STOP THE ELECTRONIC THEFT OF OUR ELECTION
Common sense commentaries
Jim Hightower
jimhightower.com
05.25.04
'Despicable' is not a word that major corporate executives are used to having hurled at them by high elected officials, but the honchos of Diebold Inc. recently got this very word right in their corporate face."
Read More >>
27 May 2004
Absentee ballot law is a joke that isn't funny
May. 27, 2004
Jim DeFede
Miami Herald
"Every vote should count."
-- Jeb Bush, upon signing into law a measure doing away with witness signatures for absentee ballots
Our governor -- what a kidder!
If we counted every vote in Florida, Jeb's brother would be spending all of his time -- and not just some of his time -- falling off his bicycle on his Texas ranch.
The only thing the bill Jeb signed Tuesday guarantees, is that Florida's elections will continue to be a joke. By taking away the witness requirement, the governor and the Legislature not only made it easier for corruption to take place -- which in itself is a fairly amazing feat -- but they have also made it more difficult to catch.
Read More >>
May. 27, 2004
Jim DeFede
Miami Herald
"Every vote should count."
-- Jeb Bush, upon signing into law a measure doing away with witness signatures for absentee ballots
Our governor -- what a kidder!
If we counted every vote in Florida, Jeb's brother would be spending all of his time -- and not just some of his time -- falling off his bicycle on his Texas ranch.
The only thing the bill Jeb signed Tuesday guarantees, is that Florida's elections will continue to be a joke. By taking away the witness requirement, the governor and the Legislature not only made it easier for corruption to take place -- which in itself is a fairly amazing feat -- but they have also made it more difficult to catch.
Read More >>
24 May 2004
Demand Grows to Require Paper Trails for Electronic Votes
By Katharine Q. Seelye
The New York Times
23 May 2004
WASHINGTON - A coalition of computer scientists, voter groups and state officials, led by California's secretary of state, Kevin Shelley, is trying to force the makers of electronic voting machines to equip those machines with voter-verifiable paper trails.
--snip
There are no national standards to help resolve the disputes. The federal commission that Congress created after 2000 to guide states is behind schedule, and the research body that was supposed to set standards for November 2004 has not even been appointed. So states, prompted by voter organizations, are taking matters into their own hands.
Nevada, which is using touch screens in all its voting precincts this November, has become the first state to require the manufacturer to attach printers in time for Election Day.
California is requiring voter-verified paper trails for any electronic machines that counties in the state buy after November; for this November, it has banned touch-screen machines unless counties meet certain security standards. Three counties are suing the state to overturn the ban and a fourth has said it plans to use the touch screens anyway.
Mr. Shelley said he was requiring counties to allow voters to vote on paper if they wanted to, even if there were no apparent problems with the touch screens. "It's a voter-confidence issue," he said in an interview. "It should be a no-brainer."
More than a dozen other states are considering legislation to require paper backups, and Congress, which had left the matter on the back burner, is considering several similar proposals.
Read More...
By Katharine Q. Seelye
The New York Times
23 May 2004
WASHINGTON - A coalition of computer scientists, voter groups and state officials, led by California's secretary of state, Kevin Shelley, is trying to force the makers of electronic voting machines to equip those machines with voter-verifiable paper trails.
--snip
There are no national standards to help resolve the disputes. The federal commission that Congress created after 2000 to guide states is behind schedule, and the research body that was supposed to set standards for November 2004 has not even been appointed. So states, prompted by voter organizations, are taking matters into their own hands.
Nevada, which is using touch screens in all its voting precincts this November, has become the first state to require the manufacturer to attach printers in time for Election Day.
California is requiring voter-verified paper trails for any electronic machines that counties in the state buy after November; for this November, it has banned touch-screen machines unless counties meet certain security standards. Three counties are suing the state to overturn the ban and a fourth has said it plans to use the touch screens anyway.
Mr. Shelley said he was requiring counties to allow voters to vote on paper if they wanted to, even if there were no apparent problems with the touch screens. "It's a voter-confidence issue," he said in an interview. "It should be a no-brainer."
More than a dozen other states are considering legislation to require paper backups, and Congress, which had left the matter on the back burner, is considering several similar proposals.
Read More...
ES&S Project Manager Resigns Over Voting Machine Problems
May 11, 2004
The woman who blew the whistle on problems in the Marion County voting system will now watch the situation from the outside.
You shouldn't know about Wendy Orange. She should be someone who served behind the scenes to make our elections work. Orange became a public figure when she revealed voting machine problems. She blamed her employer, Election Systems and Software (ES&S).
Voting machine problems drove former ES&S project manager Wendy Orange to resign. She says ES&S knew it had a software problem and then tried to hide it.
Read More...
May 11, 2004
The woman who blew the whistle on problems in the Marion County voting system will now watch the situation from the outside.
You shouldn't know about Wendy Orange. She should be someone who served behind the scenes to make our elections work. Orange became a public figure when she revealed voting machine problems. She blamed her employer, Election Systems and Software (ES&S).
Voting machine problems drove former ES&S project manager Wendy Orange to resign. She says ES&S knew it had a software problem and then tried to hide it.
Read More...
Part One: Will Your Vote Count?
Part One: Will Your Vote Count?
An I-Team 8 investigation reveals recent changes in voting technology have raised the risk of fraud and miscounting. The investigation finds serious questions about security and troubling concerns on both how the technology is sold, and who is getting rich on public money. It’s an investigation into the heart and soul of our way of government: your ability to vote.
You can blame all of this on the fiasco of the 2000 presidential election. It prompted the most change since the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. But after billions have been spent we have to ask: will your vote count?
Will Your Vote Count?
An I-Team 8 investigation reveals recent changes in voting technology have raised the risk of fraud and miscounting. The investigation finds serious questions about security and troubling concerns on both how the technology is sold, and who is getting rich on public money. It’s an investigation into the heart and soul of our way of government: your ability to vote.
You can blame all of this on the fiasco of the 2000 presidential election. It prompted the most change since the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. But after billions have been spent we have to ask: will your vote count?
Will Your Vote Count?
22 May 2004
The Daily Mis-Lead
SPECIAL MIS-LEAD: Bush Outsourced Fundraising & Voter Operations
According to a new report, the Bush Administration has taken its strong support for outsourcing further than previously thought -- opting to move key political operations offshore. India's Hindustan Times reports that, during a 14 month period from 2002 to 2003 when the Republican Party was playing up patriotism, its fund-raising and vote-seeking campaign was performed in part by two call centers located in India.
According to the report, the Republican National Committee shipped the India operation its voter database for 125 local staff to use to "solicit political contributions ranging between $5 and $3,000 from thousands of registered Republican voters." While the contract for running the campaigns was originally awarded to Washington-based Capital Communications Group, "for cost and efficiencies gains, the company outsourced the work to HCL Technologies that in turn sent it offshore."
Public pressure has forced President Bush has to downplay his support for outsourcing. But this new story is consistent with his Administration's actions in support of shipping American jobs overseas. Late last year, the New York Times reported that the Bush Commerce Department co-sponsored a conference at the lavish Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York that was designed to "encourage American companies to put operations and jobs in China". Then, this year, the President's top economic adviser said outsourcing was "a plus for the economy"3.
Click for Reference Articles...
SPECIAL MIS-LEAD: Bush Outsourced Fundraising & Voter Operations
According to a new report, the Bush Administration has taken its strong support for outsourcing further than previously thought -- opting to move key political operations offshore. India's Hindustan Times reports that, during a 14 month period from 2002 to 2003 when the Republican Party was playing up patriotism, its fund-raising and vote-seeking campaign was performed in part by two call centers located in India.
According to the report, the Republican National Committee shipped the India operation its voter database for 125 local staff to use to "solicit political contributions ranging between $5 and $3,000 from thousands of registered Republican voters." While the contract for running the campaigns was originally awarded to Washington-based Capital Communications Group, "for cost and efficiencies gains, the company outsourced the work to HCL Technologies that in turn sent it offshore."
Public pressure has forced President Bush has to downplay his support for outsourcing. But this new story is consistent with his Administration's actions in support of shipping American jobs overseas. Late last year, the New York Times reported that the Bush Commerce Department co-sponsored a conference at the lavish Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York that was designed to "encourage American companies to put operations and jobs in China". Then, this year, the President's top economic adviser said outsourcing was "a plus for the economy"3.
Click for Reference Articles...
Group says electronic voting machines not reliable
5/19/2004 6:46 PM
By: Antonio Castelan
Billboards are popping up all around the city attacking the electronic machines used to vote. They're being placed by a group of citizens concerned that the eSlate machines used in Travis County are not safe enough for use.
Yet amid concerns about voter fraud, county and electronic machine officials say there's no reason to worry.
"Anyone who is interested in our right to a fair vote should be concerned that their vote might not be properly recorded," Vicky Karp said.
Karp is with the Coalition for Visible Balance. She's behind the billboards and fears that the electronic machines can be hacked. Karp also said there's no way a recount can be done with the system.
"If an average citizen out in the street would not make a deposit at the bank without getting a receipt, why would that person want to make a vote in an election without getting a receipt to make sure their vote was properly recorded? I think it's the craziest thing I ever heard of," Karp said.
Read More...
Watch the Video of t.v. news reporting on the billboard campaign by clicking on the link above. (Scroll down the page a little and click on the little box near the center that says Watch the Video - E-Voting.)
5/19/2004 6:46 PM
By: Antonio Castelan
Billboards are popping up all around the city attacking the electronic machines used to vote. They're being placed by a group of citizens concerned that the eSlate machines used in Travis County are not safe enough for use.
Yet amid concerns about voter fraud, county and electronic machine officials say there's no reason to worry.
"Anyone who is interested in our right to a fair vote should be concerned that their vote might not be properly recorded," Vicky Karp said.
Karp is with the Coalition for Visible Balance. She's behind the billboards and fears that the electronic machines can be hacked. Karp also said there's no way a recount can be done with the system.
"If an average citizen out in the street would not make a deposit at the bank without getting a receipt, why would that person want to make a vote in an election without getting a receipt to make sure their vote was properly recorded? I think it's the craziest thing I ever heard of," Karp said.
Read More...
Watch the Video of t.v. news reporting on the billboard campaign by clicking on the link above. (Scroll down the page a little and click on the little box near the center that says Watch the Video - E-Voting.)
21 May 2004
Dissent will NOT be Tolerated!
Maryland voters who requested paper ballots instead of touch-screen won't be counted
AP Wire - About 100 Maryland voters who requested paper ballots for the March primary because they did not trust the state's new touch-screen voting machines may never have their votes counted.
The provisional ballots they filled out during the primary election have been rejected by local elections boards, which concluded the ballots could not be used as an alternative to the machines.
"I was not told that my vote would not be counted. That is just plain wrong," one of the voters, Helen K. Kolbe, said at an administrative hearing Wednesday in Annapolis. "By any logic, my vote should be accepted, or quite simply, it is fraud and a stain on our electoral procedures."
But under state law, paper ballots can be used only if "the individual's name does not appear on the precinct register." State officials told The (Baltimore) Sun that county election judges erred in offering the paper alternative.
Read Article
Maryland voters who requested paper ballots instead of touch-screen won't be counted
AP Wire - About 100 Maryland voters who requested paper ballots for the March primary because they did not trust the state's new touch-screen voting machines may never have their votes counted.
The provisional ballots they filled out during the primary election have been rejected by local elections boards, which concluded the ballots could not be used as an alternative to the machines.
"I was not told that my vote would not be counted. That is just plain wrong," one of the voters, Helen K. Kolbe, said at an administrative hearing Wednesday in Annapolis. "By any logic, my vote should be accepted, or quite simply, it is fraud and a stain on our electoral procedures."
But under state law, paper ballots can be used only if "the individual's name does not appear on the precinct register." State officials told The (Baltimore) Sun that county election judges erred in offering the paper alternative.
Read Article
www.bigbrother.gov
The feds want to know who’s been visiting the Web site of voting watchdog Bev Harris, and they’re likely to get what they want.
by George Howland Jr.
May 19 - 25, 2004
In the past 20 months, Harris has become America’s leading critic of electronic voting (see “Black Box Backlash,” March 10). Her reporting on the problems with new computer voting machines has been a key component in a national, grassroots movement to safeguard voting. Her astounding discoveries have resulted in important studies by distinguished computer scientists. She has been leaked thousands of pages of internal memos from Diebold Election Systems, one of the country’s leading electronic voting companies. She is frequently cited by newspapers across the country and is a guest on national and local television and radio stations. Thousands of people visit her Web site and participate in its reader forums. Now, Harris claims, the government wants our names, forum messages, and computer addresses.
--snip
Harris sounds the alarm about what the government wants her to turn over. “They want the logs of my Web site with all the forum messages and the IP [Internet protocol] addresses.” IP addresses are unique, numerical pointers to one or more computers on the Internet, making it possible to identify, or narrow the search for, a computer that has visited a given Web site. Writes Harris: “This has nothing to do with a VoteHere ‘hack’ investigation, and I have refused to turn it over.
“So, yesterday, they call me up and tell me they are going to subpoena me and put me in front of a grand jury. Well, let ’em. They still aren’t getting the list of members of blackboxvoting.org unless they seize my computer—which my attorney tells me might be what they had in mind.”
Read More...
The feds want to know who’s been visiting the Web site of voting watchdog Bev Harris, and they’re likely to get what they want.
by George Howland Jr.
May 19 - 25, 2004
In the past 20 months, Harris has become America’s leading critic of electronic voting (see “Black Box Backlash,” March 10). Her reporting on the problems with new computer voting machines has been a key component in a national, grassroots movement to safeguard voting. Her astounding discoveries have resulted in important studies by distinguished computer scientists. She has been leaked thousands of pages of internal memos from Diebold Election Systems, one of the country’s leading electronic voting companies. She is frequently cited by newspapers across the country and is a guest on national and local television and radio stations. Thousands of people visit her Web site and participate in its reader forums. Now, Harris claims, the government wants our names, forum messages, and computer addresses.
--snip
Harris sounds the alarm about what the government wants her to turn over. “They want the logs of my Web site with all the forum messages and the IP [Internet protocol] addresses.” IP addresses are unique, numerical pointers to one or more computers on the Internet, making it possible to identify, or narrow the search for, a computer that has visited a given Web site. Writes Harris: “This has nothing to do with a VoteHere ‘hack’ investigation, and I have refused to turn it over.
“So, yesterday, they call me up and tell me they are going to subpoena me and put me in front of a grand jury. Well, let ’em. They still aren’t getting the list of members of blackboxvoting.org unless they seize my computer—which my attorney tells me might be what they had in mind.”
Read More...
(I told you so) — Diebold planning to eliminate more physical evidence: They plan to get rid of the sign-in poll book.
By Bev Harris, with the assistence of Kathleen Wynne
May 20, 2004
I've been telling you for over a year that this is coming, and here it is in print: From the transcript of the May 3 2004 Cuyahoga County (Cleveland, Oh) Board of Elections "Question and Answer" session with Diebold:
As usual, not a single technical person or programmer answered any questions for Diebold. Testifying in this meeting, representing Diebold:
--snip
Here is how Mickey Martin explained why Diebold switched to the new (uncertified and patched at the last minute) card encoders, which failed in California on March 2: The new device, he says, is designed to eventually get rid of the poll book.
"We had a problem with a peripheral device. It was a brand-new peripheral device. It will be one of the standard products on the market in the future. Is it there today? Obviously not, but it will be and it will save counties, such as Cuyahoga, hundreds of thousands of dollars because you can do away with your paper poll books which cost the county a lot of money to produce. A lot of time and effort will go away. It will automatically let you update your voter registration system to that everything is seamless. "
Mark Radke confirms Diebold's plans to do away with the physical poll book audit trail:
"Why did they go with the PCM-500 instead of a standard card reader, these are very progressive contracts. The PCM-500 is a touch screen unit. I know it's -- what it's going to evolve into is an electronic poll book."
Getting rid of paper records means getting rid of auditability. What are audits? Quite simply, they are the checks and balances that help to prove that votes were counted correctly. I'll say it again: Vote counting is just bookkeeping. You have to show your work. You must be able to prove how you came up with your numbers, and you must use INDEPENDENT sources of evidence to do so.
A paper ballot, verified by the voter, provides one independent audit record. The physical poll book, where voters sign in when they come to vote, provides another important independent audit record.
Just as you balance your checkbook, state laws require elections workers to balance the number of voters who signed in to the poll book with the number of votes that show up in the machines. Indeed, with touch screen machines, it is this poll book audit that has proven many of the miscounts mentioned in Chapter 2 of Black Box Voting.
You see, the problem isn't only with electronic voting machines — We are rushing to computerize the process from start to finish, and this will produce an opaque voting system with so many attack points we'll never be able to control it at all. Here's what's coming, if we don't block it:
- Electronic voter registration (already mandated by HAVA). The companies who are providing it: Diebold, Election Systems & Software, defense contractors like Northrup Grumman...
- Electronic sign in at the polling place, eliminating human-verified physical evidence of how many people voted.
- Electronic casting of the vote
- Electronic recording of the vote
- Centralized electronic tallying of the votes, using central tabulators at the county courthouse. (This is already in place).
- Computer-aided redistricting
Now, let me give you a clearer picture: The genius of democracy is that real people run the system, out in the open, in a transparent manner. This is somewhat messy, but also quite stable, when done properly.
Now look at what is planned:
- Invisible voter registration: At times, people in Chicago have been so enthused about voting that the dead rose from their graves to cast votes. Now let's take a hard look at electronic voter registration: We'll soon be able to register whole cemeteries, or hack in and invent voters altogether.
- Invisible poll book sign in: Digital ghost voters will have a heck of a time getting past Mildred the poll worker, who insists on signing each voter into a physical paper poll book. But now we want to do away with Mildred, and use the nifty smart card device. Yes, we digitally register voters, then provide each with a smart card so they can sign in digitally. This has advantages, but, like the voting system software that has become so controversial, will be impossible for regular people to examine. The software is a proprietary trade secret, made by companies that lie, employ embezzlers, and do political fund raising for their buddies -- like Diebold.
- Invisible vote casting: When you use the poke-a-hole method (punch cards) or the fill-in-the-bubble method (optical scan), at least you get to SEE your vote as you cast it. On paperless touch screens, of course, you see only a screen. You'll never see how your vote was recorded at all, because that happens inside, using computer commands no one is allowed to examine (except for certifiers who have repeatedly given passing grades to flawed and illegal software). You are supposed to trust this invisible system, controlled by a handful of people whose names you do not know.
- Invisible vote tallying: After the votes are cast - whether on punch cards, optical scans, or touch screens, they go to a central tabulation computer which adds them up. You can't examine the software program that does this -- it's proprietary. You can't watch the votes add up, you can only see numbers appear on a screen that you are told are correct. And lately (and we hope to CHANGE THIS with our Clean Up Crew this fall) you can't even observe the room where they do the central tabulation, to see if anyone unauthorized is in there dinking around during the vote-counting.
- Invisible redistricting procedures: Well now if you can invisibly register (and create) voters, invisibly sign them in to vote, invisibly cast votes, and tally the invisible votes on yet another invisible system, unscrupulous people with access can also control redistricting by manipulating the data.
Do we really want to dress the Statue of Liberty in the Emperor's New Clothes? We are spending a kingly sum on converting our open democracy into something entirely invisible, owned by a handful of corporations.
Read More...
Sign the Statement of Principle for Clean Voting
By Bev Harris, with the assistence of Kathleen Wynne
May 20, 2004
I've been telling you for over a year that this is coming, and here it is in print: From the transcript of the May 3 2004 Cuyahoga County (Cleveland, Oh) Board of Elections "Question and Answer" session with Diebold:
As usual, not a single technical person or programmer answered any questions for Diebold. Testifying in this meeting, representing Diebold:
--snip
Here is how Mickey Martin explained why Diebold switched to the new (uncertified and patched at the last minute) card encoders, which failed in California on March 2: The new device, he says, is designed to eventually get rid of the poll book.
"We had a problem with a peripheral device. It was a brand-new peripheral device. It will be one of the standard products on the market in the future. Is it there today? Obviously not, but it will be and it will save counties, such as Cuyahoga, hundreds of thousands of dollars because you can do away with your paper poll books which cost the county a lot of money to produce. A lot of time and effort will go away. It will automatically let you update your voter registration system to that everything is seamless. "
Mark Radke confirms Diebold's plans to do away with the physical poll book audit trail:
"Why did they go with the PCM-500 instead of a standard card reader, these are very progressive contracts. The PCM-500 is a touch screen unit. I know it's -- what it's going to evolve into is an electronic poll book."
Getting rid of paper records means getting rid of auditability. What are audits? Quite simply, they are the checks and balances that help to prove that votes were counted correctly. I'll say it again: Vote counting is just bookkeeping. You have to show your work. You must be able to prove how you came up with your numbers, and you must use INDEPENDENT sources of evidence to do so.
A paper ballot, verified by the voter, provides one independent audit record. The physical poll book, where voters sign in when they come to vote, provides another important independent audit record.
Just as you balance your checkbook, state laws require elections workers to balance the number of voters who signed in to the poll book with the number of votes that show up in the machines. Indeed, with touch screen machines, it is this poll book audit that has proven many of the miscounts mentioned in Chapter 2 of Black Box Voting.
You see, the problem isn't only with electronic voting machines — We are rushing to computerize the process from start to finish, and this will produce an opaque voting system with so many attack points we'll never be able to control it at all. Here's what's coming, if we don't block it:
- Electronic voter registration (already mandated by HAVA). The companies who are providing it: Diebold, Election Systems & Software, defense contractors like Northrup Grumman...
- Electronic sign in at the polling place, eliminating human-verified physical evidence of how many people voted.
- Electronic casting of the vote
- Electronic recording of the vote
- Centralized electronic tallying of the votes, using central tabulators at the county courthouse. (This is already in place).
- Computer-aided redistricting
Now, let me give you a clearer picture: The genius of democracy is that real people run the system, out in the open, in a transparent manner. This is somewhat messy, but also quite stable, when done properly.
Now look at what is planned:
- Invisible voter registration: At times, people in Chicago have been so enthused about voting that the dead rose from their graves to cast votes. Now let's take a hard look at electronic voter registration: We'll soon be able to register whole cemeteries, or hack in and invent voters altogether.
- Invisible poll book sign in: Digital ghost voters will have a heck of a time getting past Mildred the poll worker, who insists on signing each voter into a physical paper poll book. But now we want to do away with Mildred, and use the nifty smart card device. Yes, we digitally register voters, then provide each with a smart card so they can sign in digitally. This has advantages, but, like the voting system software that has become so controversial, will be impossible for regular people to examine. The software is a proprietary trade secret, made by companies that lie, employ embezzlers, and do political fund raising for their buddies -- like Diebold.
- Invisible vote casting: When you use the poke-a-hole method (punch cards) or the fill-in-the-bubble method (optical scan), at least you get to SEE your vote as you cast it. On paperless touch screens, of course, you see only a screen. You'll never see how your vote was recorded at all, because that happens inside, using computer commands no one is allowed to examine (except for certifiers who have repeatedly given passing grades to flawed and illegal software). You are supposed to trust this invisible system, controlled by a handful of people whose names you do not know.
- Invisible vote tallying: After the votes are cast - whether on punch cards, optical scans, or touch screens, they go to a central tabulation computer which adds them up. You can't examine the software program that does this -- it's proprietary. You can't watch the votes add up, you can only see numbers appear on a screen that you are told are correct. And lately (and we hope to CHANGE THIS with our Clean Up Crew this fall) you can't even observe the room where they do the central tabulation, to see if anyone unauthorized is in there dinking around during the vote-counting.
- Invisible redistricting procedures: Well now if you can invisibly register (and create) voters, invisibly sign them in to vote, invisibly cast votes, and tally the invisible votes on yet another invisible system, unscrupulous people with access can also control redistricting by manipulating the data.
Do we really want to dress the Statue of Liberty in the Emperor's New Clothes? We are spending a kingly sum on converting our open democracy into something entirely invisible, owned by a handful of corporations.
Read More...
Sign the Statement of Principle for Clean Voting
19 May 2004
Florida approves touch-screen vote system
But Diebold's equipment has raised flags in at least four states.
By J. TAYLOR RUSHING
Capital Bureau Chief
05/18/04
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida has certified the state's first touch-screen voting system by Diebold, a company whose machines have been banned or scrutinized in California, Maryland, Ohio and Washington.
The Diebold AccuVote TSR6 will be available for use in all of Florida's 67 counties, including Duval, where an official said they will be used as early as the Aug. 31 state primary election. Diebold had applied for certification on March 22 after past applications for earlier versions of the machines failed.
--snip
Touch-screen machines have been disparaged by critics who note they do not allow paper records or recounts, and Diebold's models have been particularly questioned by computer experts who say they can be sabotaged. Political donations by company executives or relatives -- more than $325,000 since 2000, much of it going to President Bush -- also have been criticized.
Read More...
But Diebold's equipment has raised flags in at least four states.
By J. TAYLOR RUSHING
Capital Bureau Chief
05/18/04
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida has certified the state's first touch-screen voting system by Diebold, a company whose machines have been banned or scrutinized in California, Maryland, Ohio and Washington.
The Diebold AccuVote TSR6 will be available for use in all of Florida's 67 counties, including Duval, where an official said they will be used as early as the Aug. 31 state primary election. Diebold had applied for certification on March 22 after past applications for earlier versions of the machines failed.
--snip
Touch-screen machines have been disparaged by critics who note they do not allow paper records or recounts, and Diebold's models have been particularly questioned by computer experts who say they can be sabotaged. Political donations by company executives or relatives -- more than $325,000 since 2000, much of it going to President Bush -- also have been criticized.
Read More...
ACLU Urges County Elections Supervisors to Verify State’s Felon Matching Records to Prevent Wrongful Purging of Eligible Voters
For Immediate Release:
Friday, May 14, 2004
Media Contact: Alessandra Soler Meetze, Communications Director, (305) 576-2337, ext. 16
MIAMI – Saying Florida’s Division of Elections has embarked on an erroneous felon purge process that will inevitably lead to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today urged elections supervisors in all 67 Florida counties to independently verify the criminal records of people identified by the state as convicted felons before removing them from voter rolls.
“The right to vote in Florida once again at stake,” said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida, who co-authored the letter sent to 67 county elections supervisors with Courtney Strickland, Director of the ACLU of Florida’s Voting Rights Project.
“State election officials have admitted that they cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data used to purge more than 40,000 people from the voter rolls. Yet, state officials sent a memo to all county election supervisors instructing them to begin the felon purge process without also reminding county officials of their responsibility to ensure that the possible felons are, in fact, ineligible to vote.”
ACLU of Florida
For Immediate Release:
Friday, May 14, 2004
Media Contact: Alessandra Soler Meetze, Communications Director, (305) 576-2337, ext. 16
MIAMI – Saying Florida’s Division of Elections has embarked on an erroneous felon purge process that will inevitably lead to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today urged elections supervisors in all 67 Florida counties to independently verify the criminal records of people identified by the state as convicted felons before removing them from voter rolls.
“The right to vote in Florida once again at stake,” said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida, who co-authored the letter sent to 67 county elections supervisors with Courtney Strickland, Director of the ACLU of Florida’s Voting Rights Project.
“State election officials have admitted that they cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data used to purge more than 40,000 people from the voter rolls. Yet, state officials sent a memo to all county election supervisors instructing them to begin the felon purge process without also reminding county officials of their responsibility to ensure that the possible felons are, in fact, ineligible to vote.”
ACLU of Florida
Should voting go paperless?
BY Michael Hardy
May 10, 2004
When voters go to the polls in November, they will face any one of several voting machines. What remains unclear is how many voters will end up using the increasingly controversial touch-screen machines. For those who do, the question is whether they will see any paper record of their vote.
The debate about the systems is growing louder as the election nears, and there is widespread disagreement about them, even within specific groups. Some computer scientists consider them to be vulnerable to malicious code, while others don't. Many election officials like the machines, while others voice security concerns.
--snip
META Group Inc. analyst Amy Santenello, who was not at the hearing, said poorly trained poll workers are the most significant problem for jurisdictions adopting DREs.
Without training, workers are likely to make mistakes, such as the Florida crew that locked up their machines at the end of the day during the 2002 midterm elections without realizing they had to transfer the vote data to a centralized computer to be tallied, Santenello said. In that case, the mistake was discovered in time for the votes to be counted.
Should voting go paperless?
BY Michael Hardy
May 10, 2004
When voters go to the polls in November, they will face any one of several voting machines. What remains unclear is how many voters will end up using the increasingly controversial touch-screen machines. For those who do, the question is whether they will see any paper record of their vote.
The debate about the systems is growing louder as the election nears, and there is widespread disagreement about them, even within specific groups. Some computer scientists consider them to be vulnerable to malicious code, while others don't. Many election officials like the machines, while others voice security concerns.
--snip
META Group Inc. analyst Amy Santenello, who was not at the hearing, said poorly trained poll workers are the most significant problem for jurisdictions adopting DREs.
Without training, workers are likely to make mistakes, such as the Florida crew that locked up their machines at the end of the day during the 2002 midterm elections without realizing they had to transfer the vote data to a centralized computer to be tallied, Santenello said. In that case, the mistake was discovered in time for the votes to be counted.
Should voting go paperless?
E-voting probe wanted
BY Michael Hardy
May 14, 2004
Thirteen members of the House of Representatives have asked the General Accounting Office to investigate electronic voting and the security and reliability of voting machines.
In a letter sent today to Comptroller General David Walker, the members write that the topic concerns "a critical aspect of American democracy — the ability of Americans to have confidence that the votes they cast in an election will be counted accurately and fairly."
The letter touches on security concerns that some computer scientists have raised about direct recording electronic (DRE) machines, which are made by several companies. Voters using DREs record their votes by touching the screen. Some computer scientists and legislators worry that the machines could record incorrect information, whether through accident or malevolent intent, but many election officials and vendor officials dismiss the concerns.
Eight Republicans are among the 13 signers, as what had been a largely Democratic issue becomes increasingly bipartisan.
Government Reform Committee chair Tom Davis (R-Va.) and ranking minority member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), signed the letter, as did Judiciary Committee chair F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wisc.) and ranking minority member John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.)
The other signers are:
William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.)
John Larson (D-Conn.)
Doug Ose (R-Calif.)
Todd Russell Platts (R-Pa.)
Adam Putnam (R-Fla.)
Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.)
Robert Scott (D-Va.)
Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)
Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio)
E-voting probe wanted
BY Michael Hardy
May 14, 2004
Thirteen members of the House of Representatives have asked the General Accounting Office to investigate electronic voting and the security and reliability of voting machines.
In a letter sent today to Comptroller General David Walker, the members write that the topic concerns "a critical aspect of American democracy — the ability of Americans to have confidence that the votes they cast in an election will be counted accurately and fairly."
The letter touches on security concerns that some computer scientists have raised about direct recording electronic (DRE) machines, which are made by several companies. Voters using DREs record their votes by touching the screen. Some computer scientists and legislators worry that the machines could record incorrect information, whether through accident or malevolent intent, but many election officials and vendor officials dismiss the concerns.
Eight Republicans are among the 13 signers, as what had been a largely Democratic issue becomes increasingly bipartisan.
Government Reform Committee chair Tom Davis (R-Va.) and ranking minority member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), signed the letter, as did Judiciary Committee chair F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wisc.) and ranking minority member John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.)
The other signers are:
William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.)
John Larson (D-Conn.)
Doug Ose (R-Calif.)
Todd Russell Platts (R-Pa.)
Adam Putnam (R-Fla.)
Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.)
Robert Scott (D-Va.)
Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)
Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio)
E-voting probe wanted
07 May 2004
Ohio Gov. OKs Electronic Voting Machines
May 7, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Gov. Bob Taft signed a bill Friday authorizing up to 31 counties to switch to electronic voting machines in time for the Nov. 2 election.
The new law also requires that by May 2006, such machines issue paper receipts confirming to voters their choices.
Read Article
May 7, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Gov. Bob Taft signed a bill Friday authorizing up to 31 counties to switch to electronic voting machines in time for the Nov. 2 election.
The new law also requires that by May 2006, such machines issue paper receipts confirming to voters their choices.
Read Article
State wants felons purged from voter list
May 6, 2004
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
Florida elections officials have told local supervisors to begin purging their voter rolls of felons - an election-year directive that some say would disenfranchise up to 40,000 people.
The issue of felon voting surfaced from Florida's 2000 presidential election recount, a five-week odyssey that resulted in George W. Bush's capturing the White House.
--snip
In 2000, some local supervisors refused to purge their rolls because they said they had no faith in how the state compiled its list of disqualified voters.
And since that election, the secretary of state's office has been moved from Cabinet status in Florida to an agency under the governor - Jeb Bush - the younger brother of President Bush.
The secretary of state's office defends its move to purge the voter lists.
Read Article
May 6, 2004
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.
Florida elections officials have told local supervisors to begin purging their voter rolls of felons - an election-year directive that some say would disenfranchise up to 40,000 people.
The issue of felon voting surfaced from Florida's 2000 presidential election recount, a five-week odyssey that resulted in George W. Bush's capturing the White House.
--snip
In 2000, some local supervisors refused to purge their rolls because they said they had no faith in how the state compiled its list of disqualified voters.
And since that election, the secretary of state's office has been moved from Cabinet status in Florida to an agency under the governor - Jeb Bush - the younger brother of President Bush.
The secretary of state's office defends its move to purge the voter lists.
Read Article
Electronic Voting Hearings Set to Start
Wed May 5, 1:08 PM ET
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Concerned about the reliability of electronic voting, a federal panel is examining ways to safeguard polling from hackers and bad software to avoid another disputed presidential election this November.
The first public hearing Wednesday by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission comes as many states consider legislation to require a paper record of every vote cast as a backup to technology they consider potentially faulty or vulnerable to malicious attack.
Read Article
Merits of E-Voting, Paper Backups Debated
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
May 5, 2004
WASHINGTON - Scientists told a federal panel Wednesday that electronic voting isn't completely reliable and suggested a backup paper system might be the only way to avoid another disputed presidential election in November.
But the commission's chairman said he didn't expect the bipartisan panel would issue national standards requiring paper receipts when it makes preliminary recommendations next week, followed by more detailed guidelines next month.
"We will not decide on what machines people will buy," said Republican DeForest B. Soaries Jr., chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission, saying it wasn't the panel's role to tell states what to do. "We will say, if California wants to have a backup paper system, what national standards it should follow."
At least 20 states are considering legislation to require a paper record of every vote cast after rushing to get ATM-like voting machines to replace paper ballots after Florida's fiasco with hanging chads in the 2000 presidential election. About 50 million people, or 29 percent of voters, are expected to vote electronically.
Read Article
E-Vote Controversy Comes to Commission
Wed May 5, 6:55 PM ET
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new U.S. election commission said on Wednesday it could not require districts using electronic voting machines to install printers or other secure backup systems to ensure that votes are counted properly.
Amid a heated debate over the merits of new touch-screen systems, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission said it hoped to develop voluntary guidelines for the electronic systems that will be used by one in three voters in November.
--snip
Also speaking at the hearing, Johns Hopkins University computer-science professor Avi Rubin and Kevin Chung, chief executive of manufacturer Avante International Technology Inc., said external printers should be required.
Other experts cautioned that printers could simply cause more problems. Installing printers on all voting machines would take at least a year, said William Welsh, a board member of Elections Systems & Software, another manufacturer.
A better bet would be to set up a library of approved software so officials can ensure they are not running a hacked system, said Kennesaw State University computer-science professor Brit Williams.
Read Article
E-Voting: 1 County Sues State
Five others may follow Riverside in fighting the decertification of digital vote machines.
By Seema Mehta and Stuart Pfeifer, Times Staff Writers
May 5, 2004
Riverside County's Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to sue the state's top election official to regain the right to use electronic voting machines in November.
Officials in five other counties said they also might seek court approval to use their touch-screen voting machines on election day, which would overturn the temporary ban on their use and keep California on an aggressive path from paper to electronic balloting.
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, noting security and technological concerns about the machines, banned electronic voting in four counties whose machines used unapproved software. He also decertified and set strict conditions for recertifying 10 other counties, including Riverside, that intended to use the machines in November.
Read Article
Wed May 5, 1:08 PM ET
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Concerned about the reliability of electronic voting, a federal panel is examining ways to safeguard polling from hackers and bad software to avoid another disputed presidential election this November.
The first public hearing Wednesday by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission comes as many states consider legislation to require a paper record of every vote cast as a backup to technology they consider potentially faulty or vulnerable to malicious attack.
Read Article
Merits of E-Voting, Paper Backups Debated
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
May 5, 2004
WASHINGTON - Scientists told a federal panel Wednesday that electronic voting isn't completely reliable and suggested a backup paper system might be the only way to avoid another disputed presidential election in November.
But the commission's chairman said he didn't expect the bipartisan panel would issue national standards requiring paper receipts when it makes preliminary recommendations next week, followed by more detailed guidelines next month.
"We will not decide on what machines people will buy," said Republican DeForest B. Soaries Jr., chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission, saying it wasn't the panel's role to tell states what to do. "We will say, if California wants to have a backup paper system, what national standards it should follow."
At least 20 states are considering legislation to require a paper record of every vote cast after rushing to get ATM-like voting machines to replace paper ballots after Florida's fiasco with hanging chads in the 2000 presidential election. About 50 million people, or 29 percent of voters, are expected to vote electronically.
Read Article
E-Vote Controversy Comes to Commission
Wed May 5, 6:55 PM ET
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new U.S. election commission said on Wednesday it could not require districts using electronic voting machines to install printers or other secure backup systems to ensure that votes are counted properly.
Amid a heated debate over the merits of new touch-screen systems, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission said it hoped to develop voluntary guidelines for the electronic systems that will be used by one in three voters in November.
--snip
Also speaking at the hearing, Johns Hopkins University computer-science professor Avi Rubin and Kevin Chung, chief executive of manufacturer Avante International Technology Inc., said external printers should be required.
Other experts cautioned that printers could simply cause more problems. Installing printers on all voting machines would take at least a year, said William Welsh, a board member of Elections Systems & Software, another manufacturer.
A better bet would be to set up a library of approved software so officials can ensure they are not running a hacked system, said Kennesaw State University computer-science professor Brit Williams.
Read Article
E-Voting: 1 County Sues State
Five others may follow Riverside in fighting the decertification of digital vote machines.
By Seema Mehta and Stuart Pfeifer, Times Staff Writers
May 5, 2004
Riverside County's Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to sue the state's top election official to regain the right to use electronic voting machines in November.
Officials in five other counties said they also might seek court approval to use their touch-screen voting machines on election day, which would overturn the temporary ban on their use and keep California on an aggressive path from paper to electronic balloting.
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, noting security and technological concerns about the machines, banned electronic voting in four counties whose machines used unapproved software. He also decertified and set strict conditions for recertifying 10 other counties, including Riverside, that intended to use the machines in November.
Read Article
Expert: E-Voting Vulnerability 'Terrible' AP via Yahoo! News (May 5, 2004)
Touch screen? Someday - Sacramento Bee (May 4, 2004)
Touchy Touch-Screen Voting - Christian Science Monitor (May 4, 2004)
Well Connected Computerized Voting Companies Hack Democracy
A state's troubled foray into electronic voting - Christian Science Monitor (May 5, 2004)
The Computer Ate My Vote - PC World
May 5, 2004
Anush Yegyazarian, PC World
"The computer ate my..." sounds like the setup for a bad excuse you'd hear in grade school. But the headline of this column, which appears on T-shirts from the activist group True Majority, points to not-so-funny problems that some voters encountered in past elections, and that may affect others in November.
True Majority.org
--snip
Flaws and Laws
Over the past year e-voting's flaws have been glaringly highlighted, with critics pointing to glitches that have occurred in elections, insufficient securityof the machines and their data, questionable conduct by some e-voting vendors, and clear violations of federal and state certification guidelines--all of which make suspect the supposedly reliable machines' vote counts.
There are now at least three bills in the Senate (S.1980, S.1986, and S.2045) and another in the House of Representatives (H.R.2239) that address the problems with e-voting by advocating some sort of voter-verified paper trail. That won't get rid of the problems per se, but it will help voters spot a miscount of their votes as they're cast, and will raise confidence in case a recount is needed.
LINK
E-Vote Problems Overwhelm Feds
May. 03, 2004
As alarm mounts over the integrity of the ATM-like voting machines 50 million Americans will use in the November election, a new federal agency has begun scrutinizing how to safeguard electronic polling from fraud, hackers and faulty software.
But the tiny U.S. Election Assistance Commission says it is so woefully underfunded that it can't be expected to forestall widespread voting-machine problems, which would cast doubt on the election's integrity.
--snip
"We've found some deeply troubling concerns, and the country wants to know the solution," said DeForest B. Soaries Jr., a Republican and former New Jersey secretary of state named by President Bush in December to lead the agency.
Read Article
May. 03, 2004
As alarm mounts over the integrity of the ATM-like voting machines 50 million Americans will use in the November election, a new federal agency has begun scrutinizing how to safeguard electronic polling from fraud, hackers and faulty software.
But the tiny U.S. Election Assistance Commission says it is so woefully underfunded that it can't be expected to forestall widespread voting-machine problems, which would cast doubt on the election's integrity.
--snip
"We've found some deeply troubling concerns, and the country wants to know the solution," said DeForest B. Soaries Jr., a Republican and former New Jersey secretary of state named by President Bush in December to lead the agency.
Read Article
03 May 2004
Vanishing Votes
By Gregory Palast
The Nation
May 17, 2004 Issue
On October 29, 2002, George W. Bush signed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Hidden behind its apple-pie-and-motherhood name lies a nasty civil rights time bomb.
Read Article
By Gregory Palast
The Nation
May 17, 2004 Issue
On October 29, 2002, George W. Bush signed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Hidden behind its apple-pie-and-motherhood name lies a nasty civil rights time bomb.
Read Article
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