BBV: Gambling on Voting (the Odds Aren't Good)

[nostamj]

NY Times Lead Editorial 6/13

If election officials want to convince voters that electronic voting can be trusted, they should be willing to make it at least as secure as slot machines. To appreciate how poor the oversight on voting systems is, it's useful to look at the way Nevada systematically ensures that electronic gambling machines in Las Vegas operate honestly and accurately. Electronic voting, by comparison, is rife with lax procedures, security risks and conflicts of interest.

On a trip last week to the Nevada Gaming Control Board laboratory, in a state office building off the Las Vegas Strip, we found testing and enforcement mechanisms that go far beyond what is required for electronic voting. Among the ways gamblers are more protected than voters:

1. The state has access to all gambling software. The Gaming Control Board has copies on file of every piece of gambling device software currently being used, and an archive going back years. It is illegal for casinos to use software not on file. Electronic voting machine makers, by contrast, say their software is a trade secret, and have resisted sharing it with the states that buy their machines

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Election officials say their electronic voting systems are the very best. But the truth is, gamblers are getting the best technology, and voters are being given systems that are cheap and untrustworthy by comparison. There are many questions yet to be resolved about electronic voting, but one thing is clear: a vote for president should be at least as secure as a 25-cent bet in Las Vegas.

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[nostamj]

1. kick!

[RedEagle]

2. Kick

This story was out months ago.

NOW the media wakes up.

But you still need to have voter verified paper ballots to audit voting machines.

You might demand an audit of a gambling machine and that can take the time it takes.

But elections have to be certified.

Just one of the reasons you can't go entirely with open source code.

However, the point is well taken. More security measures exist in gambling machines than with voting machines.

Wouldn't want the smear of unrespectability with gambling, might make people not want to do it.

But voting? They apparently don't give a rip. People know. I hear all the time about how, "My vote doesn't count," "My vote doesn't make a difference." Listen to people, they know.

Put honesty and accountability back in elections and you might find the electorate re-energized. You have to have a reason to vote and that reason can be as simple as KNOWING your vote will count for something and it's what you want it counted for.

[Bushfire]

3. drip, drip, drip...

the national media is slowly waking up.