One Machine, Lots Of Votes

Beating up on poor Diebold. AP (12.16.05), via DailyKos:

"Tests show some Diebold voting machines used in Florida and elsewhere around the nation can be hacked by election office insiders to change results, Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho charged Thursday.

Sancho said the tests on optical machines that scan paper ballots, conducted for his office and a monitoring group, also indicated they can be manipulated without leaving any evidence of tampering."

Manufacturer disputes voting machine tests

"'This is not supposed to be possible,' Sancho said."

"Diebold spokesman David Bear discounted the tests as unrealistic because they bypassed normal security procedures."

Geez Dave. That's kind of the whole idea of a hack.

Here's an excerpt from Ion's statement (12.16.05):

"Granted the same access as an employee of our office, it was possible to enter the computer, alter election results, and exit the system without leaving any physical record of this action.

It was also demonstrated that false information or instructions could be placed on a memory card (the device used to program the individual voting machines and record the voter’s votes) and create false results or election reports."

Special Report: Black Box Voting Attempts to Penetrate The Leon County Florida Optical Scan Voting System

Harri and Herb were going to take a shot at one of Diebold's California machines, but that has yet to occur. AP (11.29.05):

"Last May, Harri Hursti, a computer security expert from Finland who has been asked by Secretary of State Bruce McPherson to attempt to infiltrate one of the voting machines made by Diebold, successfully hacked a Diebold voting machine in Florida, changed election results and inserted a new program that flashed the message 'Are we having fun yet?' on the machine's screen."

SACRAMENTO / Hacking of voting machines put on hold

Why yes, Harri. As a matter of fact, we are. More fun than Diebold anyway.