Electronic Voting Woes
A former legislator and critic of Maryland's elections board received a copy of Diebold's computer code along with an anonymous letter criticizing the management of state elections. The incident adds to a growing list of concerns over Diebold's troubled voting equipment. (h/t: Crooks and Liars)A former legislator and critic of Maryland’s elections board received a copy of Diebold’s computer code along with an anonymous letter criticizing the management of state elections. The incident adds to a growing list of concerns over Diebold’s troubled voting equipment.
Baltimore Sun:
Wait, before you go…Cheryl C. Kagan, a longtime critic of Maryland’s elections chief, says the fact that the computer disks were sent to her – along with an unsigned note criticizing the management of the state elections board – demonstrates that Maryland’s voting system faces grave security threats.
A spokesman for Diebold, which manufactures the state’s touch-screen voting machines, said the company is treating the software Kagan received as “stolen” and not as “picked up” at the State Board of Elections, as the anonymous note claimed. Lawyers for the company are seeking its return.
The disclosure comes amid heightened concerns nationwide about the security of the November elections and the ability of the state to keep tight controls on the thousands of machines that will be used next month.
Maryland’s September primary – which used voting machines and electronic check-in equipment made by Diebold – suffered a series of mistakes, and the outcomes of some contests were not known for weeks.
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A Diebold voting machine with the ironic name of "AccuVote" was impounded after a voter in Colorado's Adams County noticed that the machine wouldn't take a vote for a Democratic state Senate candidate. Luckily, the ever-vigilant Brad Blog is on the case.
In this apparently leaked clip from the slated Nov. 2 episode of "The Simpsons," the original "Joe Sixpack," Homer Simpson, tangles with a voting machine as he attempts to cast his vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Who will prevail?
Diebold Election Systems is no more, having been spun off by its parent company and renamed Premier Election Solutions. The troubled voting machine maker has been plagued by controversy from the start, due to the frequently documented vulnerabilities of its election equipment.
Truthdig tips its hat this week to California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who did her constituency proud by heading off potential voting disasters in her state by ruling out the use of Diebold and Sequoia direct recording electronic (DRE) voting systems in upcoming elections, with exceptions made for disabled voters.
It turns out Diebold uses a universal key to access its voting machines, meaning that anyone who has one, a minute of free time and a little know-how can steal an election without a trace. What's worse, the company made an image of the key available on its website, allowing at least one viewer to produce multiple working copies.
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