Electronic Voting Issues

Kitsune · 05-03-2004, 03:47 PM

Finally, someone took note of the problems with Diebold voting machines.

The list of issues the State of California has raised (PDF) which includes the one that has me worried: lack of a paper trail.

Happy Monkey · 05-03-2004, 03:55 PM

I'm a computer programmer, and I wouldn't trust those things to count votes on where to get lunch.

They're using MS Access (insecure), and turning off even the security features it has! Even the ones that are on when shipped from the factory.

Here's hoping that other states decide they don't want to use machines that have been decertified in California.

Kitsune · 05-03-2004, 05:23 PM

We got to use Diebold machines in Hillsboro County, Florida, during the recent round of voting. The process was mysterious: you went to the polling center and they handed you a card after looking you up in the books. The card, which had a visible smartchip in it, was inserted into the machine and you returned the card into a box after you were finished voting. The only problem is that no one could tell where the votes were stored. If votes were stored on the card, I certainly didn't feel comfortable with the cards not going into the standard lockbox, as they went into a small cardboard box at the desk. Were the votes stored on the machines? Well, they had no UPSes on them, so what happened if the power went out? There was absolutely no way of knowing if the machine had stored your vote, stored it correctly, or that it would be retained for counting.

05-03-2004, 03:47 PM	#1
Kitsune still eats dirt Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 3,031	Electronic Voting Issues Finally, someone took note of the problems with Diebold voting machines. The list of issues the State of California has raised (PDF) which includes the one that has me worried: lack of a paper trail.

05-03-2004, 03:55 PM	#2
Happy Monkey I think this line's mostly filler. Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: DC Posts: 13,575	I'm a computer programmer, and I wouldn't trust those things to count votes on where to get lunch. They're using MS Access (insecure), and turning off even the security features it has! Even the ones that are on when shipped from the factory. Here's hoping that other states decide they don't want to use machines that have been decertified in California. __________________ _________________ \|...............\| We live in the nick of times. \| Len 17, Wid 3 \| \|_______________\| [pics]

05-03-2004, 05:23 PM	#3
Kitsune still eats dirt Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 3,031	We got to use Diebold machines in Hillsboro County, Florida, during the recent round of voting. The process was mysterious: you went to the polling center and they handed you a card after looking you up in the books. The card, which had a visible smartchip in it, was inserted into the machine and you returned the card into a box after you were finished voting. The only problem is that no one could tell where the votes were stored. If votes were stored on the card, I certainly didn't feel comfortable with the cards not going into the standard lockbox, as they went into a small cardboard box at the desk. Were the votes stored on the machines? Well, they had no UPSes on them, so what happened if the power went out? There was absolutely no way of knowing if the machine had stored your vote, stored it correctly, or that it would be retained for counting.

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