In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
How E-Voting Threatens Democracy
In January 2003, voting activist Bev Harris was holed up in the basement of her three-story house in Renton, Washington, searching the Internet for an electronic voting machine manual, when she made a startling discovery.
Clicking on a link for a file transfer protocol site belonging to voting machine maker Diebold Election Systems, Harris found about 40,000 unprotected computer files. They included source code for Diebold's AccuVote touch-screen voting machine, program files for its Global Election Management System tabulation software, a Texas voter-registration list with voters' names and addresses, and what appeared to be live vote data from 57 precincts in a 2002 California primary election.
"There was a lot of stuff that shouldn't have been there," Harris said.
The California file was time-stamped 3:31 p.m. on Election Day, indicating that Diebold might have obtained the data during voting. But polling precincts aren't supposed to release votes until after polls close at 8 p.m. So Harris began to wonder if it were possible for the company to extract votes during an election and change them without anyone knowing.
A look at the Diebold tabulation program provided a possible answer.
Harris discovered that she could enter the vote database using Microsoft Access -- a standard program often bundled with Microsoft Office -- and change votes without leaving a trace. Diebold hadn't password-protected the file or secured the audit log, so anyone with access to the tabulation program during an election -- Diebold employees, election staff or even hackers if the county server were connected to a phone line -- could change votes and alter the log to erase the evidence.
"It was getting scarier and scarier," Harris said. "I was thinking we have an immense problem here that's much bigger than me."
We've had this stuff posted here many times before, and we will again. The fundamental requirement of a democracy is that citizens not only believe but KNOW that their vote counts. How very sad that in America you can't really be sure of that.
Fake Dieblod at from Bartcop.
Diebold parody (flash required)
- rob 11:46 AM - [PermaLink] -
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