New vote machines undergo simulation, appear to be fine

[Freddie Stubbs]

Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood dropped in on preelection testing of Palm Beach County's electronic voting equipment. The equipment passed the test.

BY ERIKA BOLSTAD

[e-mail]


WEST PALM BEACH - Four years after the crisis over the chads and butterfly ballots, Florida election officials say they are voluntarily shining the spotlight on the state's voting equipment, starting in Palm Beach County.

''Everyone has a vested interest in this election,'' said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore.

So she and other Florida election officials are inviting scrutiny of their preelection voting tests, hoping that it will help allay growing public concern about the trustworthiness of electronic voting equipment.

The results in Palm Beach, the center of the controversy in the disputed 2000 election, were perfect after the 2 ½-hour test, a routine check known as ''logic and accuracy'' testing.

more: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/9377182.htm

[freetobegay]

1. Which test?

Bush's or...

[underpants]

2. Excatly what were the standards of the test?

Is this like the lowered requirements for StarWars so that basically it is impossible to fail?

The results in Palm Beach, the center of the controversy in the disputed 2000 election, were perfect after the 2 ½-hour test, a routine check known as ''logic and accuracy'' testing.

But some of the few people attending the test, including LePore's opponent, Art Anderson, and members of the Palm Beach County Election Reform Coalition, said they felt the tests weren't thorough enough.

[kingdamon]

3. No comments about security...

Why not allow some college hackers to have a few whacks at it.

[sendero]

4. I'm hoping we use exit polls...

.. to "verify" the accuracy of the election. Because tests like this are pretty much meaningless if the coders want it to be.

For example:

if(IsElectionDay()) {
CountVoteProperly();
}
else {
CountVoteSkim();
}

A simple way to thwart this kind of hack would be to set the system clock to election day for the test, but I'd say the liklihood of them having done that is about zero.

[Joanne98]

5. If I were Teresa LaPore or Glenda Hood

I'd start shopping around for the best price on BODYGUARDS.

[flordehinojos]

6. Reporting on the Palm Beach county Theresa LePore trial voting machines,

Luis F. Perez, staff writer for the sun-sentinel, in an article entitled MISTAKE FOUND ON ABSENTEE BALLOTS IN PALM BEACH COUNTY, writes,
"Palm Beach County's elections chief said Tuesday that there is a mistake on some absentee ballots.

Voters should know that a witness' signature is no longer required on absentee ballots, Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore said.

That point might be a bit confusing to the first 22,000 people who received absentee ballots. The first batch went in the mail Monday with an error-- a sentence referring to a witness needing to sign."

So, here is my rant in the form of a letter I sent to Mr. Perez:
2000 absentee ballots that went out with a glitch on it. It requires the voter to sign the ballot and have the signature witnessed WHICH IS NO LONGER NEEDED BY THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE..and Florida law so says Theresa LePore, so she shrugs her shoulders, says, “sorry. it is a glitch” and life goes on. Back in 2000 when the skewed ballot that she designed was discovered, Theresa LePore shrugged her shoulders and said, “too bad” intelligent voters should be able to figure it out and vote their choice. SHE PREPARED THE WAY FOR THE BUSH HIGHWAY ROBBERY OF AL GORE’S ELECTION AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES... and that thievery was had by less than 2000 votes.

NOW there are 2000 absentee ballots with a glitch on them. Theresa LePore shrugs her shoulders again (AND CONTRARY TO HOW THE GOVERNOR AND GLENDA HOOD TREATED MIRIAM OLIPHANT WHO WAS FIRED FOR INCOMPETENCE, THIS INCOMPETENT WOMAN REMAINS IN THE JOB OF SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS FOR PBC BECAUSE HER INCOMPETENCE IS CARRIED OUT IN A WAY THAT BENEFITS THE BUSHES).

Now the voters WILL AGAIN BE CONFUSED. WILL THE BALLOT REQUIRE ONLY THE VOTER SIGNATURE? Will it need A WITNESS’S SIGNATURE? What if the voter can’t go out and get it properly witnessed? What does “properly witnessed” mean? Does it mean notarized? AND WHAT DOES “PROPERTY WITNESSED” MEAN for that is how the ballot reads? What to do? What not to do? Glenda Hood says FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS SO YOUR VOTE WILL COUNT.

Well!

some directive on the part of Jeb Bush’s henchwoman! FOLLOW THE CONFUSION IS WHAT SHE IS SAYING. She is also saying, TOO BAD THAT YOU ARE CONFUSED. BUT IF YOU ARE CONFUSED YOU ARE THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR UNCONFUSING YOURSELF OR IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO, THEN YOU ARE THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR CASTING A CONFUSED BALLOT, OR A BALLOT THAT IS CONFUSING UPON THE COUNTING OF THE VOTES WE WILL JUST INVALIDATE.

THAT IS WHAT SHE IS TELLING THE PBC VOTERS with her statement follow the instructions on the maze in this ballot so your vote will be counted—JUST LIKE THEY DID IN THE 2000 ELECTIONS.

In the meantime The Palm Beach County Canvassing Board agrees, as per your article, to accept ballots that come in with an extra signature (BUT WILL THEY ACCEPT THOSE THAT JUST HAVE THE VOTER’S SIGNATURE AND DO NOT HAVE THE WITNESSED SIGNATURE REQUIRED IN THOSE FLAWED BALLOTS?)

Will this become A BUSH POINT OF CONTENTION IN THE FLORIDA ELECTIONS? GIVEN THAT WATCHFUL EYES ARE WATCHING THE MACHINES; THAT JEBBIE'S BLATANT DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF FLORIDA VOTERS WAS EXPOSED BEFORE HE GOT TO DISENFRANCHISE THEM THROUGH AND THROUGH,

GIVEN THAT ALL EYES ARE UPON THE BUSHES, WILL THIS BE THE LATEST CONCEPTION BY THE BUSHES ON HOW TO STEAL ANOTHER ELECTION?

LESS THAN 200 VOTES DID IT LAST TIME—THIS TIME THERESA LEPORE's AND GLENDA HOOD's GLITCHES AND NON-CHALANT ATTITUDE ARE GIVING THE BUSHES A MUCH GREATER MARGIN!

IF GLENDA HOOD AND THERESA LEPORE AND JOHN ELLIS BUSH WERE INDEED INTERESTED IN HONEST AND FAIR ELECTIONS THEY WOULD RESEND THOSE 2000 ABSENTEE BALLOT WITHOUT THE "WITNESS SIGNATURE REQUIRED" line on them AND WITH AN ACCOMPANYING LETTER EXPLAINING WHY THE NEED TO RESEND THE BALLOTS.

THEIR MANTRA, HOWEVER, IS STEAL THE ELECTION. CONFUSE THE VOTERS. CONFUSE THE VOTERS. CONFUSE THE VOTERS.

[nodictators]

9. In LePore's Palm Beach County ALL "mistakes" benefit Bush

Did those 22,000 absentee ballots with "mistakes" go to Repubs or Dems?

In 2000, LePore made many "mistakes", all of which benefited Bush.

LePore made a "mistake" and forgot to send poll-watcher credentials to the Democrats. At the time she was a registered Dem. Of course, she had remembered to send the credentials to the Repubs.

According to Toobin's "Too Close to Call," she personally delivered the credentials to the PBC Democrat's office on Sunday, two days before the election. PBC has about the same area as the entire state of Delaware. If the credentials were mailed on Monday morning, few, if any, could reach the poll-watchers the same day.

Thus, few precincts had Dem poll-watchers on the morning of election day to alert the Dem voters to the awful butterfly ballot.

Note: I don't believe any of LePore's excuses. I believe she knew exactly what havoc her butterfly ballot would cause.

[flordehinojos]

13. I agree with you wholeheartedly!

:-)

[ChompySnack]

7. It's not Nov 2nd is it?

Report: There isn't anyone actively logging on via wireless connection and changing the vote totals during the simulation.

The simulation has verified that they aren't stupid enough to try to cheat during a simulation performed to verify that there isn't any cheating going on.

I'm feeling better already.

[Eurobabe]

8. "appear to be fine" - key operative phrase

objects in the rear view mirror may be closer than they appear.

[ibegurpard]

10. Do they print out "receipts" that can be used to check against

the computer totals if things appear to be fishy? If not, then things are most certainly not fine.

[Career Prole]

11. My thoughts exactly.

An electronic vote without a paper trail is most certainly not "fine".

[FlaGranny]

12. Big deal - all that proves is that the machines can count!

Any computer can count properly if programmed to do so. But even if the computer can count correctly, the figures are unbelievably easy to change. After watching Howard Dean do it, I know exactly how do do it myself, and given access to the "main" machine, I could do it within seconds. WHO HAS ACCESS TO THOSE MACHINES? That's the real question. Interesting, also, that these people give the impression they know so little about computers that they don't know there can be a power fluctuation or a crash or a program malfunction.

Edit: add word for clarity.

[stickdog]

14. So they passed an internal test imbedded in the machines!

Huzzah!

It's like asking Richard J. Daley if he'll count fairly. And when he smiles and says "Yes" that proves everything is dandy!

[0rion]

15. Suuuuuure, they are......

until election day when they all suddenly blink off.

[Zorra]

16. Will Glenda the Hood allow David Dill, Rebecca Mercuri, and Avi Rubin to

scrutinize the testing? I doubt it. Let's hope some leading experts in voting technology take her up on her challenge, and point out the numerous ways that her demonstrations are invalid, and what the potential for voter fraud really is.

"So she and other Florida election officials are inviting scrutiny of their preelection voting tests, hoping that it will help allay growing public concern about the trustworthiness of electronic voting equipment."

Dr. Rebecca Mercuri is one of the leading computer security and electronic vote tabulation specialists.

David L. Dill is a Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He has been on the faculty at Stanford since 1987. He has an S.B. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.S and Ph.D. from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Avi Rubin received his B.S. (89), M.S.E. (91), and Ph.D. (94) in Computer Science from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
He is a Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University, and has an appointment as the Technical Director of the Hopkins Information Security Institute. Prior to joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins, he worked in the Secure Systems Research Department at AT&T Labs - Research . His work there was in the area of cryptography, network security, Web security and secure Internet services.

[ElementaryPenguin]

17. I cannot f*cking believe that LeWhore is still in that position!!!

Florida Dems didn't get a thing fixed if she's still in place! Kerry's lawyers better have their combat gear on and Michael Moore has his cameras rolling - there's gonna be a war down there! First fallacy - LeWhore is a Democrat - BULLSHIT - SHE ISN'T!!

:puke:
:argh:
:mad:

[dryan]

18. I witnessed the test here in Orange County...

everything was fine. Of course we have optiscan machines.

[wildeyed]

19. Well I feel sooooo much better, now.

As long as everything APPEARS to be fine, then it must be. Since Governor Jeb Bush appointed Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood as Secretary of State effective February 2003, I am sure she has only the best interests of the voters at heart. <sarcasm/off>

I cannot believe that the future of this great country likely rests with people as incompetent and dishonest as the FL election officials.

[daleo]

20. They have tested them and they work fine

The machines are doing exactly what they want them to do.

[jpak]

21. Yup, they passed the test...

one vote for Kerry = one vote for Bush

one vote for Bush = two votes for Bush

[Nashyra]

22. Paper trail in Nevada

I went to a demonstration on the voting machines we will use in this election cycle. They are stand alone machines and they are not conncected to the internet in any way shape or form. There is a paper trail, it is a printer on the side that verifies your ballot and you can see it in the case and if you want to change your vote it then displays voided until you finalize your vote. There is a cartridge in the back o0f the machine that is numbered and marked and placed in a secure pouched and then locked to take to election center to be counted, this is separate from the the printer which is also counted, the printer and the cartridge have to match, there is a third place to count votes and that is in the machine itself. All of these are taken with representatives of both parties to to the elction center where they are counted by machine, once again none of which are connected to the internet, the paper trail that you were able to view must match the count in the cartridge and they are counted by diferent machines in different rooms by different people of both parties. Then they send the final counts to the state by internet, the state has to post the precints and the counties with their tallies, so the votes have to match what the election center of each county sends. There was a member of the ACLU, a rather important member and hard working member there at the forum put on by the Douglas County Democratic Women and he said that he was more than fairly confident, he was very confident and thought that Barbara Reed the Republican County Clerk put in some vry safe guidelines. From what I saw and I did get to use the machine and see the paper trail I felt comfortable. Sorry it was such a long post.

[eridani]

23. If it shouldn't be done at all, it damn well shouldn't be done well

I don't care if their software can do a good job of counting negative votes. I don't want it to count negative votes at all!

[Seldona]

24. I wonder if they were running certified software this time?

Or unpatched versions with plans to update later?

I will take the punch cards any day.

[ParanoidPat]

25. BREAKING: Magician appears to pull elephant out of his ass!

Smoke and mirrors. :evilgrin:

[moondust]

26. Meaningless.

The software can be preprogrammed to work just fine all the time except on election day it will work "differently" though nobody will likely notice because there won't be time on election day to test it all. Or a simple upgrade can install something entirely different or make major modifications at any time.

This is pathetic.