Electronic Voting Machine Study Exposes Most Serious Security Flaws Ever

[helderheid]

Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
Electronic Voting Machine Study Exposes Most Serious Security Flaws Ever Documented

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/31/1330240

Video:
http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2006/may/video/dnB20060531a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=8:53

A report released earlier this month details what experts say are the most serious electronic voting machine flaws ever documented. We speak with David Dill, a computer science professor at Stanford University and founder of VerifiedVoting.org as well as a former Utah county clerk who was forced out after having Diebold voting machines independently tested in his county. A report released earlier this month details what experts are saying are the most serious electronic voting machine flaws ever documented. The author of the report is Harri Hursti. He is a Finnish security expert who analyzed Diebold voting machines for an organization called Black Box Voting. Hursti wrote in the report that the defects in the machines could "cast a serious question over the integrity of the vote” and that “someone could attack the system to selectively disenfranchise groups of voters through denial of service.”

Though the report has received considerable attention, less known is about how the report came to light. Back in March, Bruce Funk, the County Clerk of Emery County, Utah, asked Black Box Voting to analyze Diebold machines the county was considering implementing. When the flaws were exposed, representatives from the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s office, state elections officials and the Attorney General’s office flew into Emery to meet with Funk. They were accompanied by representatives from Diebold who threatened the county with punitive actions for testing their equipment. Bruce Funk was forced to resign.

* Bruce Funk, former County Clerk of Emery County, Utah.
* Professor David Dill, professor of computer science at Stanford University and founder of VerifiedVoting.org.

[rumpel]

1. and changed the laws, too

Worse, Doug Aagard's HB348 recently re-wrote UT election law, including definition of what a ballot is, without any mention of the voter verifiable paper-roll ballot records - making it illegal to count the voter-verifiable ballot record and hence making it illegal to conduct any independent checks of Utah's vote counts to detect errors (innocent or deliberate)!

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0605/S00557.htm

[helderheid]

2. yea me - I'm in Utah. Without fair elections, no other issues can be

solved.

[rumpel]

3. awful.

they are silencing the press?

Are editorials also rejected? Any prominent Dems that can write an editorial the papers can not refuse and ignore?
People have to be made aware, everywhere.

:mad:

[helderheid]

4. I agree. I'm so disheartened.

[helderheid]

5. hmph

[mod mom]

6. # 5. This is an important topic!

[DemReadingDU]

7. K&R

I'm in Ohio we all know that this state is rigged

[helderheid]

8. says alot when they want to rig Utah

[glitch]

22. It really does. If they have to rig Utah what are their real poll numbers?

10s? 20s?

[helderheid]

26. bingo!

[me b zola]

9. k&r for transparent, fair, and open elections---

---and for the restoration of democracy.

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. EXCUSE ME? Funk had to resign because he TESTED the machines?

What kind of screwed up country are we living in? Their machines are a DANGER to DEMOCRACY! They should all be BURNED.

[stepnw1f]

11. I Say We Bring Sledge Hammers with us When We Vote

so we can smash the machines.

[helderheid]

13. I wonder what kind of protest we could do at the polling places that

would get attention without destroying property - let's think about it...

I'm voting on a paper absentee ballot - perhaps we could all do that and then wear t-shirts to the polls that say something about that?

[stepnw1f]

14. We Need Something Bigger

No vandalism... that was just a joke. And we need to do this across the whole country.

[helderheid]

15. I knew you were kidding... just got me to thinking ;)

[stepnw1f]

21. cool cool

thanks for kicking my thread BTW.

[ArbustoBuster]

18. Dress up as Natives and dump mockup voting machines into Boston Harbor?

We need something splashy and flashy that would both speak to our history and get into the news.

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. MASSIVE ABSENTEE BALLOT VOTING...make their damn machines

useless. If people refuse to use them....That would have to be a HUGE movement. That could be a great Moveon.org or True Majority or People For the American Way project. They have the means to get the word out all over the country. They could run ads telling people NOT to use evoting machines and vote absentee ONLY. That could be HUGE.

[helderheid]

17. now THAT'S what I'm TALKIN' ABOUT. This is what I want to see.

[OregonBlue]

25. Great Idea!!

[Nothing Without Hope]

28. And who counts absentee ballots and how is it done? n/t

[helderheid]

12. Yep, they changed his locks. Didn't know they could do that to an ELECTED

official!

[deaniac21]

19. Wouldn't that create a pcb hazard?

[hunter]

20. It's now ILLEGAL to examine how our votes are counted.

Really.

[Melissa G]

23. KnR! Thanks, Helderheid!

[bleever]

24. KRT.

Which means, Kick, Recommend, and Thanks!


Let Wikipedia show that this abbrev. started here.

:)

[Xenotime]

27. Those aren't flaws...those are pug backdoors.

[Nothing Without Hope]

29. This is one of the most alarming and depressing stories I've read yet.

And in UTAH??? Not many electoral votes, but they aren't taking any chances on a valid election. And SILENCE in the bought-and-paid-for corporate media. The conspiracy is massive.

And most US voters continue to be blissfully unaware that democracy died and that they're being fed only lies every day.

Have this video and a layout of the whole sequenc of events been sent to Jack Cafferty and Keith Olbermann?

[helderheid]

30. I know, and I'm here - there was a radio program on our local NPR

station today - I was only able to catch part of it but will post it when it's online.

[MorningGlow]

31. This Memorial Day--first time I cried

I've been to who-knows-how-many parades in my lifetime, and I never thought much of the experience...except that the flag-waving and -wearing was a bit over the top, if you know what I mean.

This year we took our toddler to our cheesy small-town, 10-minute Memorial Day parade...and when those World War II veterans came around the corner, proudly marching and displaying the flag, I lost it. Cried like a baby. But not because I was proud of our country. I was crying for the democracy we've lost. Hello, Late Roman Empire.

And no, not many people can see it. Not yet. When will they notice our great country has been cut out from under us in only a few short years?

:cry:

[helderheid]

33. reply 32 was meant to go to you so you would respond and auto kick

LOL

[Nothing Without Hope]

36. done. Won't be at my computer much this evening

but will try to help keep it kicked when I am.

[helderheid]

32. Radio interview today on local Utah NPR station w/Bruce Funk on

voting machines:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1330025

please kick that thread - thanks!

[Nothing Without Hope]

35. Have kicked that thread, which has the audio.

Has this updated story been sent to BradBlog? I just checked there (http://www.bradblog.com) and didn't see this story in the last couple of days' listings.

My vote for that thead was the first one, and helderheid and I were the only respondents so far. Go check it out, people!

[Kurovski]

34. Kick.(nt)