An open invitation to election fraud
Not only is the country's leading touch-screen voting system so badly designed that votes can be easily changed, but its manufacturer is run by a die-hard GOP donor who vowed to deliver his state for Bush next year.

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By Farhad Manjoo

Sept. 23, 2003 | As if the public image of punch-card voting machines had not already been bruised and battered enough, on Sept. 15, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals went for the K.O. Punch-card voting, a three-judge panel of the court said in its ruling halting the California gubernatorial recall election, is an embarrassment to our high-tech times: "Just as the black and white fava bean voting system of revolutionary times was replaced by paper balloting, and the paper ballot replaced by mechanical lever machine, newer technologies have emerged to replace the punch-card, including optical scanning and touch screen voting."

But according to Bev Harris, a writer who has spent more than a year investigating the shadowy world of the elections equipment industry, the replacement technologies the court cited may be worse -- much worse -- than the zany punch-card systems it finds so abhorrent. Specifically, Harris' research into Diebold, one of the largest providers of the new touch-screen systems, ought to give elections officials pause about mandating an all-electronic vote.

Harris has found critical flaws in Diebold's voting software, and she's uncovered internal Diebold memos in which employees seem to suggest that the vulnerabilities are no big deal. The memos appear to be authentic -- Diebold even sent Harris a notice warning her that by posting the documents on the Web, she was infringing upon the company's intellectual property. Diebold did not return several calls for comment.

The problems Harris found in Diebold's system are perhaps the best proof yet that electronic voting systems aren't ready for prime time. Indeed, the vulnerabilities in the software, as well as the internal memos, raise questions about the legitimacy of the California recall election. In its ruling, the 9th Circuit Court put the election on hold until the six counties that currently use punch-card systems -- six counties that comprise 44 percent of the state's voters -- upgrade their systems. On Monday, 11 judges on the 9th Circuit reheard the recall case; they may very well overturn the decision halting the Oct. 7 election. If the recall vote is put on hold until March, however, many may wonder whether to trust the results: Four of the six punch-card counties -- including the largest, Los Angeles and San Diego -- have plans to upgrade to Diebold machines by March.

<font color=deepskyblue>Maybe I'm missing something here, but I saw two "critical flaws" with the article itself.

First of all, it says the reporter discovered critical flaws in the software used by DieBold and also found internal memos "that appear to be authentic" that say these vulnerabilities were not of great concern.....yet the article never mentions exactly WHAT these critical flaws are!!!!

And I also don't see how these "critical flaws" could be inherently designed to favor the Republican party simply because the manufacture is a GOP supporter. Again, as I said, I may be missing something.

I would be interested to find out exactly what these "critical flaws" are? And what did they mean by the comment that "votes can be easily changed"? Are they worried that election officials could actually go in after the polls close and tamper with the results? If so, that still isn't a flaw that inherently favors Repubs, since there are just as many districts that are primarily Demo and it stands to reason that officials there could skew the results in their favor also.

Interesting article, but the points raised definitely require further investigation, IMHO.</font>

I'm with Cerek. What ARE the critical flaws man?

If you do not find this: a huge flaw then I don't knwo what else to say...


In another article I read that one of the flaws was that the results were being sent by unsecured FTP on an hourly basis. Allowing them to be intercepted, or just simply read from the FTP directory. This could give a campiagn critical information on what precints to target extra get out the vote workers to boast turnout.

If you do not find this:

Quote:

Harris has discovered that Diebold's voting software is so flawed that anyone with access to the system's computer can change the votes without leaving any record.

a huge flaw then I don't knwo what else to say...
</font>[/QUOTE]<font color=deepskyblue>Since that particular quote was not included in your original post nor in the surface text provided by your link, I suppose you could say "I see why you would ask that." ;)

I looked back over the opening post twice to make sure that I hadn't overlooked that particular quote. Unless I've gone completely blind, it isn't there. I also followed the link you provided and it gave the same text as your opening post. It did offer an opportunity to read more details of the story if I wanted to become a subscriber - which I did not.


I do agree that IS a critical flaw and definitely is cause for concern. But I still don't see that it is an inherent plot of the Diebold to aid the GOP, since anybody from either party could tamper with the results without being traced. I agree it is an open invitation to election fraud, but I still think the opportunity to commit the fraud is equal for both sides.</font>

[ 09-30-2003, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: Cerek the Barbaric ]

The way Salon works now is you can get a free 'Day Pass' to read all the content by viewing a short comerical via the link at the bottom of the page the article is on.

It is a cause for concern when the man the owns and runs the company that makes the machines not only has told Bush "I guarantee you will win" but also on of Bush's big donors and fundraisers. Just last weekend he hosted a fundraiser that netted over $100,000

This is all just Dem hype. Make a list of proven GOP vote fraud and compare it to a list of Dem fraud and you'll see who we really have to worry about tampering with votes.

<Font color=orange>In looking at the Democratic side, all you would have to do is go to Chicago and look at all the vote fraud that has gone there for all these years. That would dwarf all the Republican fraud you could find all over the country since the founding of the Republican Party!

[ 10-01-2003, 12:47 PM: Message edited by: Sir Taliesin ]

It is a cause for concern when the man the owns and runs the company that makes the machines not only has told Bush "I guarantee you will win" but also on of Bush's big donors and fundraisers. Just last weekend he hosted a fundraiser that netted over $100,000 </font>[/QUOTE]<font color=deepskyblue>I'll grant you that. It is definitely cause for concern - and especially for the reasons you listed. I'm just pointing out that there is nothing to keep the Demo's from taking advantage of this security flaw also to swing an equal number of votes their way.

Still, with the promise made by the owner and manufacturer of the company, the vulnerabilities of the software should be eliminated and extra security measures installed to prevent anybody hacking into the system. Perhaps they should even contact a different firm to make the patch for the software to prevent Diebold from leaving a hidden back door in the package.

Thanks for providing the extra information, <font color=coral>Rokenn</font>. I wasn't try to be difficult, it's just that they original post simply didn't give enough detailed information to fully understand the risky potential this faulty software had. And - for once - we actually ended up agreeing on something here. [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] </font>

[ 10-01-2003, 02:43 PM: Message edited by: Cerek the Barbaric ]

You want an open invitation to electoral fraud?
What about letting people get away with it and giving them the probably most powerful job in the world.
Whether or not the Florida presidental votes were rigged I would have liked to see more investigation in that matter. Be it to convict Bush of or to clear him from the accusations/charges of electoral fraud.
To end a big fraud case like that with: "Well that's the way it is now and we better don't do anything about it or people will get to excited" is shameful and unsatisfying.

[ 10-01-2003, 04:39 PM: Message edited by: Faceman ]

The security flaws can be easily overcome. If the the Diebold software runs under W2K or WXP, the OS has enough inherent security to leave a record trail for file manipulation and prevent unauthorized access. Network hardware using a dedicated circuit along with encryption would take care of intercepted transmission problems from outside sources. Even a VPN (PIX) over a public network is extremely difficult to get into without inside information. Once again, these measures all run outside of the software application. One problem I see is most local governments won't have the money or desire to implement proper data security measures after the huge cost of the Diebold equipment. Diebold equipment is VERY expensive. As in tens of thousands of dollars per unit. A secure network environment and the software and personnel it takes to support it are expensive in their own right. Most will see the money and treat it as an option instead of a necessity. All this high tech stuff is great, but no one seems to have the money for it's proper implementation.


Always remember this:

ANYONE with sufficient knowledge can crack ANY security measure with enough inside help, whether the help was given inadvertently or not. Your own employees are your biggest risk. Knowledgeable employees with a low risk habits and a clear cut, well understood, and widely distributed security policy are your best measures. Many businesses say that finding employees like this is almost impossible. It's not, they just cost more.

That bastard stole the last election now hes gonna try it without his brothers help!Well I guess that ol fighter jock is getting tough now huh,,,bring um on !!!!What an ass!

Try to be civil. I understand your point and admit that I would be outraged too (in fact I was when our government cheated themselves into office) but sadly there is no open proof and hence we have to assume "innocent until proven guilty" and name-calling won't help.

The Democrats need to learn to be careful what they wish for. They bitched that punchcards were too hard to use (funny, my area has no problem with them--and it worked well enough for Grayout Davis last November). Now they find out that the maker of touch-screen election equipment is a Republican.

Classic OOPSIE! [img]graemlins/evillaughter1.gif[/img]

If it appears like a conflict of interest, it may very well be a conflict of interest. Once again the partisan divider that causes people to look the other way or deflect from the topic is at hand.

*Shakes fist & curses partisan politics*

EVERYONE has some sort of political opinion. That can't be used to disciminate when purchasing equipment. Diebold is one of the top manufacturers of secure automated equipment. Teller machines, cash dispensers, etc. They are a logical choice.

It still beggars belief that the so-called torchbearer of democracy in the world can have such a half arsed attitude to its own democracy. Heaven and earth should have been moved to create a federal standard of laws and procedures within a year of the last federal <s> embarra </s> election. How much are you spending to bring democracy to Iraq and yet you still have a system that looks to the outsider as though it was run by the keystone cops.

Hey! But if it’s to hard just sweep the problem under the carpet ;)

More information on the vulnerabilities of the DIEBOLD machines:

Time to Recall E-Vote Machines?

The problems are not just in the cyber-security, but in the phyiscal as well:

excerpt:
Officials leave voting machines at polling stations days before the election. The machines contain memory cards with ballots already loaded on them. This means before the election, someone could alter the ballot file in such a way that voters would cast votes for the wrong candidate without knowing it.

The memory card rests behind a locked door on the side of the voting machine. But supervisors receive a key to the compartment the weekend before the election. The same key fits every machine at a polling station.

Poll supervisors are selected with no background checks and are given keys to buildings where they can access the machines several days before the election.

The machines, worth around $3,000 each, are locked on a trolley at polling stations with only a bicycle lock. The combination, which anyone could crack in a couple of tries, is the same for every polling station in the county and is given to poll supervisors during their training.

Although the machines have two blue tamper-resistant ties threaded through holes in their carrying cases, the ties can easily be purchased on the Internet. Supervisors open at least one case the night before the election to charge the machine inside, which means the case remains unsealed overnight.

I have a name for this new contraption:

The Election Rig [img]tongue.gif[/img]

there is a lot to be said for putting a cross on a piece of paper [img]graemlins/heee.gif[/img]