Esquire: We're supposed to believe that the Russians hacked into voting systems but did nothing...

[triron]

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a28517486/russia-hack-election-systems-all-50-states/

"Remember when we were all told that it was only a couple of precincts, then a couple of cities, then a couple of states? Remember when it was just data? Now, as far as we can read between the blacked-out lines, we are being asked to believe that the Russian ratfckers could have deleted "voter data," that they "were in a position" to jack around with it, but, having achieved this monumental intelligence triumph, they didn't do anything with it?"

[Hermit-The-Prog]

1. ITTMFA

And take Moscow Mitch with him.

[Cracklin Charlie]

2. Why would they go to all that trouble,

And then NOT rig the vote? Makes no sense, to me.

They would need to win to make the crimes go unpunished.

[Ms. Toad]

7. Two entirely separate systems.

They certainly could have indirectly influenced the vote by removing eligible voters from the roster.

Although a friend of mine who works in a local board of elections indicates that would ahve been detected because of frequent back-ups (which are saved in physicaly and electronically isolated media). Anyone who goes to the polls and says they are a registered voter is entitled to cast a provisional ballot. All provisional ballots are reviewed to determine if the voter is actually eligible. That review includes reviewing the existing file - and the separately stored back-up files. In doing so they would have discovered the unauthorized removal - and probably more (unless they ony removed 1-2 per jurisdiction, in which case an isolated removal might not be thought to be part of a pattern).

That said - caring for the integrity of the voter registration data is at least a state decision, and potentially a local precinct decision. It may be that not all jurisdictions have the same processes in place.

In addition, not everyone who is told (or perhaps isn't told) they can cast a provisional ballot will do so. If they don't cast a provisional ballot there will be no subsequent review.

So - it is certainly possible that the Russians indirectly influenced the vote. But all of the reports of Russian infiltration of the "voting system" are limited to the voter registration system, not the voting system. They are two entirely separate systems.

Reporting on this matter is very sloppy. Here is a perfect example:

It concluded that while there is no evidence that any votes were changed in actual voting machines, “Russian cyberactors were in a position to delete or change voter data” in the Illinois voter database.

Being in position to change voter data is completley unrelated to being in postion to change votes, yet the two are paired in the same sentence as if the ablity to do one implied the ability to do the other.

And readers who are not regularly engaged in election work do not necessarily understand the distinction and make the same leap of logic that you were encuraged by the article to do.

[Duppers]

3. K & R

[triron]

4. knr

[shraby]

5. Common sense would say they got in the computers for a reason, not just to look.

My guess it was to jigger enough votes in strategic places to toss the election they way they wanted it to go.

[hughee99]

6. Since many of these attacks seem to have occurred and were detected well before the election,

I'm skeptical about how much access they would have had to actual votes that had not yet been cast.

[Sewa]

8. But wasn't it up to states to take action.

Didn’t FL ignore warnings

[triron]

9. That was practice, just warming up.

[hughee99]

19. The reports I've heard are about hacking, or attempts,

Before the election. Haven’t heard any reports about it happening during or after, not have I heard any with evidence anyone actually altered vote totals. I do recall several politicians before the election saying that no serious person would suggest this was even possible.

[Sewa]

22. Did you miss the news about

The company that supplies the the software for voting machines was hacked. Do you believe Trump admission wants all the information out in the public domain. Oh yeah a big thank you to Winner for leaking this information.

[hughee99]

23. I did see that. It's not the same thing.

To say that the company that supplies the software was hacked isn't the same thing as saying the voting machines were hacked, and suggesting that there aren't stories about voting hacks and altered votes because Trump suppressed it is mere speculation. I'm not saying it couldn't have happened (as some people suggested prior to the election), I'm just saying I haven't seen any evidence that it did happen.

[Botany]

10. Putin spent all that time, money, and effort to gain access

... to the hardware and software of our voting machines, central tabulators, and voter d-bases but did nothing with that information?

[dalton99a]

16. +1. He instructed the Russian government to help Trump win.

It's logical to assume every action taken had that goal in mind.

[BannonsLiver]

11. I've always believed they changed actual vote totals.

We (the public) would not be told if that were the case.

What happened in Nov. 2016 was infinitely more dangerous than anything that happened on 9/11 but because nothing is blowing up and nobody is getting killed it does not carry the same “wow” factor with the media.

[Botany]

13. The exit polls had HRC winning.

N/t

[triron]

20. Yes. That's exactly why the public will remain in the dark.

[Talitha]

12. A thief doesn't break into The Louvre just to look at the pretty paintings....

Do they think we're as stupid as trumpanzees?

[elocs]

14. On election day in 2016, how many people who could have, should have voted for Clinton

chose to do nothing, or voted 3rd party?
No Russian interference is required for that.
Or should they be blameless?

[former9thward]

15. People have the right to vote or not vote in this country.

And they have the right to vote for 3rd parties if they wish. No one is owed a vote. Democrats never complain when the libertarians or similar groups run candidates. Multiple parties are part of the system and always will be. We have to run candidates who can inspire enough voters to give them enough to votes to create an electoral vote victory.

[elocs]

17. People who chose not to vote or voted 3rd party

helped to elect Trump and they have no right to whine about it now because they are getting just what they deserve although millions of others are not.

Like it or not, the reality is that ours is a 2 party system and the winner of nearly every election will be either the Democratic candidate or the Republican one. This is not a difficult concept to grasp.
If too many on the Left choose to do this again in 2020 it will only help to reelect Trump.

[uponit7771]

18. Yes or the rolleyes crew will post 20 emojis rolling eyes indicating your a CT nut

[triron]

21. I expect this. Just try to ignore it .

[Hekate]

24. We are so fcked

[ck4829]

25. K&R

[no_hypocrisy]

26. Analogy: Like a burglar who breaks into your house to admire the Chippendale furniture.

[procon]

27. Any Russian agent worth his salt would have

lift behind a secret backdoor in every computer network they were able to hack into. Once they had free access what was stopping them from sending off an army of malware bots to every other computer system connected to the original point of entry.

From that point any hacker could easily insert nasty little snippets of code that would wait in hiding until a certain date, event or instruction activated their killer worm to wake up and do their preset tasks.

Americans have little idea what may happen when computers are infected with malware code. Public officials have largely taken the ostrich approach and their deliberate ignorance, outright denial, and blasé faire attitude has put the çountry at grave risk.

[ecstatic]

28. The first fuck up was not demanding a new election from day one

Of these reports. The other side would have done it for sure. SMH. Going forward, we're going to have to be a little more aggressive and ruthless or we're not going to survive.

[GoCubsGo]

29. They also hacked into our power grid, supposedly to "look around."

You know damn well they messed with that, as well. Can't wait to see what kind of time bombs they set there. Gawd, or whomever help us.

Why the hell either the power grid or the election systems are connected to the Internet, and not stand-alone, is beyond me. What fucking idiots thought this was a good idea????