New company emerges to supply "fair" voting machines for 2006

[kuozzman]

The guys running Populex put the Diebold/ES&S execs to shame. They supposedly have "fair" machines and will likely supply a lot of machines by 2006. The guys running it are more than enough to cause suspision and I think they are trying to appear as if they have a paper trail, but it is a paper "ballot", not "trail".

http://ignorantusa.tripod.com/

[Alizaryn]

1. We need to go back to Nationwide plain old paper,

[Johnny Noshoes]

10. I agree

I love technology - hell if I didn't I wouldn't be using a computer with a broadband connection. Having said that there is something to be said for a good old LOW TECH solution to this problem. Will we get it probably not. I don't know what it will take to get folks to see that things are NOT okay here in Mall World :argh:


"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely,the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
-- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

[deacon2]

12. Me too

I'm surrounded by computers as I type this - but when I damn sure want to know I really have something, I take out a pen and write it down.

That said - the Carlyle thing just figures, doesn't it? Let's get every creep and criminal we can find to be involved in our election process. Otherwise, how would the expected outcome be achieved?

[Johnny Noshoes]

16. Remember

always, always ---BACK UP BACK UP BACK UP :hi:

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
-- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

[Alizaryn]

18. OMG ,,, I WENT TO THE COMMITTEE OF GOVERNMENT

Reform to email them the information about the company and guess who's face is sitting there smiling at me!!!!!!!!

The Accenture protector himself! Davis, Tom (R-VA) They have us surrounded!!! (Yes I am loosing it, this is NUTS)

The same company that "accidentally" messed up the voter rolls in Florida.
http://brownwatch.squarespace.com/florida-felon-voter-purge-watc

US House Backs Accenture Homeland Security Contract
Friday June 18, 4:18 PM EDT
On June 9, the House Appropriations Committee voted to block the contract as part of its debate of the Homeland Security Department's $32 billion budget for fiscal 2005.
But in early action Friday, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., used a technical maneuver to strike a portion of the provision. As it stands, it appears Accenture wouldn't have access to future Homeland Security contracts, but the $10 billion contract would go through.

http://finance.myway.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&news_id=dji-00071420040618&feed=dji&date=20040618&cat=INDUSTRY





Anderson Worldwide was involved in the ENRON scandal and was the parent company to Anderson Consulting which changed its name to Accenture.



VERY INTERESTING.........
Looking through his PAC contributions from 1998 thru 2004 looks like Accenture/Anderson/Anderson Worldwide/ARTHUR ANDERSON CO appreciated his services. He has had a relation with them through all their name changes. (not sure if Symantec Corp means anything, I am too tired to look )

MAYBE SOMEONE NEEDS TO ASK MR DAVIS WHERE THE HELL HIS ETHICS AND MORALS ARE.

Davis, Tom (R-VA)
PAC Contributions
1998 Arthur Andersen & Co $2,500
Halliburton Co $1,000
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/memberprofile.asp?cid=N00002045&cycle=1998&expand=B12

2000 ACCENTURE $4,000 (UNDER MISC BUSINESS)
ANDERSON WORLDWIDE $5,000 (FINANCIAL THEN ACCOUNTANTS)
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/memberprofile.asp?cid=N00002045&cycle=2000&expand=F11
2002 ACCENTURE $9,455 (Under misc business)
ANDERSON $3,500 (financial then accountants)
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/memberprofile.asp?cid=N00002045&cycle=2002&expand=N05
2004 ACCENTURE $9,998 (UNDER MISC BUSINESS)
Symantec Corp $1,000 (communications then computers)
http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/memberprofile.asp?cid=N00002045&cycle=2004&expand=N05

[Johnny Noshoes]

21. Symantec

makes Norton products - anti virus, etc.

[Alizaryn]

22. Thanks. sounded familiar and couldn't place it.

[fshrink]

20. Ditto. Emphasis on "need".

[Carolab]

2. POPULEX IS CARLUCCI'S COMPANY!

THIS IS POISON!

READ ABOUT IT!!!

[bear425]

7. Yes, you are right again - Carolab!

http://www.populex.com/Advisory.htm

The Populex Digital Paper Ballot™ is created with an easy-to-use computer-based touch screen system. In contrast to most other touch screen voting systems that collect and store votes electronically inside the computer, the Populex™ voting system prints a tangible voter-verifiable paper ballot card.

This ballot card is the official ballot. Each voter receives one card. The final ballot contains a bar code that is scanned to record and count the votes on election day. The same ballot card is the paper audit trail that must be available for manual audits and recounts as required by the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

edit: add text

[dlaliberte]

23. Populex has business ethics in mind

From the populex <http://www.populex.com/Business.htm">Business Ethics page:

"Enhancing and preserving the integrity, fairness and accuracy of the voting process are the major goals of election reform.

To further the integrity of the process, Populex employees and other company representatives shall conduct themselves in a way that respects the dignity of public officials and supports the best interests of their constituents."

They seem to know what election reform is, and by mentioning it, they implicitly acknowledge that reform is needed. Reform goes hand in hand with abuse, of course. But their focus seems to be on respecting public officials rather than the voting public. Why should they be thinking of "the best interests of their constituents"? Why not just count the damn votes as we voted them, and don't assume you know what our best interests are?

I have a theory that the (few) republicans who are cheating us out of our election really do believe that it is in our best interest for them to do so. They know they are running the risk of being exposed, but in their eyes, they are doing great work. Poor fools! We are all the poorer because of them.

[indigonation]

11. The Carlyle Group Carlucci??...

http://www.thecarlylegroup.com/eng/team/l5-team399.html

Why is that not suprising. Isn't this about privatising our vote?

[indigonation]

3. This article may really describe a truly "fair" e-voting machine...

designed by a "birkenstock techie" that wasn't ready by Nov 2004. If these truly exist, we have to demand that these be considered from our state legislators with their HAVA funds.

Tilting at the Ballot Box -Business 2.0; September 2004 Issue

Entrepreneur David Chaum's e-money venture flopped. Now he wants to fix electronic voting. For once, is the brilliant inventor right on time?
By John Heilemann, August 18, 2004

The legendary cryptographer David Chaum has just invented something amazing, and his timing is nearly perfect. At a moment when electronic voting has been turned -- by a confluence of clueless election officials, slipshod technologies, dodgy vendors, and ever vigilant geeks -- from a great leap forward into an abject fiasco, Chaum has unveiled an e-voting system that's everything the current gizmos aren't. It's incredibly secure. It guarantees anonymity. Its results are verifiable. It is, Chaum claims, "the first electronic mechanism that ensures both integrity and privacy." Indeed, as far as I can see, Chaum's invention has only one conceivable drawback: It won't be on the market in time to save us on Nov. 2.

As veterans of the digital revolution will recall, solving apparently insoluble problems has always been Chaum's forte. Most famously, back in 1990, he founded the company DigiCash to commercialize his pioneering work on electronic money. Even by the standards of that heady time, Chaum's ambitions were lofty: propelling the international currency system into the digital age. But while everyone agreed that the technologies he invented were elegant and brilliant, the world, it turned out, wasn't nearly ready for the incursion of e-money. At the end of 1998, DigiCash bit the dust.


Technology writer Steven Levy once described Chaum as "Don Quixote in Birkenstocks." Today the Birkenstocks are gone, but the beard, ponytail, and quixotic temperament all remain in place. Once again, the windmill he's tilting at is an entrenched and archaic system. And once again he's starting a new company to profit from his ingenuity. If there were any justice or logic in this world, his success would be guaranteed. But since the world we're talking about is national politics, I fear he faces an uphill fight.

...more...

[dlaliberte]

30. David Chaum is a genius

I remember David Chaum's DigiCash in the early web days. His approach seemed most credible as a way of keeping the digital cash anonymous, like real cash is (almost) but also preventing it from being forged or duplicated. This is almost the same thing as what we need in electronic ballots, with a few additional constraints.

Thanks for posting this. I would like to read more about what he has planned, but the Business 2 link requires joining. Can you either post more of the article or (better) give us some links to his work? Here is what I found.

http://www.chaum.com/

DAVID CHAUM on Electronic Commerce:
How Much Do You Trust Big Brother?
http://www.computer.org/internet/v1n6/w6chaum.htm

David Chaum’s Voter Verification using Encrypted Paper Receipts:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:JWtE25h-4PwJ:www.seas.gwu.edu/~poorvi/Chaum/chaum.pdf+%22david+chaum%22&hl=en

[kuozzman]

4. Prediction:

In the near future, at least 20 states will sign up to get machines from Populex, pointing out that they solve all problems from this year and in the past.

2006: It's revealed that there were a couple problems they didn't take into account when designing the machines and there is yet, another recount fiasco. The vast majority of the country will remain ignorant and not realize what happened. The non-ignorant will protest and there will be riots, etc.

[RevCheesehead]

9. I would never buy a car during its first 1-2 years off the line...

Because the kinks are still being worked out. By the third or fourth year, the design engineers have had feedback and time to sort through the problems.

So, why is there such a rush to get the "New, improved voting machine?"

[oneold1-4u]

5. Lets promote the vote by mail (Oregon)

It resulted in 80% ballot return and with deaths and moving of those registered, it may well have been near 90% or more.
Right today, at a minimal cost, the whole US could have a mail in ballot for a RE-VOTE for at least the presidency, and make the US at appear to be a democracy once again!

[renate]

8. voting by mail is so excellent

No long lines, obviously--no finding a sitter or taking antsy kids to wait in line, no missing work, no hunting for a parking place...
We live in Oregon and voting is a real pleasure--we have some wine by the fire and go through the voters' pamphlets with all the time in the world (what a couple of geeks!), then we mail them off knowing that there's a paper trail.

[Andy_Stephenson]

13. VoteFraud by mail is definately not the answer

the State/County know how many are sent out...but who know how many get sent back in. Although it sounds like a good Idea...voting exclusively by mail is not a good idea.

[trudyco]

31. Unless you have a receipt to prove you sent it in

But you would also want to know it was yours and not somebody else's. It seems to me if you can make software to recognize signatures then you can make software to forge signatures.

It all comes back to being able to see that your vote was counted accurately yet if you have a receipt number attached to your vote then it is not anonymous and in theory you can prove to someone how you voted. Maybe if you had your half of an encryption key that you can use to verify along with your signature (so somebody like your spouse can't take your key and find out how you voted).

I don't follow Chaum that well but I think every digital solution could have a breaking point - just a matter of time before someone unscrupulous figures it out.

I hope this guy drives in a car with airbags every which way and goes around with a bodyguard. LOL.

This situation in Ohio really bothers me, too. It is obvious that audits won't work in states where one of the parties thinks its above the rules/laws.

trudyco

[kuozzman]

6. CEOs pitch to Congressional committee

http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Morganstein1.pdf

[Stevepol]

14. I don't see anything wrong with this machine. The problem comes from

the lack of required auditing, that is, actual counting manually of the votes to ck the accuracy of the machines. If procedures can be devised that will REQUIRE auditing for every election and if it's done w/ the oversight of both political parties and the operation is conducted by non-partisans as much as possible, that's about as safe and transparent as possible. Of course a paper ballot would be preferable to any machine I think, but this actually could be even better if laws could be passed to require that all votes be counted and that this counting be the final certified result. The machine result would be quick but tentative, not the legal result. Then, you'd have the speed and convenience of the machine combined with the accuracy and transparency of paper. The machine printed ballots would also be far less likely to be confused and confusing to those counting the votes. Everything depends on the laws regarding the auditing and countinf of the votes, not on the means, whether pencil or punch card or touchscreen or whatnot, used to produce the paper ballot result.

[pleiku52cab]

15. Two things

Who is to say that fraud cannot happen during the 'scanning process'. Seems to me this just moves the voter sideways but not foreword. Also, I would still like a paper receipt and one numbered to correspond to the one handed in to vote.

[Liberty Belle]

17. Populex has ties to Carlyle Group & GOP

I posted this earlier, but it scrolled off and I don't think anyone saw it. These guys are not who we should trust with our vote. Here's why:

Populex is headquartered in Dundee, Illinois. Their advisory board is headed by Frank Carlucci of the Carlyle Group!

The founder and president is Sanford J. Morganstein.
Monica Morganstein of Dundee, Illinois gave $1,000 to a Republican legislative candidate in Illinois, according to Open Secrets.

David Patterson, VP and Chief Technical Officer, formerly worked for Teledesic. A google search for "David Patterson"+"Teledesic" turned up a couple of foreign langauge articles that also mentioned U.C. Berkeley. Turns out that a professor David Patterson at U.C. Berkeley was named to the President's IT Advisory Committee a couple of years ago.

David Henderson, VP of Public Affairs, has many ties to the oil industry. He worked for Unocal for 30 years and has also done PR and government affairs work for Shell, BP (British Petroleum) and others, according to his bio at the Populex site.

Robert W. Oliver is VP and Chief Operating Officer. A Robert Oliver is listed as the Illinois Liaison for the African American Republican Leadership Council. I'm not sure if it's the same Robert Oliver.

Paul H. Fricke is a director. He apparently lives in Chicago as he's on a save Chicago Rivers committee, which I found odd for a guy with a degree in chemical engineering. I'm not sure if he's related, but there's an Esther Fricke who is a long-time Illinois Republican politician.


ADVISORY BOARD:

Frank C. Carlucci,
Chairman Emeritus, The Carlyle Group
Former Secretary of Defense and Advisor to the President for National Security Affairs;

Tony Coelho, (A Democrat?)
Former US Congressman,
Author of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA);

Justice John L. Nickels,
Illinois Supreme Court (Retired);

Loren S. Golden, Esq.,
Past President, Illinois State Bar Association;

Professor Eric J. Mlyn, Ph.D.,
Public Policy; Duke University;

Eugene J. Wittry,
Commissioner, Peoria Board of Election Commissioners

Don't trust this company with our votes!

[mackdaddy]

19. This is Exactly how the Open Source Voting Project works!

The Open Voting Consortium (OVC) has been working on this for some time. They even have an on-line simulation which lets you print out a sample ballot.

http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/

Wonder which is the chicken and which is the egg.. IE is Populex just taking someones else's work to sell it for $millions$ ???

[Lil]

24. Yes - paper and pencil!! n/t (US citizen living in Australia)

[OKthatsIT]

25. Anyone here heard of WISEKEY? Used in Switzerland?

They use it on the internet. Microsoft has a new encryption ability that is tamper/identity proof, too. MS invited WISEKEY to begin a 'voting system' project as well.

Research Swiss voting system.

[Lil]

26. UNTIL we remove election management from political parties . . .

. . .I think "pencil and paper" is the only method that places everyone on a level playing field! IMHO

[genieroze]

27. Wow reading this I said what a great idea and I was all excited

until I clicked on the link and saw the Carlyle Group, Reagan and then I knew this was BS. Beside if it were truly a honest voting machine do you really think * would allow it.

edited for spelling

[SmileMaker]

28. Avante Vote Trakker - verified voting machine

This awesome company that makes Avante Vote Trakker is in Rush Holt's district (NJ). I learned about them last year in the Trenton Times, so I called and actually got to speak with the owner, Cindy (forget last name). At the time, she could have been ready to roll out Election '04 - but, with all of the big companies that bullied her out of contracts, I doubt many voters were able to vote on these machines :(

I wish I knew about DU when I learned about these machines... At a verified voting forum that Rush Holt offered at Princeton University with Edward Felton (computer security expert) - I helped arrange for Avante to set up their machines. The experts seemed very impressed with the security features and flexibility of the Avante Vote Trakker systems. I think we should lobby for these machines.

http://www.aitechnology.com/votetrakker2/overview.html

AVANTE pioneered the use of a voter verifiable paper record (or “receipt”) as part of an independent verification and audit. This paper record is printed for voters to review before leaving the voting booth and is enclosed in a protective window.
The VOTE-TRAKKER™ paper record incorporates a random voting session identifier that is tied one-to-one to the electronic memory of the ballot images. The unique identifier is bound to the selections to form an encrypted check code as part of electronic verification. The printed style is also relationally encrypted.



The paper record is cut into individual records without time-stamps or other information that can be used to identify the voters in anyway.



The use of this voter verifiable paper record has resulted in over 96% of voters feeling confident in casting their ballots and the belief that their votes are counted correctly. This is a good 26% higher than those systems without voter verified paper records.

[fshrink]

29. So, to sum up,

our lives must be ruled by old crappy papers (bible, constitution) but the rest has to be squicky automated clean.