Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jul 22, 2007 22:31:22 GMT -6
Under the direction of California Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, the state is rigorously reviewing the security and reliability of its electronic voting machines. The following are excerpts from a Long Beach Press Telegram article titled
State puts E-voting under microscope
Elections: Worries of tampering prompt California to conduct rigorous testing, which describes the current attempts to evaluate California's E-vote system.
.
By Steven Harmon, Staff writer
"In a nondescript storage room, tucked deep behind layers of security doors, a handful of computer experts are wrapping up an intense two months of hacking or otherwise manipulating electronic voting systems.
The rigorous testing for vulnerabilities in touchscreen voting machines are part of an unprecedented "top-to-bottom" review ordered by Secretary of State Debra Bowen to ensure that the state's voting systems are secure - and whether or not they should be certified for use.
She is expected to issue a report on Aug. 3 - six months before the Feb. 5 presidential primaries, a timeline that is making election officials nervous.
Bowen is fulfilling what her supporters and voting security advocates consider to be the mandate she received from last year's election, in which she clashed with her predecessor, Bruce McPherson, over how much scrutiny the state's electronic voting and tabulations systems needed. She won in November amid a national outcry over fears of hacking, vote flipping and election rigging with suspicions squarely aimed at touchscreen voting systems.
"Voting machine companies are quaking in their boots," said Brad Friedman, the author of BradBlog.com, which is devoted to voting security issues. "She's doing exactly what she was elected to do. I will be stunned if they find systems that don't have enormous, gaping vulnerabilities."
Three vendors - Diebold Elections System of Texas, Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland, and Hart InterCivic of Texas - are awaiting the outcome of the review, as are county registrars, who worry that any decertification could lead to chaos on Election Day....
"Previous testing looked at whether the systems work the way vendors said they're supposed to work," (California Voter Foundation President) Alexander said. "It didn't include scenarios that would crop up in real elections, such as a software attack or the taking down of a polling place through technical manipulation."....
Skepticism over Diebold's system runs deep. Voting rights advocates remember Diebold's former CEO, Walden O'Dell, promising to deliver Ohio's vote to President Bush in 2004. And, McPherson's approval of Diebold's touchscreen machine last year came after his predecessor, Kevin Shelley, had decertified it because of numerous security flaws.
Alameda County, one of the first in California to use Diebold touchscreen voting machines, scrapped the Diebold system last year after repeated malfunctions kept thousands of voters from casting their ballots in 2004....
Bowen would not specify what systems counties would use if the touchscreen systems fail the tests....
Either way, California requires a voter verified paper audit trail - a law authored by Bowen when she was a state senator and chairwoman of the Senate Elections Committee."
It's also worth noting that California poll workers are instructed not to voluntarily inform voters that they can use a paper ballot, if they so choose. Despite this being the law, paper ballots are kept out of sight at California polls and voters are NEVER voluntarily informed by poll workers that they have the option of using a paper ballot. In order to use one, voters must already know that they have this right, and request a paper ballot, because poll workers won't inform them of this right.
State puts E-voting under microscope
Elections: Worries of tampering prompt California to conduct rigorous testing, which describes the current attempts to evaluate California's E-vote system.
.
By Steven Harmon, Staff writer
"In a nondescript storage room, tucked deep behind layers of security doors, a handful of computer experts are wrapping up an intense two months of hacking or otherwise manipulating electronic voting systems.
The rigorous testing for vulnerabilities in touchscreen voting machines are part of an unprecedented "top-to-bottom" review ordered by Secretary of State Debra Bowen to ensure that the state's voting systems are secure - and whether or not they should be certified for use.
She is expected to issue a report on Aug. 3 - six months before the Feb. 5 presidential primaries, a timeline that is making election officials nervous.
Bowen is fulfilling what her supporters and voting security advocates consider to be the mandate she received from last year's election, in which she clashed with her predecessor, Bruce McPherson, over how much scrutiny the state's electronic voting and tabulations systems needed. She won in November amid a national outcry over fears of hacking, vote flipping and election rigging with suspicions squarely aimed at touchscreen voting systems.
"Voting machine companies are quaking in their boots," said Brad Friedman, the author of BradBlog.com, which is devoted to voting security issues. "She's doing exactly what she was elected to do. I will be stunned if they find systems that don't have enormous, gaping vulnerabilities."
Three vendors - Diebold Elections System of Texas, Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland, and Hart InterCivic of Texas - are awaiting the outcome of the review, as are county registrars, who worry that any decertification could lead to chaos on Election Day....
"Previous testing looked at whether the systems work the way vendors said they're supposed to work," (California Voter Foundation President) Alexander said. "It didn't include scenarios that would crop up in real elections, such as a software attack or the taking down of a polling place through technical manipulation."....
Skepticism over Diebold's system runs deep. Voting rights advocates remember Diebold's former CEO, Walden O'Dell, promising to deliver Ohio's vote to President Bush in 2004. And, McPherson's approval of Diebold's touchscreen machine last year came after his predecessor, Kevin Shelley, had decertified it because of numerous security flaws.
Alameda County, one of the first in California to use Diebold touchscreen voting machines, scrapped the Diebold system last year after repeated malfunctions kept thousands of voters from casting their ballots in 2004....
Bowen would not specify what systems counties would use if the touchscreen systems fail the tests....
Either way, California requires a voter verified paper audit trail - a law authored by Bowen when she was a state senator and chairwoman of the Senate Elections Committee."
It's also worth noting that California poll workers are instructed not to voluntarily inform voters that they can use a paper ballot, if they so choose. Despite this being the law, paper ballots are kept out of sight at California polls and voters are NEVER voluntarily informed by poll workers that they have the option of using a paper ballot. In order to use one, voters must already know that they have this right, and request a paper ballot, because poll workers won't inform them of this right.