Voting Machine Legislation Stalled by House GOP

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Wednesday April 16, 2008 · 5:37 AM PDT

2008/04/16 · 05:37

A good emergency bill to fund verifiable voting systems has been smacked down. From Rep. Rush Holt's media release:

"This bill would represent a real step forward in our effort to protect the accuracy, integrity and security of the November elections," Holt said. "The bill that the House leadership scheduled for a vote today is the same one that passed two weeks ago without the objection of a single Committee member. There is no reason why this should be a partisan issue but the Republicans evidently have chosen to make it so. The White House issued a statement opposing the bill and 176 of 203 Republicans voted that way."

Midwest Millian

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Sunday March 30, 2008 · 2:11 PM PDT

2008/03/30 · 14:11

Many thanks to the folks who put this issue on the diary rescue last week. Many more thanks to the Kossacks who have signed on to the action alert.

To recap: New Jersey's legislature passed a law in mid-2005 that required voter-verifiable paper records on voting machines by January 2008. The Division of Elections chose to recommend retrofitting aging, unreliable Sequoia Advantage machines with printers, instead of purchasing a more reliable system of paper ballots, optical scanners, and ballot markers for voters with disabilities. Guess what? The printers don't work, and the Legislature extended the deadline to June of this year. Then a couple of weeks ago, the Legislature extended the deadline again to January 2009. Almost three years of delay and dysfunction, culminating in 15 more unverifiable electoral votes. There is something you can do: urge Governor Corzine to veto the delay legislation, A2229. Follow the flip for links.

Midwest Millian

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Tuesday March 25, 2008 · 9:06 AM PDT

2008/03/25 · 09:06

UPDATE: Mercer County Superior Court Judge has ordered that proposed testing by independent computer scientists proceed - see here. There will also not be a full trial to determine the reliability of the machines until May 19.

What's wrong with New Jersey? The state passed a law requiring voter-verifiable paper records in July of 2005. Now, unless Governor Corzine vetoes legislation passed last week, the Garden State will have an unverifiable Presidential election, cast on insecure, unreliable electronic voting machines. And the nation will have 15 more electoral votes dependent entirely on ones and zeroes.

Midwest Millian

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Saturday March 08, 2008 · 5:54 PM PST

2008/03/08 · 17:54

First, the caveats. This proves no fraud. Of course, the below offers nice reinforcement to the already-nailed case against the Diebold (Premier) TSX, the touch screen used in DuPage County. From the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper:

Justin Major, a voter protection lawyer for the Foster campaign, observed that the word "Republican" flashed on a touch-screen voting booth at Pioneer School at 615 Kenwood in West Chicago as though it was a primary election. The ballot was normal otherwise and the word came up only on the screen. Paper ballots were also available, and no problems were reported with the use of paper.

Midwest Millian

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Friday January 11, 2008 · 9:57 AM PST

2008/01/11 · 09:57

You don't need to worry about Kucinich asking for a recount in South Carolina. There won't be one, because, in essence, there can't be one. The state uses a paperless touch screen system that makes recounts an exercise in reprinting electrtonic tallies.

This is what Edward Felten, head of the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton. Felten is talking about the ES&S iVotronic, the paperless system used statewide in South Carolina:

"Even if you don’t think anyone would try to steal an election, this should still scare you. A machine with so many design errors must also be susceptible to misrecording or miscounting votes due to the ordinary glitches and errors that always plague computer systems. Even if all poll workers and voters were angels,this machine would be too risky to use."

Midwest Millian

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Thursday January 10, 2008 · 9:31 AM PST

2008/01/10 · 09:31

Paper ballots are great, but if you want paper ballots to serve as a check on error or fraud in electronic tabulation, you have to do some hand counting.

Hand-count samples are commonly called "post-election audits," and there is a growing consensus among computer scientists who study voting systems that audits are at least as important as the mere existence of the paper.

The report of the Brennan Center Task Force on Voting System Security said it best. From p. 83:

The value of paper ballots without the Automatic Routine Audits is highly
questionable

UPDATE: The original title of this diary was that New Hampshie "nailed the case" for audits. The case did not need to be nailed, as some have observed in comments. The primary reminds us why audits are important, because they can offer a basis for reassurance to citizens who have been paying attention to e-voting problems, and are concerned.

Midwest Millian

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Sunday January 06, 2008 · 7:30 AM PST

2008/01/06 · 07:30

The Times Magazine has published an extensive article on problems with electronic voting. It's a net gain for the effort to restore verifiable public elections, and it's about time the issue got extensive treatment in big media.

Good as most of the Times piece is, it pushes a meme that needs to be smacked down immediately.

Midwest Millian

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Tuesday December 18, 2007 · 7:55 AM PST

2007/12/18 · 07:55

"It's worse than I thought." Those are the words of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner used to describe the security of voting systems in her state, following a top-to-bottom review by a corporate-academic team. Brunner has recommended that Ohio scrap all direct-recording electronic touch screen systems.

Brunner's review included the the ES&S iVotronic, the same system that will be used statewide in the South Carolina primaries on January 19 and January 26.

In a recent diary, I noted that South Carolina's primary will depend on the reliability of the less than reliable iVotronic. Ohio's review team confirms Brunner's statement: the system is worse than we thought.

Midwest Millian

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Sunday December 02, 2007 · 8:07 PM PST

2007/12/02 · 20:07

Cross-posted at Open Left and Booman Tribune.

The South Carolina primary could well be a do-or-die contest for at least one of the three top candidates in both major parties. Depending on how the first three states shake up, Huckabee, Romney, or Giuliani will be faced with on-the-ropes status in news coverage by the January 19 primary. Failure to win there could subject one of them to a full-blown candidacy death watch. The same goes for Clinton, Edwards, and Obama and the January 26 Democratic primary in South Carolina. Not to mention the rest of the field.

But the South Carolina primaries will not verifiable. Both will be conducted on a statewide paperless electronic voting system which has become notorious among activists and computer scientists for its reliability and security issues.

Meet the ES&S iVotronic.

Midwest Millian

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Sunday June 24, 2007 · 2:26 PM PDT

2007/06/24 · 14:26

After the news that Florida is moving toward a paper ballot system by 2008, many might have thought that voting system concerns could be moved safely to the back burner.

Wrong.

If Congress does not act soon, as many as 35 million voters, in at least 13 states, will vote for the next President of the United States on unreliable, insecure paperless electronic voting machines. We have a chance to prevent this from happening.

Voting Machine Legislation Stalled by House GOP

Voting Machines in NJ: One More Push for a Verifiable 2008 Vote

Updated: New Jersey's Voting Machines: Take Action for a Verifiable 2008 Election!

IL-14: Diebold Touch Screens Flash Word "Republican"

South Carolina: A Recount Won't Be Possible

Post-Election Audits: New Hampshire Reminds Why They're Important

NYT Magazine Covers E-Voting

South Carolina Alert: Voting System is Worse Than We Thought

Unverifiable: The South Carolina Primary

No Paperless Diebold Machines in 2008: Support HR 811