My $.02
Do you trust
e-voting?
11-03-2004: I have to admit - my spidey sense is tingling.
Something doesn't seem quite right to me. I know the
results are in, but... who really spoke? Now hang on a
minute - Stop rolling your eyes and hear me out:
Item: Everyone agrees that this
election was the most important in recent history. The
stakes have never been higher.
Item: Every time the security of
e-voting machines have been tested, they have failed miserably.
Every computer security expert ever involved has strongly
discouraged their use until they are dramatically improved and
subject to open review, which the manufacturers have ignored and
continued to insist that they are safe to use.
Item: The big three e-voting machine
companies are all big Republican donors, pouring hundreds of
thousands of dollars into party coffers in the past few years.
Item: Multiple flaws and mistakes have
been documented with these systems, including a recent one which
led to their use being banned in California and a call from
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley to pursue criminal charges
against Diebold.
Item:
Here is
a link to the audit logs from the GEMS (central vote tabulator)
used in the 9/14/04 Washington State Primary. Note that
there is nothing audited between 9:52pm and 1:31am. Also
note that when summary reports are generated, it is logged.
Item:
Here
is a link to the summary reports printed and SIGNED by the
elections chief. Note the timestamps - 5 reports were
printed between 9:52pm and 1:31am, but do not appear in the
audit logs. Anyone in computer security ever see missing
audit logs before? What does it usually mean?
Yup. Either intentionally wiped from the
inside or Hacked from the outside. But Diebold says
"neither computer nor human interaction can alter the audit
logs". Interestingly enough,
here is a movie showing a trained chimpanzee doing just
that. That's right, a chimp. They're technically
correct, though. It wasn't a human or computer.
In a huge boost to their credibility,
Diebold's CEO Walden O'Dell is a Republican Pioneer, meaning he
has raised at least $100,000 for President George W. Bush. In a
fund-raising letter he sent in August 2003, O'Dell said he was
``committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the
president.''
I'm curious - if EVERY doctor in the world
said that a particular drug was unnecessarily risky and would
likely result in heart attack, stroke, and sudden death, but the
manufacturer said it was safe, would people still take that
medication? This is the situation with electronic voting -
EVERY security expert ever asked has given scathing reviews,
rife with words like "stunning failures", "frightening", and
"horrific". Given the universal condemnation of the
e-voting machines by the experts, we are buying more and more
with taxpayer's money. What the hell are we thinking?
I have responded to
Blackboxvoting.org's call for information security
professionals and auditors to help audit the election results
from 11/2/04. After reading stories about over 4500 lost
votes in a NC county and over 3893 votes being recorded for Bush
in an Ohio precinct of 800 people, I decided to help see what
what going on. For more info, click
here and the link above. Absolutely stunning.
Sour grapes? Conspiracy theories?
Maybe. Maybe it's my sincere hope that the American people
are smarter than it would appear, coupled with a little denial.
While it may be a conspiracy theory, there is no doubt that
tampering with the results would result in a huge payoff, with
little difficulty and nearly no chance of being caught. If
Watergate, JFK, Iran-Contra, and the war in Iraq have taught us
anything, it's that when the stakes are high, conspiracies are
not only possible, but likely. Those in power will do
anything to stay in power.
I know, I know. Denial. Maybe.
But still, it makes me wonder....
Chuck
Have an opinion? I'd like to
hear it - even if you're wrong :-) . Drop
me a comment on the Contact Me page.
Copyright
2005 Chuck Herrin.
