'"
Thoughtcrimes
24 September 2003
What's Up With the Insider Trading At Diebold?
September 24, 2003
BBV sleuths making life profitable for Diebold's law firm have uncovered another interesting tidbit:
Since August 12th, insiders at Diebold have sold $33.1 million dollars in stock, with 90% of this being attributed to one Eric J. Roorda, a Diebold director.
Read the Rest of the Story
September 24, 2003
BBV sleuths making life profitable for Diebold's law firm have uncovered another interesting tidbit:
Since August 12th, insiders at Diebold have sold $33.1 million dollars in stock, with 90% of this being attributed to one Eric J. Roorda, a Diebold director.
Read the Rest of the Story
Did Diebold's Crappy System Cost Gore the Election?
September 21, 2003
Email from Diebold's election systems group continues to shine a bright light on the arrogant groupthink involved in the deployment of voting machine software. However, the latest discovery could explain why Gore lost in Florida.
A discussion takes place in January 2001 concerning the fact that Volusia County, Florida (where else?) came up with -16,022 votes for Gore. Yes, re-read that, Gore was awarded NEGATIVE VOTES.
Diebold's Talbot Iredale explains why this happened:
Read Article
September 21, 2003
Email from Diebold's election systems group continues to shine a bright light on the arrogant groupthink involved in the deployment of voting machine software. However, the latest discovery could explain why Gore lost in Florida.
A discussion takes place in January 2001 concerning the fact that Volusia County, Florida (where else?) came up with -16,022 votes for Gore. Yes, re-read that, Gore was awarded NEGATIVE VOTES.
Diebold's Talbot Iredale explains why this happened:
Read Article
ISP Caves to Latest Diebold Threat
September 23, 2003
The ISP hosting blackboxvoting.org has caved to the latest threat from Diebold to "cease & desist". Deibold now claims that links to their memos, stored on computers outside the United States VIOLATE THEIR COPYRIGHT!
That's right folks, aside from the prima facia absurdity of their claim, they seem to believe that you can copyright criminal activity, and threaten legal action against anyone who exposes your crimes.
Here is the text of the letter sent to Bev Harris' ISP:
Read Letter
September 23, 2003
The ISP hosting blackboxvoting.org has caved to the latest threat from Diebold to "cease & desist". Deibold now claims that links to their memos, stored on computers outside the United States VIOLATE THEIR COPYRIGHT!
That's right folks, aside from the prima facia absurdity of their claim, they seem to believe that you can copyright criminal activity, and threaten legal action against anyone who exposes your crimes.
Here is the text of the letter sent to Bev Harris' ISP:
Read Letter
An Open Invitation to Election Fraud
By Farhad Manjoo
Salon.com
Sept. 23, 2003
Not only is the country's leading touch-screen voting system so badly designed that votes can be easily changed, but its manufacturer is run by a die-hard GOP donor who vowed to deliver his state for Bush next year.
This is a good article with a VERY good interview with Bev Harris, the woman who exposed this story and continues to dig up more dirt on the voting machine companies regularly. You can agree to a day pass at Salon.com and read the 2-page article for free (you have to look at an advertisement before you get to the page, but it doesn't take too long). The interview is clear and understandable and gives a great overview of the entire crooked electronic voting machine business.
Read Article
By Farhad Manjoo
Salon.com
Sept. 23, 2003
Not only is the country's leading touch-screen voting system so badly designed that votes can be easily changed, but its manufacturer is run by a die-hard GOP donor who vowed to deliver his state for Bush next year.
This is a good article with a VERY good interview with Bev Harris, the woman who exposed this story and continues to dig up more dirt on the voting machine companies regularly. You can agree to a day pass at Salon.com and read the 2-page article for free (you have to look at an advertisement before you get to the page, but it doesn't take too long). The interview is clear and understandable and gives a great overview of the entire crooked electronic voting machine business.
Read Article
Diebold shuts down Blackboxvoting.org with Legal Threats
Claiming that links on the bbv.org site were infringing on their copyright, Diebold has temporarily shut the site down.
The issue at question is links to a database of Diebold email provided by an insider that documents Diebold's ongoing campaign of fraud and deception in the design, manufacture and sale of its computer voting machines and software.
Diebold originally objected to emails being posted in their entirety on the bbv.org site. When the material was taken down, Diebold then claimed that links to sites outside the US were infringing their copyright, and the ISP complied with the demand.
This will not stand. We are searching for new home for the site and it will go back up as soon as we can manage it.
Read More
Claiming that links on the bbv.org site were infringing on their copyright, Diebold has temporarily shut the site down.
The issue at question is links to a database of Diebold email provided by an insider that documents Diebold's ongoing campaign of fraud and deception in the design, manufacture and sale of its computer voting machines and software.
Diebold originally objected to emails being posted in their entirety on the bbv.org site. When the material was taken down, Diebold then claimed that links to sites outside the US were infringing their copyright, and the ISP complied with the demand.
This will not stand. We are searching for new home for the site and it will go back up as soon as we can manage it.
Read More
Democrats want election machine firm thrown out
Ohio Legislature
By LEO SHANE III
NH Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS -- Democratic leaders want a major Republican fund-raiser blocked from becoming the state's new voting machines supplier, saying his presence puts in doubt the fairness of all Ohio elections.
Read Article
Ohio Legislature
By LEO SHANE III
NH Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS -- Democratic leaders want a major Republican fund-raiser blocked from becoming the state's new voting machines supplier, saying his presence puts in doubt the fairness of all Ohio elections.
Read Article
Alert: Diebold-Faircloth Connection!
Mark Crispin Miller
September 23, 2003
Touch-screen machines part of a theocratic plot?
Diebold execs gave big-time support to "Christian Reconstructionists"—who believe that ONLY CHRISTIANS ought to have the right to vote!
Read Blog
Mark Crispin Miller
September 23, 2003
Touch-screen machines part of a theocratic plot?
Diebold execs gave big-time support to "Christian Reconstructionists"—who believe that ONLY CHRISTIANS ought to have the right to vote!
Read Blog
Diebold Alert
All files yanked by webhost at request of Diebold, Inc. (copy of the email from Diebold coupmeisters to webhost service of smashthetrifecta.com, which 'contained Diebold Property')
Motherlode
All files yanked by webhost at request of Diebold, Inc. (copy of the email from Diebold coupmeisters to webhost service of smashthetrifecta.com, which 'contained Diebold Property')
Motherlode
Diebold takes down blackboxvoting.org
US election fraud? Perish the thought!
The Inquirer
By Egan Orion
24 September 2003
DIEBOLD ELECTION SYSTEMS has brandished lawyers' threats to take down that pesky citizens activist website blackboxvoting.org. It seems they charged copyright infringement regarding materials on other websites that blackboxvoting.org merely linked to, despite such links having been ruled legal by appellate courts in other instances.
This appears to be a public relations gaffe of staggering proportions on Diebold's part. It's not like bunging the terms "Diebold election fraud" into Google brings up only that blackboxvoting.org site -- just it and about 1,889 other hits, including a recent story at Salon, another at Wired, and two pieces here at the INQUIRER, as well as articles in major news publications. What can they be thinking?
Link
US election fraud? Perish the thought!
The Inquirer
By Egan Orion
24 September 2003
DIEBOLD ELECTION SYSTEMS has brandished lawyers' threats to take down that pesky citizens activist website blackboxvoting.org. It seems they charged copyright infringement regarding materials on other websites that blackboxvoting.org merely linked to, despite such links having been ruled legal by appellate courts in other instances.
This appears to be a public relations gaffe of staggering proportions on Diebold's part. It's not like bunging the terms "Diebold election fraud" into Google brings up only that blackboxvoting.org site -- just it and about 1,889 other hits, including a recent story at Salon, another at Wired, and two pieces here at the INQUIRER, as well as articles in major news publications. What can they be thinking?
Link
16 September 2003
Ghosts in the Machines
The Business of Counting Votes
By JASON LEOPOLD
Counterpunch.org
It seems fitting that a president who was brought into office because of a scandalous election would enact a law to overhaul the electoral process to make it easier for people to choose their leaders the second time around.
But that's not what the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, signed into law by President Bush in October 2002, will do. Instead, the law will force most states to switch from paper balloting to a fully computerized system---one that is currently rife with programming flaws and is incapable of being audited_that could call into question the legitimacy of future local and national elections and put the wrong candidates into office.
--snip
Peter Coyote, who narrated a documentary film last year on the disasters surrounding the 2000 presidential election, has launched a grassroots letter writing campaign urging federal lawmakers to take a second look at how the Help America Vote Act can put the wrong candidates in office.
In his letter to California's Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, Coyote writes: "Last year, I narrated a film called "Unprecedented" by American journalist Greg Palast. This film documents the illegal expunging of 54,000 black and overwhelmingly Democratic voters from the Florida rolls just before the presidential election. We interviewed the computer company that did the work, filmed their explanations of the instructions they received and their admissions that they knew that their instructions would produce massive error. That figure has now been revised to 91,000. Jeb Bush was sued, and was supposed to have returned these voters to the rolls, and did not, which explains his last re-election. The Republicans have something far worse in mind for the next presidential election and Democrats need to be prepared."
"Unless the issue of voter fraud is elevated to an issue of national importance, not only is it highly probable that Democrats will lose again and again, but eventually voters will "sense" even if they cannot prove, that elections are rigged, and the current 50% of those boycotting elections will swell to the majority. Privatization of the vote is tantamount to turning over the control of democracy to the corporate sector. I urge you to use your considerable powers and influence to address this issue."
Editor's Note: This is a LONG article that summarizes various articles, many of which I have linked in this blog, detailing problems with various different electronic voting machine companies and incidents that have occurred in many different states.
Read Article
Unprecedented - The 2000 Presidential Election
The Business of Counting Votes
By JASON LEOPOLD
Counterpunch.org
It seems fitting that a president who was brought into office because of a scandalous election would enact a law to overhaul the electoral process to make it easier for people to choose their leaders the second time around.
But that's not what the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, signed into law by President Bush in October 2002, will do. Instead, the law will force most states to switch from paper balloting to a fully computerized system---one that is currently rife with programming flaws and is incapable of being audited_that could call into question the legitimacy of future local and national elections and put the wrong candidates into office.
--snip
Peter Coyote, who narrated a documentary film last year on the disasters surrounding the 2000 presidential election, has launched a grassroots letter writing campaign urging federal lawmakers to take a second look at how the Help America Vote Act can put the wrong candidates in office.
In his letter to California's Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, Coyote writes: "Last year, I narrated a film called "Unprecedented" by American journalist Greg Palast. This film documents the illegal expunging of 54,000 black and overwhelmingly Democratic voters from the Florida rolls just before the presidential election. We interviewed the computer company that did the work, filmed their explanations of the instructions they received and their admissions that they knew that their instructions would produce massive error. That figure has now been revised to 91,000. Jeb Bush was sued, and was supposed to have returned these voters to the rolls, and did not, which explains his last re-election. The Republicans have something far worse in mind for the next presidential election and Democrats need to be prepared."
"Unless the issue of voter fraud is elevated to an issue of national importance, not only is it highly probable that Democrats will lose again and again, but eventually voters will "sense" even if they cannot prove, that elections are rigged, and the current 50% of those boycotting elections will swell to the majority. Privatization of the vote is tantamount to turning over the control of democracy to the corporate sector. I urge you to use your considerable powers and influence to address this issue."
Editor's Note: This is a LONG article that summarizes various articles, many of which I have linked in this blog, detailing problems with various different electronic voting machine companies and incidents that have occurred in many different states.
Read Article
Unprecedented - The 2000 Presidential Election
14 September 2003
Security fears grow over electronic voting systems
By Henry Hamman
Financial Times
September 12 2003
--snip
While the stakes for Diebold are high, they are even higher for the US election system as it grows increasingly dependent on computerisation. Electronic voting "could be a real nightmare if it's not watched carefully", said James Campbell, a professor of political science at the State University of New York in Buffalo.
Prof Campbell said that after the Florida election crisis of 2000, so much attention went to eliminating hanging chads and butterfly ballots that politicians and election officials risked "focusing on one problem to the exclusion of more traditional problems like vote fraud and ballot security. There should be a good deal of concern about various sorts of mischief."
--snip
Researchers looking at electronic voting have begun to call for a slowdown. No one knows what percentage of the 2004 presidential vote will be cast electronically. Experts say more than 10 per cent of votes cast in the 2000 presidential election were electronic.
Michael Alvarez, co-director of the California Institute of Technology/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Voting Technology Project, has been urging states not to rush into electronic voting, and to ensure an independent record of votes cast electronically
Read Article
By Henry Hamman
Financial Times
September 12 2003
--snip
While the stakes for Diebold are high, they are even higher for the US election system as it grows increasingly dependent on computerisation. Electronic voting "could be a real nightmare if it's not watched carefully", said James Campbell, a professor of political science at the State University of New York in Buffalo.
Prof Campbell said that after the Florida election crisis of 2000, so much attention went to eliminating hanging chads and butterfly ballots that politicians and election officials risked "focusing on one problem to the exclusion of more traditional problems like vote fraud and ballot security. There should be a good deal of concern about various sorts of mischief."
--snip
Researchers looking at electronic voting have begun to call for a slowdown. No one knows what percentage of the 2004 presidential vote will be cast electronically. Experts say more than 10 per cent of votes cast in the 2000 presidential election were electronic.
Michael Alvarez, co-director of the California Institute of Technology/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Voting Technology Project, has been urging states not to rush into electronic voting, and to ensure an independent record of votes cast electronically
Read Article
12 September 2003
Voting Machine Fiasco
SAIC, Bohemoth Military Contractor, Wants to Be inside Every Voting Machine; Three Way Scam on Diebold Review?
Lynn Landes
OpEdNews.Com
Ecotalk.org
The voting machine wars are heating up and the implications of vote fraud in America are even more ominous.
Editor's Note: My God, this is so sinister and so bizarre that if you haven't read this yet, you just won't believe the magnitude of what you are reading! I posted this earlier, but decided that this is SO important that I should re-post it, along with some of the details, because I think everyone should read the full article.
This is not only sinister, but it is so complicated and confusing that it's hard to absorb. I will try to break it down as I understand it. This is a rough summary of some of the high points:
Diebold Election Systems software is suspected of being seriously flawed and therefore easily rigged.
Several cities and states have put a hold on the use of electronic voting machines until there is further investigation.
The Governor of one state, Maryland, requested investigation of Diebold's software by a company named SAIC, or Science Applications International Corp.
This sounded like a noble gesture, considering the Governor of Maryland is republican, until you read that SAIC is "a behemoth military defense contractor with a shadowy, if not tarnished, reputation".
The federal government is SAIC's main customer, and the government often doesn't want the public to know what SAIC is doing and, "as one of the nation's largest employee-owned corporations, it escapes investor scrutiny." Today, SAIC has racked up more than $5.9 billion in annual revenues.
It seems that SAIC has had its share of legal troubles:
1990 - indicted by the Justice Department on 10 felony counts for fraud in its management of a Superfund toxic cleanup site. (SAIC pleaded guilty.)
1993 - the Justice Department sued SAIC, accusing it of civil fraud on an F15 fighter contract.
1995 - The same month SAIC purchased NSI (Network Solutions Inc.), the company settled a suit that charged it had lied about security system tests it conducted for a Treasury Department currency plant in Fort Worth, TX.
1992 - one of SAIC's government projects blew up in the firm's face when it was charged with fabricating environmental testing from toxic waste dumps. SAIC eventually conceded to false claims and paid $1.3 million in penalties, a small sum compared to the estimated $1.5 billion the firm was expected to earn in 1994.
The Los Angeles Times cites government officials declaring Science Applications (SAIC) guilty of the "largest environmental fraud . . . we've had here" and an example of "corporate greed."
2000 - a joint venture between SAIC and Bechtel (Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC) was awarded the contract from the Department of Energy (DOE) to manage and operate the Yucca Mountain program and support extensive DOE studies of Yucca Mountain's geology, hydrology, and climate.
2002 - AP reported, "Some workers at the Yucca Mountain Project said there were flaws in the process scientists used to determine whether the site was suitable for disposing the nation's nuclear waste. At least two workers claim they were either fired or transferred after raising concerns about the project's safety."
SAIC is perhaps most notorious among Internet aficionados for buying the company, Network Solutions Inc (NSI), which received the no-bid no-compete monopoly contract to privatize the government agency which registered domain names.
SAIC's control over internet domain names set off alarm bells.
"The shadow ruling-class within the Pentagon," describes SAIC to a tee, according to the the highly regarded Crypt Newsletter. SAIC has strong business ties to the military and intelligence communities.
Recently, SAIC got the contract to assist other corporations, including Northrop Grumman, in training of the Iraqi Army.
The specter of corporations, littered with ex-CIA types, that both control the voting systems and train the armies of countries around the world, is an emerging and frightening reality.
"Currently on SAIC's board is ex-CIA director Bobby Ray Inman, director of the National Security Agency, deputy director of the CIA, and vice director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. According to the OC (*Orange County) Weekly, "Inman worked at the highest levels of American intelligence during an era (President Ronald Reagan) when it displayed a stunning lack of it. Inman's achievements include: failing to predict the peaceful collapse of the Soviet Union; prolonging violent, useless civil wars in Central America; and giving arms to terrorists in exchange for hostages (Iran Contra)."
"During the Bush administration, Inman, Perry and Deutch - while directors of Science Applications (SAIC), were also members of the National Foreign Intelligence Board (NFIB), an advisory group reporting to the President and the director of Central Intelligence, which deals with production, review and coordination of foreign intelligence," reports the Crypt. Both Inman and Deutch were former Directors of the CIA. William J. Perry was also a former Secretary of Defense during the Clinton Administration.
SAIC proudly lists DARPA in its annual report as one of its prime clients. DARPA is the controversial Department of Defense (DOD) subsidiary, which until recently employed Admiral John Poindexter of Iran-Contra fame. Poindexter was forced to resign when it was revealed that DARPA was prepared to trade "futures" in terrorist attacks. DARPA has also developed a program to spy on American citizens, which has civil libertarians in an uproar.
A woman named Bev Harris broke the Diebold story.
Some computer scientists at Johns Hopkins University studied the Diebold software and determined it to be full of holes and totally insecure, confirming Bev Harris's findings.
The main guy from Johns Hopkins University, after having his findings reported far and wide, turns out to have been affiliated with another voting system firm called VoteHere. This surprised everyone, apparently including him, because he claimed he sort of forgot all about it and promptly resigned and returned all stock options. Naturally, this put his credibility into question, seeing as how he was on the tech board of one voting system company while discrediting another voting system company. Nevertheless, the Johns Hopkins report has attracted far greater attention to electronic voting machine security, and has generated nationwide concern that continues to grow.
VoteHere is being sued by its former engineer, Dan Spillane, for wrongfully firing him in retaliation to his repeated warnings of potential defects in voting software applications and in the certification process.
Former SAIC executives also have ties to VoteHere. Why is that important? VoteHere is a growing company, which aspires to provide cryptography and computer software security for the electronic election industry.
Former President, Chief Operating Officer, and Vice Chairman of SAIC is Admiral Bill Owens, who is now Chairman of the Board for VoteHere. Owens also served as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was a senior military assistant to Secretaries of Defense Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney. Carlucci's company is Carlyle Group, while Vice President Dick Cheney's former employer is Halliburton.
Another former SAIC board member, also on the board of VoteHere, is ex-CIA director Robert Gates, a veteran of the Iran/Contra scandal.
VoteHere is already benefiting from the Diebold debacle, as it will be partnering with Sequoia Voting Systems, "to provide a new level of electronic ballot verification to customers of the AVC Edge touch screen voting system," according to the VoteHere website.
SAIC, which is supposed to vet Diebold's elections software, is itself in the elections business.
So, what should Maryland's Governor Ehrlich do? Cancel the contracts with Diebold and SAIC, throw out all of the voting machines, and order a new batch of paper ballots. And most importantly, let the people count the votes.
(The full article has much more detail than my condensed version here, so please be sure to click and read the original!)
Read Article
SAIC, Bohemoth Military Contractor, Wants to Be inside Every Voting Machine; Three Way Scam on Diebold Review?
Lynn Landes
OpEdNews.Com
Ecotalk.org
The voting machine wars are heating up and the implications of vote fraud in America are even more ominous.
Editor's Note: My God, this is so sinister and so bizarre that if you haven't read this yet, you just won't believe the magnitude of what you are reading! I posted this earlier, but decided that this is SO important that I should re-post it, along with some of the details, because I think everyone should read the full article.
This is not only sinister, but it is so complicated and confusing that it's hard to absorb. I will try to break it down as I understand it. This is a rough summary of some of the high points:
Diebold Election Systems software is suspected of being seriously flawed and therefore easily rigged.
Several cities and states have put a hold on the use of electronic voting machines until there is further investigation.
The Governor of one state, Maryland, requested investigation of Diebold's software by a company named SAIC, or Science Applications International Corp.
This sounded like a noble gesture, considering the Governor of Maryland is republican, until you read that SAIC is "a behemoth military defense contractor with a shadowy, if not tarnished, reputation".
The federal government is SAIC's main customer, and the government often doesn't want the public to know what SAIC is doing and, "as one of the nation's largest employee-owned corporations, it escapes investor scrutiny." Today, SAIC has racked up more than $5.9 billion in annual revenues.
It seems that SAIC has had its share of legal troubles:
1990 - indicted by the Justice Department on 10 felony counts for fraud in its management of a Superfund toxic cleanup site. (SAIC pleaded guilty.)
1993 - the Justice Department sued SAIC, accusing it of civil fraud on an F15 fighter contract.
1995 - The same month SAIC purchased NSI (Network Solutions Inc.), the company settled a suit that charged it had lied about security system tests it conducted for a Treasury Department currency plant in Fort Worth, TX.
1992 - one of SAIC's government projects blew up in the firm's face when it was charged with fabricating environmental testing from toxic waste dumps. SAIC eventually conceded to false claims and paid $1.3 million in penalties, a small sum compared to the estimated $1.5 billion the firm was expected to earn in 1994.
The Los Angeles Times cites government officials declaring Science Applications (SAIC) guilty of the "largest environmental fraud . . . we've had here" and an example of "corporate greed."
2000 - a joint venture between SAIC and Bechtel (Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC) was awarded the contract from the Department of Energy (DOE) to manage and operate the Yucca Mountain program and support extensive DOE studies of Yucca Mountain's geology, hydrology, and climate.
2002 - AP reported, "Some workers at the Yucca Mountain Project said there were flaws in the process scientists used to determine whether the site was suitable for disposing the nation's nuclear waste. At least two workers claim they were either fired or transferred after raising concerns about the project's safety."
SAIC is perhaps most notorious among Internet aficionados for buying the company, Network Solutions Inc (NSI), which received the no-bid no-compete monopoly contract to privatize the government agency which registered domain names.
SAIC's control over internet domain names set off alarm bells.
"The shadow ruling-class within the Pentagon," describes SAIC to a tee, according to the the highly regarded Crypt Newsletter. SAIC has strong business ties to the military and intelligence communities.
Recently, SAIC got the contract to assist other corporations, including Northrop Grumman, in training of the Iraqi Army.
The specter of corporations, littered with ex-CIA types, that both control the voting systems and train the armies of countries around the world, is an emerging and frightening reality.
"Currently on SAIC's board is ex-CIA director Bobby Ray Inman, director of the National Security Agency, deputy director of the CIA, and vice director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. According to the OC (*Orange County) Weekly, "Inman worked at the highest levels of American intelligence during an era (President Ronald Reagan) when it displayed a stunning lack of it. Inman's achievements include: failing to predict the peaceful collapse of the Soviet Union; prolonging violent, useless civil wars in Central America; and giving arms to terrorists in exchange for hostages (Iran Contra)."
"During the Bush administration, Inman, Perry and Deutch - while directors of Science Applications (SAIC), were also members of the National Foreign Intelligence Board (NFIB), an advisory group reporting to the President and the director of Central Intelligence, which deals with production, review and coordination of foreign intelligence," reports the Crypt. Both Inman and Deutch were former Directors of the CIA. William J. Perry was also a former Secretary of Defense during the Clinton Administration.
SAIC proudly lists DARPA in its annual report as one of its prime clients. DARPA is the controversial Department of Defense (DOD) subsidiary, which until recently employed Admiral John Poindexter of Iran-Contra fame. Poindexter was forced to resign when it was revealed that DARPA was prepared to trade "futures" in terrorist attacks. DARPA has also developed a program to spy on American citizens, which has civil libertarians in an uproar.
A woman named Bev Harris broke the Diebold story.
Some computer scientists at Johns Hopkins University studied the Diebold software and determined it to be full of holes and totally insecure, confirming Bev Harris's findings.
The main guy from Johns Hopkins University, after having his findings reported far and wide, turns out to have been affiliated with another voting system firm called VoteHere. This surprised everyone, apparently including him, because he claimed he sort of forgot all about it and promptly resigned and returned all stock options. Naturally, this put his credibility into question, seeing as how he was on the tech board of one voting system company while discrediting another voting system company. Nevertheless, the Johns Hopkins report has attracted far greater attention to electronic voting machine security, and has generated nationwide concern that continues to grow.
VoteHere is being sued by its former engineer, Dan Spillane, for wrongfully firing him in retaliation to his repeated warnings of potential defects in voting software applications and in the certification process.
Former SAIC executives also have ties to VoteHere. Why is that important? VoteHere is a growing company, which aspires to provide cryptography and computer software security for the electronic election industry.
Former President, Chief Operating Officer, and Vice Chairman of SAIC is Admiral Bill Owens, who is now Chairman of the Board for VoteHere. Owens also served as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was a senior military assistant to Secretaries of Defense Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney. Carlucci's company is Carlyle Group, while Vice President Dick Cheney's former employer is Halliburton.
Another former SAIC board member, also on the board of VoteHere, is ex-CIA director Robert Gates, a veteran of the Iran/Contra scandal.
VoteHere is already benefiting from the Diebold debacle, as it will be partnering with Sequoia Voting Systems, "to provide a new level of electronic ballot verification to customers of the AVC Edge touch screen voting system," according to the VoteHere website.
SAIC, which is supposed to vet Diebold's elections software, is itself in the elections business.
So, what should Maryland's Governor Ehrlich do? Cancel the contracts with Diebold and SAIC, throw out all of the voting machines, and order a new batch of paper ballots. And most importantly, let the people count the votes.
(The full article has much more detail than my condensed version here, so please be sure to click and read the original!)
Read Article
Scoop: Diebold Internal Mail Confirms U.S. Vote Count Vulnerabilities
By Alastair Thompson
Scoop has obtained internal mail messages from Diebold Election Systems which clearly and explicitly confirm security problems in the GEMS vote counting software that were highlighted in reports published on Scoop.co.nz and widely elsewhere in July.
In the internal mail Diebold Election Systems principal engineer R&D Ken Clark - then working for Global Election Systems before Diebold took the company over - responded to an internal query over a security problem. The official certification laboratory responsible for assessing the voting technology company software's robustness had noticed a problem, and a staff member was seeking Clark's advice.
Diebold Election Systems technical writer R&D Nel Finberg wrote to the "support" list on 16th October 2001: "Jennifer Price at Metamor (about to be Ciber) [this is the certification lab responsible for certifying all United States voting software] has indicated that she can access the GEMS Access database and alter the Audit log without entering a password. What is the position of our development staff on this issue? Can we justify this? Or should this be anathema?"
The "GEMS Access database" that Finberg refers to is a piece of computer software which is loaded onto county election supervisors computers. It is responsible for tallying votes from county precinct voting booths, these results are typically modemed into the central computer.
Significantly this software is responsible for tallying all votes, optical scan, touchscreen and absentee ballots. It was this software that Scoop initially reported was all too easy to hack in its July 8th report from Bev Harris.
In reply to Finberg's query Clark responded with an astonishingly frank posting which clearly confirms most of the worst aspects of the GEMS system security outlined by Harris in her July report.
Clark: "Right now you can open GEMS' .mdb file with MS-Access, and alter its contents. That includes the audit log. This isn't anything new. In VTS, you can open the database with progress and do the same. The same would go for anyone else's system using whatever database they are using. Hard drives are read-write entities. You can change their contents.
Now, where the perception comes in is that its right now very *easy* to change the contents. Double click the .mdb file. Even technical wizards at Metamor (or Ciber, or whatever) can figure that one out." (Clark's full email response is attached below)
In these two paragraphs Clark confirms:
- That anyone using an off-the-shelf copy of Microsoft Access can freely open and alter the election tally database;
- That in doing so they can also edit the audit log (which is hyped in sales literature as preventing tampering) thereby removing any evidence of their tampering;
- That these security flaws have been in place for a considerable period of time.
Clark here confirms the findings about GEMS first reported by Bev Harris and recently demonstrated by San Luis Obispo county voting activist Jim March.
--snip
And so in a single email message Diebold Election Systems' Ken Clark has effectively placed not only his own competence and integrity into question, but also that of the official voting software certification lab and that of numerous election officials. And remember that this is just one of well over 15,000 internal Diebold Election Systems internal mail messages that are now in public circulation.
Editor's Note: A Must Read Article!
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By Alastair Thompson
Scoop has obtained internal mail messages from Diebold Election Systems which clearly and explicitly confirm security problems in the GEMS vote counting software that were highlighted in reports published on Scoop.co.nz and widely elsewhere in July.
In the internal mail Diebold Election Systems principal engineer R&D Ken Clark - then working for Global Election Systems before Diebold took the company over - responded to an internal query over a security problem. The official certification laboratory responsible for assessing the voting technology company software's robustness had noticed a problem, and a staff member was seeking Clark's advice.
Diebold Election Systems technical writer R&D Nel Finberg wrote to the "support" list on 16th October 2001: "Jennifer Price at Metamor (about to be Ciber) [this is the certification lab responsible for certifying all United States voting software] has indicated that she can access the GEMS Access database and alter the Audit log without entering a password. What is the position of our development staff on this issue? Can we justify this? Or should this be anathema?"
The "GEMS Access database" that Finberg refers to is a piece of computer software which is loaded onto county election supervisors computers. It is responsible for tallying votes from county precinct voting booths, these results are typically modemed into the central computer.
Significantly this software is responsible for tallying all votes, optical scan, touchscreen and absentee ballots. It was this software that Scoop initially reported was all too easy to hack in its July 8th report from Bev Harris.
In reply to Finberg's query Clark responded with an astonishingly frank posting which clearly confirms most of the worst aspects of the GEMS system security outlined by Harris in her July report.
Clark: "Right now you can open GEMS' .mdb file with MS-Access, and alter its contents. That includes the audit log. This isn't anything new. In VTS, you can open the database with progress and do the same. The same would go for anyone else's system using whatever database they are using. Hard drives are read-write entities. You can change their contents.
Now, where the perception comes in is that its right now very *easy* to change the contents. Double click the .mdb file. Even technical wizards at Metamor (or Ciber, or whatever) can figure that one out." (Clark's full email response is attached below)
In these two paragraphs Clark confirms:
- That anyone using an off-the-shelf copy of Microsoft Access can freely open and alter the election tally database;
- That in doing so they can also edit the audit log (which is hyped in sales literature as preventing tampering) thereby removing any evidence of their tampering;
- That these security flaws have been in place for a considerable period of time.
Clark here confirms the findings about GEMS first reported by Bev Harris and recently demonstrated by San Luis Obispo county voting activist Jim March.
--snip
And so in a single email message Diebold Election Systems' Ken Clark has effectively placed not only his own competence and integrity into question, but also that of the official voting software certification lab and that of numerous election officials. And remember that this is just one of well over 15,000 internal Diebold Election Systems internal mail messages that are now in public circulation.
Editor's Note: A Must Read Article!
Read Article
Republicans Seem to Want to Keep Computerized Voting Easily Corruptible
by Rob Kall
OpEdNews.Com
Before the age of computers, there were all kinds of ways for a local politico to "mess" with the voting apparatus. He could arrange for a mechanical machine to count wrong. Or, the names of people in cemeteries could be kept or put on the voter rolls.
But now, in the wondrous age of computers and the internet, it's possible, with a virtually undetectable line of software code that can make itself disappear after its done its dirty work, to wreak corruption on hundreds or thousands of computerized voting machines reflecting hundreds of thousands or millions of votes. A number of recent elections are suspected of being tainted by this voting corruption. We've opened a Pandora's box with computerized voting, not knowing what was going to come out.
But it looks like the Republicans like the way things are, in spite of clear proof of a multitude of errors and easily corruptible vote counting. US Congressman Russ Holt introduced a bill earlier in the year that would take many of the risks out of computerized voting, and it would add safeguards to prevent theft of elections or computerized tampering with the voting process.
It seems that any patriotic American who cherishes the central role of an honest voting process in the maintenance of democracy would almost by reflex support a bill that would make voting safer and more honest. Yet since the bill was introduced, not one republican congressman has signed on to the bill.
Read Article
by Rob Kall
OpEdNews.Com
Before the age of computers, there were all kinds of ways for a local politico to "mess" with the voting apparatus. He could arrange for a mechanical machine to count wrong. Or, the names of people in cemeteries could be kept or put on the voter rolls.
But now, in the wondrous age of computers and the internet, it's possible, with a virtually undetectable line of software code that can make itself disappear after its done its dirty work, to wreak corruption on hundreds or thousands of computerized voting machines reflecting hundreds of thousands or millions of votes. A number of recent elections are suspected of being tainted by this voting corruption. We've opened a Pandora's box with computerized voting, not knowing what was going to come out.
But it looks like the Republicans like the way things are, in spite of clear proof of a multitude of errors and easily corruptible vote counting. US Congressman Russ Holt introduced a bill earlier in the year that would take many of the risks out of computerized voting, and it would add safeguards to prevent theft of elections or computerized tampering with the voting process.
It seems that any patriotic American who cherishes the central role of an honest voting process in the maintenance of democracy would almost by reflex support a bill that would make voting safer and more honest. Yet since the bill was introduced, not one republican congressman has signed on to the bill.
Read Article
Outrageous: CEO lobbies for Bush while seeking contract to sell voting machines
Republicans have sunk to a stunning new low.
First there was Florida and the theft of the 2000 presidential election by the Supreme Court. Then there was the California recall. And of course, there is Tom DeLay trying to rig the Congressional elections in Texas to ensure that the Republicans keep the majority in the U.S. House so they can advance their radical agenda.
Now – to show that Republicans will truly stop at next to nothing to win elections and hand the keys of the national treasury over to their fat cat donors - there is Walden O’Dell, the CEO of Diebold Inc. Diebold is the company that wants to get the contract to provide and program voting machines in every state for the 2004 election and O'Dell is raising money exclusively for President Bush and the Republican National Committee (RNC). O'Dell, in a fundraising letter on August 14th, committed "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year" according to the Associated Press. In the 2002 election cycle, O'Dell gave $5,965 to the RNC while Diebold gave the RNC $95,000.
--snip
HELP US STOP ANOTHER ELECTION FROM BEING STOLEN! Today, I'm asking you to sign a petition to the Chairman of the DSCC, Senator Corzine, to show your support for fighting back. Republicans must stop trying to steal elections. Sign our petition and send them a message today.
DSCC - Petition: CEO lobbies for Bush while seeking contract to sell voting machines
Republicans have sunk to a stunning new low.
First there was Florida and the theft of the 2000 presidential election by the Supreme Court. Then there was the California recall. And of course, there is Tom DeLay trying to rig the Congressional elections in Texas to ensure that the Republicans keep the majority in the U.S. House so they can advance their radical agenda.
Now – to show that Republicans will truly stop at next to nothing to win elections and hand the keys of the national treasury over to their fat cat donors - there is Walden O’Dell, the CEO of Diebold Inc. Diebold is the company that wants to get the contract to provide and program voting machines in every state for the 2004 election and O'Dell is raising money exclusively for President Bush and the Republican National Committee (RNC). O'Dell, in a fundraising letter on August 14th, committed "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year" according to the Associated Press. In the 2002 election cycle, O'Dell gave $5,965 to the RNC while Diebold gave the RNC $95,000.
--snip
HELP US STOP ANOTHER ELECTION FROM BEING STOLEN! Today, I'm asking you to sign a petition to the Chairman of the DSCC, Senator Corzine, to show your support for fighting back. Republicans must stop trying to steal elections. Sign our petition and send them a message today.
DSCC - Petition: CEO lobbies for Bush while seeking contract to sell voting machines
09 September 2003
Election reforms: Paper or electronic?
No hanging chads, but critics say technology is prone to hackers
Monday, September 08, 2003
BY KEVIN COUGHLIN
Star-Ledger Staff
--snip
Citing a controversial academic study released in July, computer scientists and security experts are warning that democracy should not be entrusted to electronic "touch screen" voting systems.
Recent findings suggest the machines -- sometimes called "DRE" machines for Direct Recording Electronic -- are prone to hacking, critics say. Tampering is hard to detect because companies making the machines are secretive about how they work, add the critics.
They prefer a more retro technology: Paper and ink.
--snip
New Jersey officials are canvassing the state's 21 counties to see what election equipment is needed, while pondering paper verification, said Ramon de la Cruz, director of the state election division.
So far, New Jersey has about $16 million in federal funds for new voting equipment and is awaiting another $23 million, de la Cruz said. New Jersey and other states may seek to extend next year's federal deadline to 2006, he said.
"We want to get it right," said de la Cruz, who also must cobble together a centralized voter registry to satisfy the federal law.
Editor's Note: Way to go, New Jersey! Do whatever it takes to "get it right" because there is NOTHING more important than the integrity of our elections to insure that we will still HAVE a democracy in 2004!
Read Article
No hanging chads, but critics say technology is prone to hackers
Monday, September 08, 2003
BY KEVIN COUGHLIN
Star-Ledger Staff
--snip
Citing a controversial academic study released in July, computer scientists and security experts are warning that democracy should not be entrusted to electronic "touch screen" voting systems.
Recent findings suggest the machines -- sometimes called "DRE" machines for Direct Recording Electronic -- are prone to hacking, critics say. Tampering is hard to detect because companies making the machines are secretive about how they work, add the critics.
They prefer a more retro technology: Paper and ink.
--snip
New Jersey officials are canvassing the state's 21 counties to see what election equipment is needed, while pondering paper verification, said Ramon de la Cruz, director of the state election division.
So far, New Jersey has about $16 million in federal funds for new voting equipment and is awaiting another $23 million, de la Cruz said. New Jersey and other states may seek to extend next year's federal deadline to 2006, he said.
"We want to get it right," said de la Cruz, who also must cobble together a centralized voter registry to satisfy the federal law.
Editor's Note: Way to go, New Jersey! Do whatever it takes to "get it right" because there is NOTHING more important than the integrity of our elections to insure that we will still HAVE a democracy in 2004!
Read Article
08 September 2003
VNS Data from '02 Midterm Votes Released
Ten months late, exit poll data that shed light on why Republicans scored their unusual 2002 midterm election 'victory' are finally becoming available.
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Ten months late, exit poll data that shed light on why Republicans scored their unusual 2002 midterm election 'victory' are finally becoming available.
Read Article
Bev Harris: Diebold Voting Machines Phone Home
What happened at 3:31 p.m. on election day in San Luis Obispo County California? A file from the Diebold stash examined by Jim March, of Alameda County California, turns out to be from a real election, and it contains real votes. And it also contains a real problem for Diebold, because it is illegal to count the votes before the polls close. Even more interesting: What mechanism was used to get votes to migrate from 57 polling places into a central tally in the middle of the afternoon?
Read Article
What happened at 3:31 p.m. on election day in San Luis Obispo County California? A file from the Diebold stash examined by Jim March, of Alameda County California, turns out to be from a real election, and it contains real votes. And it also contains a real problem for Diebold, because it is illegal to count the votes before the polls close. Even more interesting: What mechanism was used to get votes to migrate from 57 polling places into a central tally in the middle of the afternoon?
Read Article
01 September 2003
The Permanent Election
By Robert B. Reich
The American Prospect
Issue Date: 9.1.03
One of the things that distinguishes advanced democracies from banana republics is that winners and losers accept the results of elections. Losing candidates and parties don't initiate coups. Winners don't kill off the losers and their supporters. The winning party has an opportunity to govern. Both sides go back to their respective corners -- winners take office, losers take other jobs -- and wait until the next election to do battle again.
--snip
Exhibit One: Impeachment. Bill Clinton's Republican opponents sought to reverse the election of 1992 almost as soon as Clinton came to Washington.
--snip
Exhibit Two: Election re-engineering. In the 2000 election, George W. Bush set out to overturn the will of a majority of American voters by rigging the voting system. It's by now well established that Florida officials purged from voter rolls thousands of people in the state who were guilty of nothing more than being black and likely to vote for Gore. Bush subsequently fought against a manual recount, taking his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where five of the nine justices, all Republican nominees, effectively ended it.
Exhibit Three: California's recall petition. Last fall's gubernatorial election may be undone on Oct. 7, when California voters return to the polls.
--snip
In the permanent election, constitutional procedures -- impeachment, Supreme Court intervention and state recall -- designed to be used only in rare and extraordinary circumstances are used instead as political tools to reverse elections. In none of these recent instances did the original winner commit such wrongful acts that a large majority of the electorate clearly demanded the use of such emergency measures. Instead, rivals initiated them for unambiguously partisan purposes.
Read Article
By Robert B. Reich
The American Prospect
Issue Date: 9.1.03
One of the things that distinguishes advanced democracies from banana republics is that winners and losers accept the results of elections. Losing candidates and parties don't initiate coups. Winners don't kill off the losers and their supporters. The winning party has an opportunity to govern. Both sides go back to their respective corners -- winners take office, losers take other jobs -- and wait until the next election to do battle again.
--snip
Exhibit One: Impeachment. Bill Clinton's Republican opponents sought to reverse the election of 1992 almost as soon as Clinton came to Washington.
--snip
Exhibit Two: Election re-engineering. In the 2000 election, George W. Bush set out to overturn the will of a majority of American voters by rigging the voting system. It's by now well established that Florida officials purged from voter rolls thousands of people in the state who were guilty of nothing more than being black and likely to vote for Gore. Bush subsequently fought against a manual recount, taking his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where five of the nine justices, all Republican nominees, effectively ended it.
Exhibit Three: California's recall petition. Last fall's gubernatorial election may be undone on Oct. 7, when California voters return to the polls.
--snip
In the permanent election, constitutional procedures -- impeachment, Supreme Court intervention and state recall -- designed to be used only in rare and extraordinary circumstances are used instead as political tools to reverse elections. In none of these recent instances did the original winner commit such wrongful acts that a large majority of the electorate clearly demanded the use of such emergency measures. Instead, rivals initiated them for unambiguously partisan purposes.
Read Article
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