[Infowarrior] - Diebold official admits voting system is vulnerable

[Richard Forno]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dschell
>
> http://washingtontechnology.com/Articles/2009/03/23/Web-Diebold-admits-voting-system-flaws.aspx?s=wtdaily_240309&Page=2&p=1
>
> Diebold official admits voting system is vulnerable
>
> Mar 23, 2009
> Critics of electronic voting systems have had their warnings  
> vindicated by two recent announcements. An official with Premier  
> Election Systems, formerly known as Diebold, admitted that its audit  
> log system was flawed enough that it would be possible to delete  
> votes undetected, and several elections officials in Kentucky were  
> arrested on charges related to election fraud, including changing  
> electronically recorded votes.
>
> Wired reported that officials from Premier admitted in a hearing  
> held March 17 in California that their tabulation software could  
> miss significant events, including the deletion of votes on Election  
> Day. They said the flaw is present in every version of the software.
>
> The California Secretary of State's office discovered that audit  
> logs from Diebold machines in Humboldt County, Calif., did not  
> record known ballot deletions, according to Wired. Justin Bales,  
> general sales manager for Premier's western region, told a state  
> investigator that the software does not record deletions and never  
> has.
>
> The office was originally investigating the deletion of 197 votes in  
> Humboldt County when its investigators discovered that the audit  
> logs provided no information on the event.
>
> The software also does not record timestamps on the events it does  
> document, and it includes a "clear" button that allows the easy  
> deletion of the audit logs, according to Wired and GovTech.
>
> Such audit logs have been at the heart of the electronic voting  
> machine controversy. Critics of the machines have long charged that  
> it would be possible to change the recorded votes undetected, and  
> they have urged that, at a minimum, the machines should generate a  
> paper receipt that the voter would confirm was an accurate record of  
> the vote. Elections officials would keep the paper records and use  
> them to verify the accuracy of the electronically tabulated results  
> in the event of a challenge. Voting machine makers have generally  
> responded to such criticisms by saying that the combination of audit  
> logs and capable elections officials following protocols would  
> prevent fraud.
>
> In Clay County, Ky., the FBI arrested several county elections  
> officials on a variety of election fraud charges, including changing  
> votes already recorded on the electronic voting machines, according  
> to a Lexington, Ky., NBC affiliate. They have pleaded not guilty,  
> the Associated Press reported.
>
> According to the indictment against the eight defendants, some of  
> the fraud also included instructing others on how to change votes on  
> the machines and identifying voters who had sold their votes.
>

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