Md. computer testers cast a vote: Election boxes easy to mess with
In Annapolis, tales of trickery, vote rigging
For a week, the computer whizzes laid abuse - both high- and low-tech - on the six new briefcase-sized electronic voting machines sent over by the state.
One guy picked the locks protecting the internal printers and memory cards. Another figured out how to vote more than once - and get away with it. Still another launched a dial-up attack, using his modem to slither through an electronic hole in the State Board of Elections software. Once inside, he could easily change vote totals that come in on Election Day.
"My guess is we've only scratched the surface," said Michael A. Wertheimer, who spent 21 years as a cryptologic mathematician at the National Security Agency.
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31 January 2004
Security measures urged for voting machines
Many forms of tampering possible, consultant says
By Stephanie Desmon
Sun Staff
Originally published January 30, 2004
Results tallied by Maryland's 16,000 new electronic voting machines can be trusted in their first statewide test during the March 2 presidential primary, but only with some added security measures, a state official and a consultant told legislators yesterday.
Even more extensive upgrades - including the creation of a paper trail to allow voters to feel sure their ballots are counted just as they cast them - need also to be added to ensure the new ATM-like machines can be relied on in future elections, said Michael A. Wertheimer, a Columbia-based consultant hired by the state.
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Many forms of tampering possible, consultant says
By Stephanie Desmon
Sun Staff
Originally published January 30, 2004
Results tallied by Maryland's 16,000 new electronic voting machines can be trusted in their first statewide test during the March 2 presidential primary, but only with some added security measures, a state official and a consultant told legislators yesterday.
Even more extensive upgrades - including the creation of a paper trail to allow voters to feel sure their ballots are counted just as they cast them - need also to be added to ensure the new ATM-like machines can be relied on in future elections, said Michael A. Wertheimer, a Columbia-based consultant hired by the state.
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Commission to OK money for ballot printers
George Bennett, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 30, 2004
WEST PALM BEACH -- Palm Beach County commissioners appear ready to extricate themselves from an elections lawsuit by pledging $2.5 million for ballot printers to go along with the county's paperless touch-screen voting machines.
If commissioners OK the money Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, said he would drop the commission as one of the defendants in a lawsuit that seeks to force the county to add a ballot-by-ballot paper trail to its voting machines.
Wexler would continue to press his suit against county Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore and Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood.
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George Bennett, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 30, 2004
WEST PALM BEACH -- Palm Beach County commissioners appear ready to extricate themselves from an elections lawsuit by pledging $2.5 million for ballot printers to go along with the county's paperless touch-screen voting machines.
If commissioners OK the money Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, said he would drop the commission as one of the defendants in a lawsuit that seeks to force the county to add a ballot-by-ballot paper trail to its voting machines.
Wexler would continue to press his suit against county Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore and Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood.
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Risky Votes
By Shane Harris
January 27, 2004
Despite warnings from computer experts that a $22 million online voting system is plagued by security risks, the Pentagon is moving forward with the project.
Known as Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, or SERVE, the system lets U.S. military members and their dependents or U.S. citizens living abroad vote in this year's presidential election via the Internet. SERVE effectively puts the mail-in absentee ballot system online.
The voting device is touted for allowing users to register online and check that their ballots were counted. But the authors of a new report -- which the government commissioned -- say SERVE is fraught with security risks.
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By Shane Harris
January 27, 2004
Despite warnings from computer experts that a $22 million online voting system is plagued by security risks, the Pentagon is moving forward with the project.
Known as Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, or SERVE, the system lets U.S. military members and their dependents or U.S. citizens living abroad vote in this year's presidential election via the Internet. SERVE effectively puts the mail-in absentee ballot system online.
The voting device is touted for allowing users to register online and check that their ballots were counted. But the authors of a new report -- which the government commissioned -- say SERVE is fraught with security risks.
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Paper-trail hearing set for Feb. 6
George Bennett, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
January 27, 2004
WEST PALM BEACH -- A Palm Beach County circuit judge agreed Monday to speed up consideration of a lawsuit that challenges the paperless voting machines used by 15 Florida counties.
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, claims in a Jan. 16 suit that touch-screen voting machines are illegal because they produce no tangible ballots and therefore cannot comply with a state law that requires a manual recount in close elections.
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George Bennett, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
January 27, 2004
WEST PALM BEACH -- A Palm Beach County circuit judge agreed Monday to speed up consideration of a lawsuit that challenges the paperless voting machines used by 15 Florida counties.
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Delray Beach, claims in a Jan. 16 suit that touch-screen voting machines are illegal because they produce no tangible ballots and therefore cannot comply with a state law that requires a manual recount in close elections.
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3 most-populous counties push for ballot paper trail
Connie Piloto, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
January 27, 2004
WEST PALM BEACH -- Florida's three most populous counties took a rare, unified stance Monday, calling for the state legislature to require a ballot-by-ballot paper record of votes cast on electronic voting machines.
Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade county commissioners -- dissatisfied after spending millions on touch-screen voting machines since the tumultuous 2000 presidential election -- agreed paper printouts are the only way to instill public confidence in touch-screen ballots.
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Connie Piloto, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
January 27, 2004
WEST PALM BEACH -- Florida's three most populous counties took a rare, unified stance Monday, calling for the state legislature to require a ballot-by-ballot paper record of votes cast on electronic voting machines.
Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade county commissioners -- dissatisfied after spending millions on touch-screen voting machines since the tumultuous 2000 presidential election -- agreed paper printouts are the only way to instill public confidence in touch-screen ballots.
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Making Votes Count The Perils of Online Voting
The New York Times
Four computer scientists brought in by the Pentagon to analyze a plan for Internet voting by the military issued a blistering report this week, concluding that the program should be halted. These four are the only members of a 10-member advisory committee to issue a report on the program. Their findings make it clear that the potential for hackers to steal votes or otherwise subvert elections electronically is too high. Congress should suspend the program.
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The New York Times
Four computer scientists brought in by the Pentagon to analyze a plan for Internet voting by the military issued a blistering report this week, concluding that the program should be halted. These four are the only members of a 10-member advisory committee to issue a report on the program. Their findings make it clear that the potential for hackers to steal votes or otherwise subvert elections electronically is too high. Congress should suspend the program.
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Diebold Gets Stay in California
Delay was the order of the day in California Thursday as the secretary of state's Voting Systems Panel, or VSP, postponed announcing any sanctions against Diebold [S-]Election Systems.
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Delay was the order of the day in California Thursday as the secretary of state's Voting Systems Panel, or VSP, postponed announcing any sanctions against Diebold [S-]Election Systems.
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Prevent future election debacles in Florida Our opinion: Add paper trail of votes to electronic voting process
The Miami Herald
"The ritzy voting systems installed in Florida in the aftermath of the 2000 election debacle [coup d'etat] are extremely accurate, but they lack a vital safeguard to guarantee that every voter's choices are counted and verified. They don't make a paper record of all votes cast, a crucial document for recounts... U.S. Sen. Bob Graham last month introduced a bill that would require a paper record of votes. Florida officials shouldn't wait for the outcome of this legislation, however, before initiating steps to create a paper trail for every election here."
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The Miami Herald
"The ritzy voting systems installed in Florida in the aftermath of the 2000 election debacle [coup d'etat] are extremely accurate, but they lack a vital safeguard to guarantee that every voter's choices are counted and verified. They don't make a paper record of all votes cast, a crucial document for recounts... U.S. Sen. Bob Graham last month introduced a bill that would require a paper record of votes. Florida officials shouldn't wait for the outcome of this legislation, however, before initiating steps to create a paper trail for every election here."
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107 Co-Sponsors for HR 2239, "The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act" Demand a Paper Trail
1/23
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1/23
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Report Says Internet Voting System Is Too Insecure to Use
JOHN SCHWARTZ
January 21, 2004
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JOHN SCHWARTZ
January 21, 2004
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Re: Henry Norr's "Inside The Black Box"
Lessons From The North
Re: Henry Norr's "Inside The Black Box"
We Canadians are watching your election problems and laughing our butts off.
Forget touch screens and electronic voting. In Canadian Federal elections, two barely paid representatives of each party, known as "scrutineers," are present all day at the voting place. If there are more political parties, there are more scrutineers. To vote, you write an "X" with a pencil in a one-centimeter circle beside the candidate's name, fold the ballot up and stuff it into a box. Later, the scrutineers and any voter who wants to watch all sit at a table for about half an hour and count every ballot, keeping a tally for each candidate. If the counts agree at the end of the process, the results are phoned in and everyone goes home. If they don't, you do it again. Fairness is achieved by balanced self-interest, not by technology. The population of Canada is about the same as California, so the elections are of comparable scale. In the last Canadian Federal election the entire vote was counted in four hours. Why does it take 30 days or more for some states in the United States?
The 2002-2003 budget for Elections Canada was just over $57 million U.S. dollars, or $1.81 per Canadian citizen. It is extremely hard to get an equivalent per-citizen figure for U.S. elections, but trust me, it is a lot higher. Recently, San Francisco held a run-off mayoral election that cost $2.5 million, or $3.27 per citizen of the city. And this was for just one election, not a whole year of them.
You are spending $3.9 billion or $10 per citizen for new voting machines. Canada just prints a few hundred thousand dollars worth of ballots.
LINK
LINK
Lessons From The North
Re: Henry Norr's "Inside The Black Box"
We Canadians are watching your election problems and laughing our butts off.
Forget touch screens and electronic voting. In Canadian Federal elections, two barely paid representatives of each party, known as "scrutineers," are present all day at the voting place. If there are more political parties, there are more scrutineers. To vote, you write an "X" with a pencil in a one-centimeter circle beside the candidate's name, fold the ballot up and stuff it into a box. Later, the scrutineers and any voter who wants to watch all sit at a table for about half an hour and count every ballot, keeping a tally for each candidate. If the counts agree at the end of the process, the results are phoned in and everyone goes home. If they don't, you do it again. Fairness is achieved by balanced self-interest, not by technology. The population of Canada is about the same as California, so the elections are of comparable scale. In the last Canadian Federal election the entire vote was counted in four hours. Why does it take 30 days or more for some states in the United States?
The 2002-2003 budget for Elections Canada was just over $57 million U.S. dollars, or $1.81 per Canadian citizen. It is extremely hard to get an equivalent per-citizen figure for U.S. elections, but trust me, it is a lot higher. Recently, San Francisco held a run-off mayoral election that cost $2.5 million, or $3.27 per citizen of the city. And this was for just one election, not a whole year of them.
You are spending $3.9 billion or $10 per citizen for new voting machines. Canada just prints a few hundred thousand dollars worth of ballots.
LINK
LINK
21 January 2004
Counties shun new voting machines
01/16/04
Mark Naymik and Julie Carr Smyth - Plain Dealer Reporters
A group of Ohio's largest counties, including Cuyahoga, refused Thursday to meet a state deadline for selecting new voting machines until Secretary of State Ken Blackwell can guarantee that the machines are secure. At the same time, more than half the counties that were required to select a voting-machine maker chose the company whose security problems have gained it the most scrutiny nationally: Diebold Election Systems. The Canton-based company has landed more than $31 million in contracts statewide. The large counties protesting - including Democrat-dominated Cuyahoga, Republican-heavy Hamilton, and Montgomery - said too many security and cost-related questions remain about the new systems. Among their chief concerns: 57 separate security risks found in the machines during an independent review that Blackwell commissioned, which have not all been fixed yet; the machines' long-term costs; and whether the machines should produce a paper receipt. "Those security issues need to be worked out and the paper-trail issue needs to be clarified before we will make a decision," said Tom Coyne, chairman of Cuyahoga's elections board.
Counties shun new voting machines
01/16/04
Mark Naymik and Julie Carr Smyth - Plain Dealer Reporters
A group of Ohio's largest counties, including Cuyahoga, refused Thursday to meet a state deadline for selecting new voting machines until Secretary of State Ken Blackwell can guarantee that the machines are secure. At the same time, more than half the counties that were required to select a voting-machine maker chose the company whose security problems have gained it the most scrutiny nationally: Diebold Election Systems. The Canton-based company has landed more than $31 million in contracts statewide. The large counties protesting - including Democrat-dominated Cuyahoga, Republican-heavy Hamilton, and Montgomery - said too many security and cost-related questions remain about the new systems. Among their chief concerns: 57 separate security risks found in the machines during an independent review that Blackwell commissioned, which have not all been fixed yet; the machines' long-term costs; and whether the machines should produce a paper receipt. "Those security issues need to be worked out and the paper-trail issue needs to be clarified before we will make a decision," said Tom Coyne, chairman of Cuyahoga's elections board.
Counties shun new voting machines
18 January 2004
Rep. Wexler sues in push for ballot printouts
By Anthony Man and Kathy Bushouse
Staff writers
Posted January 17 2004
Arguing that he's exhausted other options and that time is running out to ensure an accurate 2004 election, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, turned to the courts Friday in his quest to require paper printouts from electronic voting machines.
In a lawsuit against Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, Wexler asked a judge to conclude that both officials are violating their duties to ensure votes are counted accurately.
Wexler's desired fix is a printed duplicate of all ballots cast on electronic voting machines used in Broward, Palm Beach and other Florida counties. He said such a paper trail is the only way to guarantee fair elections because it's the only way to conduct an accurate recount in a close race.
Wexler said he's long been concerned about the lack of a paper record for touch-screen machines, and his fears were confirmed by last week's special election for Florida House District 91 in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Ellyn Bogdanoff was declared the winner by 12 votes. Voting machines showed that 137 people who went to the polls that day cast no ballot even though it was the day's only election.
The outcome prompted him to go to court because he's been writing letters to Hood and LePore for months and nothing has happened.
"It is mind-boggling to me because there is nothing partisan about this issue. There is nothing Democratic about it, and there is nothing Republican about it. This is as American as apple pie," he said.
Actually, there is a partisan edge to the debate. The push for ballot printers has largely come from Democrats, with Republicans and election officials offering resistance or raising questions.
--snip
Sequoia Voting Systems, which supplied the voting machines used in Palm Beach County, plans to seek federal certification for a printer by the end of March. Federal certification is required before state certification, Nash said. No manufacturer has sought state certification, she said.
--snip
"I don't know why it is so incredibly difficult for these people to understand that you had 137 people go to the polls on Election Day, and for whatever reason -- and we'll never know because it is a secret ballot -- decide that they didn't want to vote," he said. "I must be living under a rock, [but] I cannot believe that there is a congressman, a relatively intelligent congressman, that believes that when voters go into the voting booth that every last one of them is going to cast the ballot," he said.
LINK
By Anthony Man and Kathy Bushouse
Staff writers
Posted January 17 2004
Arguing that he's exhausted other options and that time is running out to ensure an accurate 2004 election, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, turned to the courts Friday in his quest to require paper printouts from electronic voting machines.
In a lawsuit against Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood and Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore, Wexler asked a judge to conclude that both officials are violating their duties to ensure votes are counted accurately.
Wexler's desired fix is a printed duplicate of all ballots cast on electronic voting machines used in Broward, Palm Beach and other Florida counties. He said such a paper trail is the only way to guarantee fair elections because it's the only way to conduct an accurate recount in a close race.
Wexler said he's long been concerned about the lack of a paper record for touch-screen machines, and his fears were confirmed by last week's special election for Florida House District 91 in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Ellyn Bogdanoff was declared the winner by 12 votes. Voting machines showed that 137 people who went to the polls that day cast no ballot even though it was the day's only election.
The outcome prompted him to go to court because he's been writing letters to Hood and LePore for months and nothing has happened.
"It is mind-boggling to me because there is nothing partisan about this issue. There is nothing Democratic about it, and there is nothing Republican about it. This is as American as apple pie," he said.
Actually, there is a partisan edge to the debate. The push for ballot printers has largely come from Democrats, with Republicans and election officials offering resistance or raising questions.
--snip
Sequoia Voting Systems, which supplied the voting machines used in Palm Beach County, plans to seek federal certification for a printer by the end of March. Federal certification is required before state certification, Nash said. No manufacturer has sought state certification, she said.
--snip
"I don't know why it is so incredibly difficult for these people to understand that you had 137 people go to the polls on Election Day, and for whatever reason -- and we'll never know because it is a secret ballot -- decide that they didn't want to vote," he said. "I must be living under a rock, [but] I cannot believe that there is a congressman, a relatively intelligent congressman, that believes that when voters go into the voting booth that every last one of them is going to cast the ballot," he said.
LINK
15 January 2004
Cowlitz County launches e-voting
By Sally Ousley
Jan 14, 2004
Cowlitz County voters in the military and overseas now register and vote online for the fall 2004 elections.
The county Auditor's Office, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense and the Office of the Secretary of State, joined the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment along with seven other counties in Washington and 50 counties in the United States.
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By Sally Ousley
Jan 14, 2004
Cowlitz County voters in the military and overseas now register and vote online for the fall 2004 elections.
The county Auditor's Office, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense and the Office of the Secretary of State, joined the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment along with seven other counties in Washington and 50 counties in the United States.
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Push begins for paper backups on new electronic voting machines
Anthony Man
Sun-Sentinel: Palm Beach County news
January 14 2004
Spurred by a contested result in last week's special election for state House, local leaders on two fronts advanced the effort to create a paper backup for electronic voting machines.
Palm Beach County commissioners voted after contentious debate Tuesday to ask the Legislature to authorize -- and hopefully pay for -- ballot printers for electronic voting machines.
Also Tuesday, the most outspoken proponent of a voting machine paper trail -- U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton -- wrote to Gov. Jeb Bush asking him to push for legislation requiring the printers.
"Florida faces the very real possibility of another national election debacle," Wexler wrote.
The requests from the commission and Wexler were prompted by the results of last week's special election to fill a Florida House seat in Palm Beach and Broward counties. Even though no other race was on the ballot, the voting machines showed that 137 people who went to the polls that day cast no ballots. All but three of the so-called undervotes were in Broward County.
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Anthony Man
Sun-Sentinel: Palm Beach County news
January 14 2004
Spurred by a contested result in last week's special election for state House, local leaders on two fronts advanced the effort to create a paper backup for electronic voting machines.
Palm Beach County commissioners voted after contentious debate Tuesday to ask the Legislature to authorize -- and hopefully pay for -- ballot printers for electronic voting machines.
Also Tuesday, the most outspoken proponent of a voting machine paper trail -- U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton -- wrote to Gov. Jeb Bush asking him to push for legislation requiring the printers.
"Florida faces the very real possibility of another national election debacle," Wexler wrote.
The requests from the commission and Wexler were prompted by the results of last week's special election to fill a Florida House seat in Palm Beach and Broward counties. Even though no other race was on the ballot, the voting machines showed that 137 people who went to the polls that day cast no ballots. All but three of the so-called undervotes were in Broward County.
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13 January 2004
GOP Urges Investigation of Voting Machine Performance
January 10, 2004
Fairfax (AP) - Fairfax County Republicans are urging the county to investigate the what they call the poor performance of high-tech voting machines last November.
A report from the county G-O-P committee calls the touch-screen voting machines used in local elections "a failure," and says and county officials weren't prepared to deal with the problems.
The party is also recommending state regulations that would require localities with the new equipment to follow stringent procedures.
The machines were supposed to speed up the reporting process, but instead they produced one of the slowest vote counts in recent history. Republicans are also angry that election officials took ten machines that crashed to the county government center for repairs.
LINK
January 10, 2004
Fairfax (AP) - Fairfax County Republicans are urging the county to investigate the what they call the poor performance of high-tech voting machines last November.
A report from the county G-O-P committee calls the touch-screen voting machines used in local elections "a failure," and says and county officials weren't prepared to deal with the problems.
The party is also recommending state regulations that would require localities with the new equipment to follow stringent procedures.
The machines were supposed to speed up the reporting process, but instead they produced one of the slowest vote counts in recent history. Republicans are also angry that election officials took ten machines that crashed to the county government center for repairs.
LINK
Board votes to certify House 91 results
By George Bennett, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 10, 2004
In Florida's post-Votomatic era of election recounts, there is no squinting at punch cards to try to divine the meaning of dimpled chads.
But the alternative, on display for the first time Friday, presented a new set of questions.
Required by state law to conduct a 'manual recount' of an election in which most of the voting was done on paperless electronic voting machines, Broward County's elections canvassing board threw up its hands. After debating about 90 minutes Friday afternoon, it decided to seek more guidance from the state Division of Elections and revisit the issue Monday.
Palm Beach County's elections canvassing board grappled with the issue for half an hour Friday night, then voted to certify its portion of the election results after determining there were no actual 'ballots' to recount."
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By George Bennett, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 10, 2004
In Florida's post-Votomatic era of election recounts, there is no squinting at punch cards to try to divine the meaning of dimpled chads.
But the alternative, on display for the first time Friday, presented a new set of questions.
Required by state law to conduct a 'manual recount' of an election in which most of the voting was done on paperless electronic voting machines, Broward County's elections canvassing board threw up its hands. After debating about 90 minutes Friday afternoon, it decided to seek more guidance from the state Division of Elections and revisit the issue Monday.
Palm Beach County's elections canvassing board grappled with the issue for half an hour Friday night, then voted to certify its portion of the election results after determining there were no actual 'ballots' to recount."
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09 January 2004
Edwards Wants Bush to Return Donations
by WILL LESTER, AP
December 6th, 2003
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is calling on President Bush to return more than $100,000 donated to his campaign by a major manufacturer of voting machines, saying the relationship could damage confidence in elections.
Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, criticized the contributions by Walden O'Dell, head of Diebold Election Systems in a speech prepared for delivery Saturday to Florida Democrats at their annual meeting in Lake Buena Vista.
And he took a swipe at the touch screen voting machines made by Diebold, which some computer experts have questioned as lacking adequate security. Diebold officials have defended the security of their voting machines.
"We now have touch screen voting machines that some people think are just as bad as a butterfly ballot," Edwards said, referring to the confusing ballots that became notorious in the botched Florida election in 2000.
"What makes this worse is that one of George W. Bush's fund-raising Pioneers said he wanted to help Ohio 'deliver' its electoral votes to George Bush," Edwards said.
Edwards said that "people who make voting machines need to be real careful when they talk about delivering elections."
According to the New York Times, O'Dell wrote a letter to Republican contributors in August that said "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
Terry Holt, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign said he had no comment on Edwards' remarks.
LINK
by WILL LESTER, AP
December 6th, 2003
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is calling on President Bush to return more than $100,000 donated to his campaign by a major manufacturer of voting machines, saying the relationship could damage confidence in elections.
Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, criticized the contributions by Walden O'Dell, head of Diebold Election Systems in a speech prepared for delivery Saturday to Florida Democrats at their annual meeting in Lake Buena Vista.
And he took a swipe at the touch screen voting machines made by Diebold, which some computer experts have questioned as lacking adequate security. Diebold officials have defended the security of their voting machines.
"We now have touch screen voting machines that some people think are just as bad as a butterfly ballot," Edwards said, referring to the confusing ballots that became notorious in the botched Florida election in 2000.
"What makes this worse is that one of George W. Bush's fund-raising Pioneers said he wanted to help Ohio 'deliver' its electoral votes to George Bush," Edwards said.
Edwards said that "people who make voting machines need to be real careful when they talk about delivering elections."
According to the New York Times, O'Dell wrote a letter to Republican contributors in August that said "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
Terry Holt, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign said he had no comment on Edwards' remarks.
LINK
Fair Elections
Help us replace our corrupt campaign finance system, which is funded and controlled by a tiny number of very powerful private interests, and help us replace our fraud-prone voting system, with clean, transparent, accountable and democratic systems, where people can get elected based on their character, track record, and ideas, rather than their wealth or ability to raise large sums of money. Help us take our country back so that we can finally have a nation of, by, and for the people, rather than of, by, and for the wealthy powerful interests.
Fair Elections
Bill Moyers Video
The Road To Clean Elections
Watch the 14 minute video narrated by PBS journalist Bill Moyers for a crash course on Clean Elections campaign finance reform and its successes.
Read More »
Help us replace our corrupt campaign finance system, which is funded and controlled by a tiny number of very powerful private interests, and help us replace our fraud-prone voting system, with clean, transparent, accountable and democratic systems, where people can get elected based on their character, track record, and ideas, rather than their wealth or ability to raise large sums of money. Help us take our country back so that we can finally have a nation of, by, and for the people, rather than of, by, and for the wealthy powerful interests.
Fair Elections
Bill Moyers Video
The Road To Clean Elections
Watch the 14 minute video narrated by PBS journalist Bill Moyers for a crash course on Clean Elections campaign finance reform and its successes.
Read More »
08 January 2004
Votes from 134 residents were not counted
The Miami Herald
By ERIKA BOLSTAD
Jan. 07, 2004
Ballots cast by 134 voters in a special election Tuesday weren't counted, apparently because people failed to use touch-screen machines properly.
It's the electronic equivalent of a voter failing to punch a stylus all the way through on a paper ballot, leaving a hanging chad.
Only with electronic voting, there's no way to review the ballot and determine how a person wanted to vote. The vote is not counted, and in this case, the vote of 134 people who left polling places without hitting the ''vote'' button on the machines was not counted.
The Broward Supervisor of Elections office wasn't able for comment Wednesday, when candidates in the race and the county mayor brought the so-called ''undervotes'' to the attention of the public.
Although the number of people who didn't finish casting their ballots is a relatively small percentage, said Broward County Mayor Ilene Lieberman, it seems unlikely that anyone would come out for such a small election with no intention of voting.
Seven candidates were on the ballot in the special election for the District 91 state House Seat left vacant by Connie Mack. Ellyn Bogdanoff won the race by 12 votes, making the 134 votes even more meaningful.
''It's incomprehensible that 134 people went to the polls and didn't cast votes,'' said Lieberman, who served on the canvassing board that oversaw Tuesday night's count.
But the winning candidate, Ellyn Bogdanoff, said she attributes at least some of the undervote to Democrats who reached the polls and realized all the candidates were Republicans.
Oliver Parker, the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea mayor who lost the race, wouldn't comment Wednesday. A spokesman for his campaign said that Parker is weighing his options for tomorrow's recount -- mandated by state law because the race was so close.
But it does seem strange that so many people would go to the polls for a small, special election and then not vote, said Chas Brady, a spokesman for Parker. Especially in an election where only one race was on the ballot, Brady said.
''It's not as though they're on page 5 and are tied of voting,'' he said.
LINK
The Miami Herald
By ERIKA BOLSTAD
Jan. 07, 2004
Ballots cast by 134 voters in a special election Tuesday weren't counted, apparently because people failed to use touch-screen machines properly.
It's the electronic equivalent of a voter failing to punch a stylus all the way through on a paper ballot, leaving a hanging chad.
Only with electronic voting, there's no way to review the ballot and determine how a person wanted to vote. The vote is not counted, and in this case, the vote of 134 people who left polling places without hitting the ''vote'' button on the machines was not counted.
The Broward Supervisor of Elections office wasn't able for comment Wednesday, when candidates in the race and the county mayor brought the so-called ''undervotes'' to the attention of the public.
Although the number of people who didn't finish casting their ballots is a relatively small percentage, said Broward County Mayor Ilene Lieberman, it seems unlikely that anyone would come out for such a small election with no intention of voting.
Seven candidates were on the ballot in the special election for the District 91 state House Seat left vacant by Connie Mack. Ellyn Bogdanoff won the race by 12 votes, making the 134 votes even more meaningful.
''It's incomprehensible that 134 people went to the polls and didn't cast votes,'' said Lieberman, who served on the canvassing board that oversaw Tuesday night's count.
But the winning candidate, Ellyn Bogdanoff, said she attributes at least some of the undervote to Democrats who reached the polls and realized all the candidates were Republicans.
Oliver Parker, the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea mayor who lost the race, wouldn't comment Wednesday. A spokesman for his campaign said that Parker is weighing his options for tomorrow's recount -- mandated by state law because the race was so close.
But it does seem strange that so many people would go to the polls for a small, special election and then not vote, said Chas Brady, a spokesman for Parker. Especially in an election where only one race was on the ballot, Brady said.
''It's not as though they're on page 5 and are tied of voting,'' he said.
LINK
06 January 2004
Inside the 2004 Campaign Tool Chest: Blogs and Online Voting
January 5, 2004
Ronald Brownstein:
Washington Outlook
Excerpt:
Last week, the Michigan Democratic Party began what is probably the most ambitious experiment ever in online voting. Michigan Democrats can vote by mail or on the Internet through Feb. 7, when the party will hold its presidential caucuses. The party began accepting requests for mail and Internet ballots on its Web site at 12:01 a.m. New Year's Day; within the first 24 hours, about some 1,500 people had signed up.
Mark Brewer, the party's executive chair, says he expects about 400,000 people to participate in the caucuses and about two-thirds of them to vote online or through the mail. With the first ballots due back by late this week, Brewer says he anticipates "tens of thousands of votes cast" in Michigan before the Iowa caucuses formally kick off the Democratic race on Jan. 19.
No state has ever done anything quite like this. Four years ago, Arizona allowed online balloting in its Democratic presidential contest, but only for a few days before the actual primary. (No other state is offering Internet voting this year.)
Read Article
January 5, 2004
Ronald Brownstein:
Washington Outlook
Excerpt:
Last week, the Michigan Democratic Party began what is probably the most ambitious experiment ever in online voting. Michigan Democrats can vote by mail or on the Internet through Feb. 7, when the party will hold its presidential caucuses. The party began accepting requests for mail and Internet ballots on its Web site at 12:01 a.m. New Year's Day; within the first 24 hours, about some 1,500 people had signed up.
Mark Brewer, the party's executive chair, says he expects about 400,000 people to participate in the caucuses and about two-thirds of them to vote online or through the mail. With the first ballots due back by late this week, Brewer says he anticipates "tens of thousands of votes cast" in Michigan before the Iowa caucuses formally kick off the Democratic race on Jan. 19.
No state has ever done anything quite like this. Four years ago, Arizona allowed online balloting in its Democratic presidential contest, but only for a few days before the actual primary. (No other state is offering Internet voting this year.)
Read Article
Oliphant turns to Florida attorney general to argue against her suspension
By Scott Wyman
Staff writer
January 3 2004
Lawyers for Miriam Oliphant have asked Florida's attorney general to go to court on her behalf and challenge Gov. Jeb Bush's decision to suspend her as Broward County elections supervisor.
The long-shot move seeks to have Attorney General Charlie Crist accuse the governor of overstepping his authority and violating Oliphant's constitutional rights. Oliphant wants Crist to decide within 10 days whether he will take up her cause, but she plans to press ahead with her legal challenge on her own if he refuses.
Oliphant's lead lawyer, John Contini, argues that Bush acted improperly because Oliphant was suspended indefinitely without pay and has not been guaranteed a date when the state Senate would consider whether to reinstate her or remove her permanently. In his letter to Crist, Contini compares Bush's actions to that of a banana republic dictator and urges him to fight for Oliphant and the voters who elected her in 2000.
Read Article
By Scott Wyman
Staff writer
January 3 2004
Lawyers for Miriam Oliphant have asked Florida's attorney general to go to court on her behalf and challenge Gov. Jeb Bush's decision to suspend her as Broward County elections supervisor.
The long-shot move seeks to have Attorney General Charlie Crist accuse the governor of overstepping his authority and violating Oliphant's constitutional rights. Oliphant wants Crist to decide within 10 days whether he will take up her cause, but she plans to press ahead with her legal challenge on her own if he refuses.
Oliphant's lead lawyer, John Contini, argues that Bush acted improperly because Oliphant was suspended indefinitely without pay and has not been guaranteed a date when the state Senate would consider whether to reinstate her or remove her permanently. In his letter to Crist, Contini compares Bush's actions to that of a banana republic dictator and urges him to fight for Oliphant and the voters who elected her in 2000.
Read Article
Many states face mess at polls
BY DAVID DAMRON
The Orlando Sentinel
Jan. 05, 2004
ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Ten months before the next presidential vote, the federal commission created to help states avoid another Florida-style ballot fiasco still has no office or phone lines.
Millions of voters in cities such as Chicago and St. Louis will still have to guard against dangling chads - four years after punch-card ballots helped turn the 2000 election into a U.S. Supreme Court case.
Across the country, sweeping election reforms pledged in the wake of the Florida mess remain unfulfilled.
Read Article
BY DAVID DAMRON
The Orlando Sentinel
Jan. 05, 2004
ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Ten months before the next presidential vote, the federal commission created to help states avoid another Florida-style ballot fiasco still has no office or phone lines.
Millions of voters in cities such as Chicago and St. Louis will still have to guard against dangling chads - four years after punch-card ballots helped turn the 2000 election into a U.S. Supreme Court case.
Across the country, sweeping election reforms pledged in the wake of the Florida mess remain unfulfilled.
Read Article
'Paper trail' of votes omitted
By Jim McElhatton
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A request that Maryland's new touch-screen voting network include printouts might have come too late because state officials already have signed a $55.6 million contract that includes no such backup system.
"That was not part of the contract price we negotiated with Maryland," said Mark Radke, director of marketing for Diebold Election Systems Inc., a Diebold subsidiary. "The voter verification [paper trail] was not discussed."
Read Article
By Jim McElhatton
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A request that Maryland's new touch-screen voting network include printouts might have come too late because state officials already have signed a $55.6 million contract that includes no such backup system.
"That was not part of the contract price we negotiated with Maryland," said Mark Radke, director of marketing for Diebold Election Systems Inc., a Diebold subsidiary. "The voter verification [paper trail] was not discussed."
Read Article
On the subject of hackers and honey pots
Tuesday Dec 30, 2003
— Bev Harris
Supposedly...
"VoteHere Inc. confirmed Monday that U.S. authorities are investigating a break-in of its computers months ago, when someone roamed its internal computer network. The intruder accessed internal documents and may have copied sensitive software blueprints that the company planned eventually to disclose publicly."
VoteHere story
First, the product VoteHere offers is encryption to "protect" our votes. They cut a deal with Sequoia to provide it. Now, they tell us they were "hacked." Maybe.
But what you might not know is that the VoteHere source code has been used in entrapment attempts. Specifically, with me, and I documented the entrapment effort at the time.
There are a number of things about this story that don't smell right. For one thing, they seem to be trying to link it to the Diebold files. For those of you who are new here, there were two sets of Diebold files, an FTP site which was open to the public and sat on the Web for six years, which contained program files and other items, and memos, which were obtained with an employee ID number and then leaked. In this story, Jim Adler seems to be saying the "VoteHere hacker" may be the same person who snagged the Diebold files.
But the FTP site wasn't hacked, it was sitting there. Look in any user manual and you'll see the address. No hacking involved, sorry.
The memos weren't hacked either, they were obtained by someone with inside access, and leaked.
I've had dealings with both the Diebold memo leaker and this supposed "VoteHere" hacker. The second person is NOT the same as the first. I am dead-certain of this.
Read Article
Tuesday Dec 30, 2003
— Bev Harris
Supposedly...
"VoteHere Inc. confirmed Monday that U.S. authorities are investigating a break-in of its computers months ago, when someone roamed its internal computer network. The intruder accessed internal documents and may have copied sensitive software blueprints that the company planned eventually to disclose publicly."
VoteHere story
First, the product VoteHere offers is encryption to "protect" our votes. They cut a deal with Sequoia to provide it. Now, they tell us they were "hacked." Maybe.
But what you might not know is that the VoteHere source code has been used in entrapment attempts. Specifically, with me, and I documented the entrapment effort at the time.
There are a number of things about this story that don't smell right. For one thing, they seem to be trying to link it to the Diebold files. For those of you who are new here, there were two sets of Diebold files, an FTP site which was open to the public and sat on the Web for six years, which contained program files and other items, and memos, which were obtained with an employee ID number and then leaked. In this story, Jim Adler seems to be saying the "VoteHere hacker" may be the same person who snagged the Diebold files.
But the FTP site wasn't hacked, it was sitting there. Look in any user manual and you'll see the address. No hacking involved, sorry.
The memos weren't hacked either, they were obtained by someone with inside access, and leaked.
I've had dealings with both the Diebold memo leaker and this supposed "VoteHere" hacker. The second person is NOT the same as the first. I am dead-certain of this.
Read Article
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