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[igotthisguitar]

E-VOTING 2006: The Approaching Train Wreck
Our Elections are Now Officially 'A National Disaster in the Making'
A MUST READ GUEST EDITORIAL BY JOHN GIDEON OF VOTERSUNITE.ORG

By John Gideon, VotersUnite.Org and VoteTrustUSA.Org

Normally this space is taken with my ideas of what are the "Top 5" voting news stories for the week. Today I am going to use this space to talk about what I see as the beginning of a disaster in the making with our elections. This isn't the election fraud that some point to when they talk about the vendors and some elections officials. It's not about recounts or audits. This is a real, get your hands around it, happening problem that will disrupt our election process if we do not do something about it now.

While we have been involved in all of our issues about Direct Recording Electronic ( DRE or "touch-screen" ) voting machines or paper ballots the electronic voting machine vendors have been wreaking complete havoc across the country.

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002673.htm

[igotthisguitar]

Lawmakers Warned About Voting "Problems"
By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jul 19, 11:38 PM ET

WASHINGTON - If this fall's elections abound with voting problems, members of Congress cannot say they were not warned.

Experts told members of two House committees on Wednesday that security for electronic voting machines is inadequate, lab testing of this machinery is insufficient and a paper record of voting is essential to protect election integrity.

The lawmakers also heard "reassurances" that potential problems are being addressed.

"The federal standards are not sufficient to prove that election systems are able to guarantee federally approved voting systems can adequately protect the integrity of our elections against "unintentional" failures or against tampering," said David Wagner, a specialist in computer science from the University of California-Berkeley.

An election official from Minnesota, Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, said paper records are critical. At least half the states will keep a "paper trail" of voting this year.

An official with the federal agency created to ensure successful elections tried to assure lawmakers that all steps are being taken to train elections officials and workers and make certain equipment is up to standards.

"We're looking at every aspect of elections," said Donetta Davidson, a member of the Election Assistance Commission. "We haven't found any problems with equipment. The problems we find are human error. The more elections officials train their people, the fewer problems we will have."

The commission on Monday will begin testing updates and modifications of voting systems; it's the first phase of a "certification" program.

___

On the Net:

Election Assistance Commission: http://www.eac.gov

[igotthisguitar]

It doesn't get much more criminal than this ...

Ohio Voting Problems Deemed "Severe"
By CONNIE MABIN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 15, 10:22 PM ET

CLEVELAND - Problems with elections in Ohio's most populous county are so severe that it's unlikely they can be completely fixed by November, or even by the 2008 presidential election, a report commissioned by Cuyahoga County and released Tuesday says

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ohio_voting

[igotthisguitar]

Extra Checks On Voting Machines ... "Rejected"
By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer
Mon Dec 4, 9:28 PM ET

GAITHERSBURG, Md. - A federal advisory panel on Monday rejected a recommendation that states use only voting machines that produced results which could be independently verified.

The panel drafting voting guidelines for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission voted 6-6 not to adopt a proposal that would have required electronic machines used by millions of voters to produce a paper record or other independent means of checking election results.

Eight votes were needed to pass it.



The failed resolution, proposed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientist and panel member Ronald Rivest, closely mirrored a report released last week that warned that paperless electronic voting machines are vulnerable to errors and fraud and cannot be made secure.

Some panel members who voted against the proposal said they support paper records but don't think the risk of widespread voting machine meltdowns is great enough to rush the requirement into place and overwhelm state election boards.

"They should be longer-range goals," said Britain Williams of the National Association of Election Directors. "You are talking about basically a reinstallation of the entire voting system hardware."

Congress created the panel after vote-counting problems in the 2000 presidential election to advise the Election Assistance Commission. Monday's meeting was held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is advising the panel on voting technology. NIST staffers wrote last week's report on the potential voting problems.

Some panel members worried the systems with audit trails could present problems of their own, including printer errors. Others said it was unclear whether paper records could be used by voters who are blind or have other disabilities.

But Rivest warned his colleagues that software errors in the paperless machines could go undetected without a way of verifying the voting results.

That could lead to a scenario where you have "got an election result that is wrong and you have no evidence to show that it's wrong," he said.

Verifiable paper records are already used by many states � 27 mandate them while another 18 don't require them but use them in all or some jurisdictions. Only five � Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland and South Carolina � use machines without a paper record. More than half of all voters used machines with paper records during the 2006 elections.

The paperless voting machines are essentially laptop computers that allow voters to cast their ballots by touching a screen, and then tally the results. They are widely used across the country.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061205/ap_on_re_us/electronic_voting

[cbclark4]

SAy no to Diebold.

Take a paper ballot.

cbc

[Green Tea]

CORRUPTION

CORRUPTION

CORRUPTION

CORRUPTION

CORRUPTION

The american political system is rotten to the core. And yet, all these americans think "there ain't nothin better" and keep criticizing other countries and think it is americas role to spread democracy...

Mod Edit: Removed flame.

[igotthisguitar]

U.S. State to Dump Touch-Screen E-Voting Systems
Marc L. Songini, IDG News
Thu May 3, 7:00 PM ET

In a major shift on e-voting that could ripple to other states, the Florida legislature Friday voted to replace nearly all of the state's touch-screen voting systems with optical scan devices.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who initially offered up the bill mandating a change in e-voting systems earlier this year, applauded the Florida legislature for acting after the state House approved the measure. It had already been okayed by the state Senate.

The law mandates the replacement of touch-screen systems with optical scan devices and also moves up the date of Florida's presidential primary to the last Tuesday in January. In 2008, that would be Jan. 29.

Touch-screen systems have come under criticism for being unreliable, easily hacked and lacking the transparency voters need to trust that their votes are actually being counted. To address those concerns, Crist offered a bill that would replace the systems in 17 Florida counties with optical scan devices, which require filling out a paper ballot that can later be used for canvassing or recount.

"The right to vote is the foundation of our nation's democracy, and Florida voters can rest assured that they will have an election system they can believe in," Crist said. "This legislation will preserve the integrity of Florida's elections and protect every Floridian's right to have his or her vote counted. Florida voters will be able to have more confidence in the voting process and the reliability of Florida's elections...."

He also noted that the law "will establish a paper trail for votes cast in Florida elections...."

Earlier this week, the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) ruled that money appropriated by Congress through the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 can be used to replace Florida's touch-screen systems. Some handicapped-enabled touch-screens will remain in Florida to comply with HAVA, which dictates that each election precinct have one e-voting device that allows a blind voter to cast a ballot unaided.

The law comes as welcome news to the opponents of touch-screen systems.

"I think this is fantastic," said Avi Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University and a Maryland elections judge. A high profile author and critic of touch-screen systems, he noted that Maryland has passed a similar law, although it won't take effect until 2010. "I'm thrilled with the direction these states are going," he said. "It's great that awareness of the risks of Direct Recording Electronics (DREs) has grown to the point where legislators understand the issues.

"I think we had some rough going for a few elections, but that switching to paper ballots and optical scans sets us back on course," Rubin said.

[igotthisguitar]

Crooks 'Not-So' Hard At Work
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/39986/

[igotthisguitar]

Americans "Still" Wary Of Voting Machines ... For 2008
by Rob Lever
Sun Mar 23, 1:15 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Eight years after "glitches" marred the 2000 presidential elections, Americans are still struggling over voting machine technology amid growing concerns about the reliability of electronic systems.



Many jurisdictions are reconsidering new technology and moving away from paperless and touch-screen voting machines -- systems which had been seen as a "cure" for the problems of punch cards that notably failed to correctly tally votes in 2000 in Florida.

A growing movement of activists, including many computer scientists, are leading calls to shift away from paperless systems, saying they are vulnerable to software and hardware glitches or manipulation by hackers or others.

About 80 percent of Americans use systems where votes are cast or tabulated by computer including 38 percent who used so-called direct recording electronic voting machines (DRE), according to a study by John McCormally of the University of Iowa.

Many of the DREs have no "paper trail," which according to critics makes a recount or audit impossible.

Alan Dechert, a computer scientist who heads the activist Open Voting Consortium, said paperless touch-screen voting systems have failed in many cases, causing these systems to be tossed out of many states and localities.

With paperless systems, Dechert said, "you can't have a recount because ... there is nothing to recount."

Dechert's group and others opposed to paperless votes point to dozens of instances in which machines have "failed", or results were "questionable" ... because of undercounted or "irregular" patterns in voting.

"It doesn't matter if it's a crooked system or if it is an accident. When you have close elections this becomes an instance whether the outcome can be decided by lawyers and judges instead of voters," Dechert said.

Voting machine manufacturers argue ... they are reliable.

And a Government Accountability Office report said there was "no evidence" that electronic machines were the source of a large "undervote" in a 2006 congressional election in Sarasota, Florida, cited by many critics of paperless voting.

Warren Stewart, project director at the activist Verified Voting Foundation, said growing doubts about the reliability of paperless systems leaves the 2008 presidential election open to another potential calamity.

"It's highly probable we could have a situation where the results come down to one state, and we have a situation where we can't resolve it" because of an inability to recount electronic vote tallies, he said.

Stewart cited "a fundamental problem with counting votes in the computer memory."

"Whether it's an error or malicious attack, there's no safety net," he said.

Stewart said the most reliable systems appear to be so-called optical scan devices in which voters mark their choice on paper ballots which are read by computerized scanners.

Dechert meanwhile argues that touch-screen systems can be accurate if backed by a paper printout which becomes the actual ballot. He also argues for "open source" machines in which software can be verified by ... outside experts.

A study by the Pew Center on the States noted five states that had revamped their voting systems after 2000 are now in the process of a second overhaul because of discontent over electronic machines.

California banned a large number of touch-screen voting devices after a review concluded that DRE machines "were inadequate to ensure accuracy and integrity of the election results," according to California Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

A study in Ohio found "electronic voting systems have critical security failures which could impact the integrity of elections," according to that state's top election official.

Similar reviews are underway in Florida and Colorado and New Mexico ... with other states also hesitating.

A study by David Kimball of the University of Missouri found that error rates for touch-screen machines in 2004 were just ... 1.0 percent for newer models and 1.2 percent for older models.

That was close to the average 1.1 percent estimated error rate nationally and better than the 1.8 percent for punch cards -- the devices that produced the "hanging chads" in Florida in the contested 2000 race.

Richard Soudriette, president emeritus of the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), says touch-screen electronic machines have been "unfairly maligned."

Soudriette said these systems are gaining acceptance in other countries, notably Brazil and India. But in the US, a hodgepodge of state, federal and local regulations make it difficult to set standards, he said.

"I think all election officials in the US need to get together and work out a protocol on how systems will be certified and get everybody fully onboard," he said.

"If I was an election administrator and it was my job, I would probably go with a paper-based system, because people feel more comfortable with that. But it would be irresponsible to take equipment purchased over the last couple of years and junk it because it doesn't fit people's impression of what is the best technology."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080323/ts_alt_afp/usvotetechnology;_ylt=AniU7thpcDdUpe197nhTexwDW7oF

[bacasper]

[igotthisguitar]

[Cheonmunka]

There is a simple problem that people want to fix.
Why is the problem not getting fixed? It's not a difficult one to mend.
It's that some people who determine whether or not to fix it happen to like it the way it is.

You suggest, 'Please fix the problem.'
'What problem?'
You have to explain the problem.
You immediately hear, 'You are a conspiracy theorist.'



Once labeled you cannot be taken seriously and your voice is very effectively shut out.
It's a good trick used by the hustlers.

[Funkdafied]

Im concerned about voter fraud, but like many, Im reluctant to give credence to anything posted by IGTG. He happens to be on the right side of one issue ( even a broken clock is right twice a day ), but he's so deeply demented and profoundly disturbed that I feel responding to him seriously in any way shape or form is irresponsible, as it may encourage him to take himself seriously, when what he really needs to take seriously is a trip to a very good councellor.

[igotthisguitar]