Voting Machine Konspiracies!!!

**jmervyn** · 15-05-2006, 15:35

Remember Diebold, and all that sunshine that was blown into nether regions regarding voting machines? I'm sure you remember - pervasive evil plots designed to deprive Amerciun voters of their precious bodily fluids, etc. etc.?

Well, buckle your safety belts everyone, the ride could get a lot bumpier...

"The call - from election watchdog BlackBoxVoting.org - described a critical vulnerability in Diebold Election Systems' touchscreen voting systems that could allow any person with access to a voting terminal the ability to completely change the system code or ballot file on the system."

In other words, you can crack the system using its own touchscreen. Marvellous.

""This one is so bad, that we can't do just nothing," Shamos told the state's election officials at the time. "Any losing candidate could challenge the election by saying, 'How do I know that the software on the machine is the software certified by the state?'""

Personally, I find the entire situation nothing short of disgusting. Using FOSS (software like Linux), a receipt printer, and some common sense, this would have been over before it began. Instead, we have companies making bucketloads of cash peddling shaky products to stupid gub'mint, while all parties concerned blame everyone but themselves. Oh, and some "shoot the messenger" for good measure (2nd page of article).

**SaroDarksbane** · 15-05-2006, 15:46

Originally Posted by jmervyn

Instead, we have companies making bucketloads of cash peddling shaky products to stupid gub'mint, while all parties concerned blame everyone but themselves.

I can't even comprehend how lazy a person would have to be to fail to make reliable voting software on a touch-screen.

I mean, seriously, when you consider all the enormous pieces of software out there, how hard is it to write a program to choose one guy or the other? How hard is that to test?

/boggle

**myleftfoot** · 15-05-2006, 16:08

Originally Posted by SaroDarksbane

I can't even comprehend how lazy a person would have to be to fail to make reliable voting software on a touch-screen.

I mean, seriously, when you consider all the enormous pieces of software out there, how hard is it to write a program to choose one guy or the other? How hard is that to test?

/boggle

These things will never be safe.

**Draconis** · 15-05-2006, 16:18

I like how you deride people as conspiracy theorists for being concerned about voting machine irregularities while simultaneously agreeing that the entire process is deeply flawed and open to systematic and untraceable abuse.

**Dondrei** · 15-05-2006, 16:18

Slipshod "good enough for government work" programming FTL. It wouldn't be that hard to make electronic booths that are reasonably secure and reliable, I just don't trust them to even manage that.

**jmervyn** · 15-05-2006, 16:20

Originally Posted by myleftfoot

These things will never be safe.

Actually, there's completely safe & secure methods. For said "konspiracy" reasons (the "dumb" & "greedy" I already referred to) we don't intend to use them.

Consider for just a second that we Yanks file our taxes online, yet can't vote online. Regardless of the hyperbolic arguments about making people get outside their house in order to "make their vote count", the fact that we've done the former for years but can't yet achieve the latter shows you where our national priorities lie. :cry:

**SaroDarksbane** · 15-05-2006, 16:56

Originally Posted by jmervyn

Actually, there's completely safe & secure methods. For said "konspiracy" reasons (the "dumb" & "greedy" I already referred to) we don't intend to use them.

Consider for just a second that we Yanks file our taxes online, yet can't vote online. Regardless of the hyperbolic arguments about making people get outside their house in order to "make their vote count", the fact that we've done the former for years but can't yet achieve the latter shows you where our national priorities lie. :cry:

The difference is, if I cheat on my taxes, it affects just me.

If I cheat while voting, it affects the whole country.

**myleftfoot** · 15-05-2006, 17:13

Originally Posted by jmervyn

Actually, there's completely safe & secure methods. For said "konspiracy" reasons (the "dumb" & "greedy" I already referred to) we don't intend to use them.

Consider for just a second that we Yanks file our taxes online, yet can't vote online. Regardless of the hyperbolic arguments about making people get outside their house in order to "make their vote count", the fact that we've done the former for years but can't yet achieve the latter shows you where our national priorities lie. :cry:

There will never be a secure electronic method to voting. Ever.

**jmervyn** · 15-05-2006, 17:22

Originally Posted by Draconis

I like how you deride people as conspiracy theorists for being concerned about voting machine irregularities while simultaneously agreeing that the entire process is deeply flawed and open to systematic and untraceable abuse.

I'm loveable that way.

What I deride is the asinine claims that <pick your establishment political target> is "really" behind this massive feckup. This is sheer bureaucratic inertia, incompetence, so on & so forth, not some Ebil & Co. plot. To be in production already with equipment that can be hacked via the user interface? What rot. :sad2:

**jmervyn** · 15-05-2006, 17:27

Originally Posted by SaroDarksbane

The difference is, if I cheat on my taxes, it affects just me.

If I cheat while voting, it affects the whole country.

I politely disagree. If you cheat on your taxes, the individual impact you make is not far greater than the individual impact your choice makes on the popular vote. However, we are a mercenary culture, so taxes have far more attention paid to them.

Originally Posted by leftfoot

There will never be a secure electronic method to voting. Ever.

There's a review here...