Avoidable Politcal Rant: Vote early and often...

[kinzel]

I had several private notes relating to my mention of voting problems in Maryland --
one saying from the Free State, as the first voter at the polls, that their first machine hadn't worked right so they were moved to another machine, where they voted for real. Oh goody.

Now, this: report explains that the machines are, perhaps, not all that reliable or secure... in fact, while working with the machine the project managed to get a virus onto it. Guess it's a MSoft Windows(R) machine, huh?

And so it goes. I worked at one point with an organization that was hurrying to do online voting...and became concerned when it turned out that the voting was not happening on the organization's own servers or equipment but, via links, on the equipment of someone with various vested interests and who was a self-proclaimed technical whiz.... So, I'm not as active with that group at the moment.

On the other hand I do intend to vote in the upcoming elections and I certainly hope the machines are working reliably for all of us then else the calls we heard after last election that the thing had been stolen in Ohio may be the start of a real political problem in this country.

Comments

[ckd]

Windows CE 3.0, to be exact.

[ckd]

They "managed to get a virus onto it" by writing one designed to spread via the memory cards; it's not like they just plugged it into the network and let the script kiddies break in.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Did you see Avi Rubin's report of his day st the polls? http://avi-rubin.blogspot.com/2006/09/my-day-at-polls-maryland-primary-06.html

I don't think LJ will let me copy the whole post here, so I'm just sending the link.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

thanks for the link...

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

I thought it was relevant. DH gets Risks Digest and occasionally forwards stuff of interest to me.

I would say the election the other day was a big debacle. Why are people so trusting of technology?

[baggette.livejournal.com]

Can one refuse to use the machines and vote the old, PAPER way?

[saruby.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't that be nice. It seems to me that this push to go to all electronic/computer voting is making someone a lot of money and serving the public interest not at all. Personally, I don't trust that any computer is incorruptible, so I assume that if I vote by computer, someone can interfere with/change my vote. This puts WAY to much power in the hands of those who already have too much power, IMHO.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of a joke I heard when Iraq was having its recent elections: the White House had been thinking of making it easier for them by lending them our voting machines, but George W. Bush kept coming up as the winner.

Pet cats for calm...

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

We have to convince those who want to nominate Bush for sainthood that his minions will allow him to invade Iran. (They're already using the same language they used for Iraq.)

What we need is a pithy one or two liner to start using now. Like "A Republican Congress will renew the draft -- it's the only way to fight a war on three fronts and have anyone guarding our borders. Start planning now."

[deb-krol.livejournal.com]

Hey, just do what I do--vote by mail, if it's possible. make a photocopy of your ballot for insurance. Of course, this alternative may not be available in all states, but if it is, at least you have to mail in a paper ballot.

The problem then lies with the optical scanners they use--which means that you need to use a Sharpie or other such black marker to ensure the ballot will be read properly.

Or you could just write your own virus to wipe out their viruses--any attempted viral tampering with the software would blow out the microprocessor along with the virus, thus rendering the machine unusable. Blow up enough 'tampered' voting machines and they'll get the message...

hey, it's an option, although it _may_ get you thrown into Club Fed for awhile...