Jeremy Duffy - Awareness Advocate » E-voting

Ireland Dumps E-voting and Goes Back to Paper

Jeremy — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:24:25 +0000

E-voting isn't impossible, but it's definitely not ready for the mainstream. At the very least, they'll have to make a system that actually has auditing and accountability.

(H/T to Schneier's Blog for the link)

Maryland’s Voter Discrimination in Full Force

Jeremy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:53:17 +0000

I've been barred from voting in Maryland before and I expected this to be no different. I was not disappointed.

Today I went to my polling place bright and early and explained to them that I'm a computer professional and refuse to use machines that have a proven record of insecurity. Such poorly designed machines are no better than playing video poker where your odds of winning aren't random, but decided by rules someone wrote into a computer.

They originally decided that I could use the provisional ballot, but once the two judges talked, they took it from me and said that if I wouldn't use the machines, I couldn't vote.

Now some would say, "don't be such a chump and just use the machines! You're like my grandfather who won't use computers because he's afraid of the technology!" But there's a huge difference between protesting the use of a technology out of suspicion and ignorant fear and doing so due to analysis of careful scholarly research. A simple Google search of "accuvote ts" brings up link after link of studies done on the Diebold machines showing flaw and security issues. These aren't hypotheicals, they've been done and demonstrated.

Then someone will likely say, "you knew this was going to be a problem, so why didn't you go to your elections office or request an absentee ballot or such?"

That's all well and good assuming you know about that. Granted, I knew this would likely be an issue because of last time, but what about the first time I tried or anyone else who runs into this issue during this election? Besides, it's not our job or responsibility to become familiar with all the voting rules, regulations, procedures, addendums etc. I wanted to see if the voting system worked the way it is currently set up so I read the information they sent in the mail and I went to my polling place and followed every direction.

Some have told me that I'm throwing away my vote, but am I really? I like to think that what I'm actually doing is sacrificing my vote to raise awareness of several important issues:

Maryland should not have purchased these machines, should have discontinued their use upon discovery of their vast array of vulnerabilities, should sue Diebold for our money back + punitive damages, and at the very least should give us the option of not using them. None of these came to be and the result is such that I'm forced to use the machines or not vote at all and that's not OK.

Sequoia Evoting Machines Easy to Hack

Jeremy — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:40:36 +0000

Not surprising at all. Diebold isn't the only one who screwed this up.

West Virginia E-Voting Machines Caught Flipping Votes

Jeremy — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:53:42 +0000

Touted as a "touchscreen validation error", a West Virginian retiree was "miffed" to find that his vote had been recorded incorrectly.

Life imitates life does it not? (Homer Simpson Tries to Vote for Obama on E-vote Machine)

It's so weird though… How come no one realized that E-voting machines could be a problem?

Oh wait….

http://www.jeremyduffy.com/category/e-voting/
Florida E-Voting Study
New e-voting study shows it's really easy to steal an election
Researchers reveal 'extremely serious' vulnerabilities in e-voting machines

Judge Supresses Report on Voting Machine Insecurity

Jeremy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:48:43 +0000

Just great.

(H/T to Slashdot for the link)

Diebold Finally Admits Voting Machines Lose Votes

Jeremy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:38:33 +0000

Though they originally blamed it on anti-virus software on the machines, Diebold has admitted that it was coding error that leads its machines to drop votes. Hopefully that will help in the lawsuit against Diebold and encourage others states to recoup their losses as well.

States Throw Out Worthless Diebold Voting Machines

Jeremy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:18:02 +0000

It's actually very encouraging that the same states that were originally duped into buying these machines despite the vast mountain of evidence of their general worthlessness have become smart enough to remove them in time for the upcoming election.

And about this:

"I have a huge inventory of machines that I am not able to use," she complained. "They are just sitting in our warehouse basically useless." Stacked to floor to ceiling are 4,000 machines purchased at $3,500 each. Total cost of that system: $16 million.

How exactly does Diebold get away with selling defective merchandise to the government without being forced to issue a refund?

(H/T to Slashdot for the link)

Update

Today Ars Technica also covers the story and adds some interesting details. For example, it turns out that in one case a voting machine company offered to buy back their machines from the state for $1 each (their original price was $5000 each). At least the state was smart enough to decline).

Ohio Sues Diebold for Fraudulent E-Voting Machines

Jeremy — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:33:02 +0000

Of course, I believe some of the blame should go to the Ohio elections people, but I can't fault them for being pulled in by slick salesguys (if that's what actually happened). Either way, at least they're fessing up and making sure to hold Diebold accountable for their flop.

The touch-screen voting setup used in half of Ohio's 88 counties doesn't work properly, and the former Diebold Election Systems should pay as a result, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said in a court filing yesterday.

Well duh. Better yet, they should scrap the system and get something that actually works. In theory, my state has which is good since I'd hate to be blocked from voting again this year.

Voting Machines Shown to Add Wrong

Jeremy — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:48:40 +0000

In case you didn't know already, voting machines are hackable and otherwise, just plain poop. Any state that's using them should be sued. Now a man has used voting machine print-outs to prove that they are adding votes incorrectly.

Diebold Universal Keys Easily Duplicated

Jeremy — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:31:21 +0000

So not only was Diebold dumb enough to use a universal key for all their voting machines, and not only did they sell those keys off their website (though supposedly only to "authorized people" as if we could trust them to handle who's authorized or not), but they posted a picture of the keys on the Internet which allowed at least one researcher to make a perfect working copy at home with a key blank bought from the store and a file.

This story came to light a while ago, but there's been some updates such as:

In a classic Diebold bury-the-evidence move, they've now replaced the entire page in their online store featuring the mechanical, copyable key with a page featuring a "Smart Card, Security Key Card." A digital key card. Same link, different key entirely. Which can only be done, given the database they use for their online store, quite deliberately in order to try to fool folks again. Par for the course. And, of course, shameless.

Whee.

(H/T to Slashdot for the link)