This should be no surprise — especially to those who’ve been appropriately concerned about electronic voting machines: Lyn Davis Lear is reporting on a GAO report that concluded the 2004 election was fraudulent and a Diebold insider is blowing the whistle (via Engadget).

What does the report confirm? Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman summarize:

1. Some electronic voting machines “did not encrypt cast ballots or system audit logs, and it was possible to alter both without being detected.” In other words, the GAO now confirms that electronic voting machines provided an open door to flip an entire vote count. More than 800,000 votes were cast in Ohio on electronic voting machines, some seven times Bush’s official margin of victory.
    
2. “It was possible to alter the files that define how a ballot looks and works so that the votes for one candidate could be recorded for a different candidate.” Numerous sworn statements and affidavits assert that this did happen in Ohio 2004.
    
3. “Vendors installed uncertified versions of voting system software at the local level.” 3. Falsifying election results without leaving any evidence of such an action by using altered memory cards can easily be done, according to the GAO.
    
4. The GAO also confirms that access to the voting network was easily compromised because not all digital recording electronic voting systems (DREs) had supervisory functions password-protected, so access to one machine provided access to the whole network. This critical finding confirms that rigging the 2004 vote did not require a “widespread conspiracy” but rather the cooperation of a very small number of operatives with the power to tap into the networked machines and thus change large numbers of votes at will. With 800,000 votes cast on electronic machines in Ohio, flipping the number needed to give Bush 118,775 could be easily done by just one programmer.
    
5. Access to the voting network was also compromised by repeated use of the same user IDs combined with easily guessed passwords. So even relatively amateur hackers could have gained access to and altered the Ohio vote tallies.
    
6. The locks protecting access to the system were easily picked and keys were simple to copy, meaning, again, getting into the system was an easy matter.
    
7. One DRE model was shown to have been networked in such a rudimentary fashion that a power failure on one machine would cause the entire network to fail, re-emphasizing the fragility of the system on which the Presidency of the United States was decided.
    
8. GAO identified further problems with the security protocols and background screening practices for vendor personnel, confirming still more easy access to the system.

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My dad, who’s called Florida home for quite a while now, emailed me the following about goings on there:

The big news here is the struggle to prevent Volusia County adopting the the Diebold touch screen ballot machines. They are bad news, because these Diebold machines do not leave a paper trail and so a manual recount of a disputed election is impossible. The Republican leaders of Florida, who take pride in their deviousness, are trying to require the adoption of these machines under the guise of providing an accessible voting system for the handicapped, especially the visually impaired. This is a red herring, because the Diebold machines do not , in fact, provide accessible independent voting for for many types of handicaps. Their real goal, blatantly transparent, is to eliminate any possibility of a manual recount in any election.

The County Commissioner of Elections, who herself is elected but who is accused by many people of being very cozy with the Diebold company, (the CEO of which is a rabidly partisan Republican who boasted before the 1004 election that he would deliver Ohio for George Bush, and many suspect that is exactly what he did) came before the County Council with a request for $800,000+ to buy 220 touch screen machines that will not leave a paper trail . Each voting precinct was supposed to have one so that the handicapped could vote independently on accessible devices, as the Federal HAVA (Help America Vote Act) of 2003 requires.

The County Council held a number of sessions devoted to this issue. Citizens took sides on it and at least one street vigil was organized by Florida Fair Elections Committee (which opposes Touch Screen machines because they don’t leave a paper trail and thus do not allow for a manual recount). Diebold flew their big guns down to Volusia county to lobby. A national group that claims to speak for the handicapped threatened a lawsuit if the County does not pony up the funds for the machines. The Diebold people brought in national spokesmen for the disabled, but the Volusia County association of disabled (HAVOC – Handicapped Adults of Volusia County) broke ranks and opposed the Diebold touch screen machines. Spokesmen for the ACLU, the Sierra Club, the NAACP as well as other civic groups opposed the touch screen machines because they cherish the ability to recount the vote and demand a paper trail.

We marched in the vigil, we spoke at the County Council meetings and were active in opposing Diebold. The County Council, in three very lengthy and emotional sessions, each time by a 4 – 3 vote, refused the Commissioner of Elections request for the money to buy the Diebold touch screen machines.

The County Council is now being threatened with a flurry of lawsuits, including one to be filed by the Commissioner of Elections, who is suing on the ground that the Council, by refusing the funds, is preventing her from doing her job according to state and federal law. Meanwhile, we suspect that the County attorney is too intimate with the Diebold company.

For now, the four “good” County Commissioners are heroes in the defense of democracy, but it is by no means apparent that Diebold is ready to throw in the towel. The never quit and they have great resources.

Related links:

• Diebold Memos Disclose Florida 2000 E-Voting Fraud
• Diebold Debacle Signals Need for a Paper Trail
• Diebold Optical Scan Voting System Hacked (3 Ways)
• Worries grow over new voting machines’ reliability, security
• Diebold, Electronic Voting and the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy
• Video: Volusia County employees battle citizens looking for evidence of fraud in dumpster dive
• What Makes Ohio Red

Happy Independence Day!

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