Sequoia takes aim at Princeton profs over e-voting analysis plans
Posts with tag e-voting
Like California and Florida before it, habitual swing state Ohio has just issued a report slamming its three providers of electronic voting equipment -- including, of course, renamed Diebold -- and recommending that the 50 counties which use them scrap the machines in favor of a paper-trail-leaving optical scanning method. The report, commissioned by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, details the ways in which white hat hackers were able to infiltrate the systems, easily picking locks, using portable devices to manipulate vote counts, and even introducing "malignant software" into boards of election servers. Brunner's plan calls for the entire state's voting infrastructure to be overhauled by next year's presidential elections, a move likely to be lauded by touchscreen voting's many critics, but coming "about eight years too late, jerks -- thanks a lot," according to usually-even-tempered former candidate Al Gore.
We're going out on a limb here and assuming that precisely no one is surprised, but yes, another e-voting machine has proven totally incapable of resisting even the most unsophisticated of hacks. Not long after California Secretary of State Debra Bowen okayed the use of systems that failed prior security audits provided they make a few last minute attempts to appear invulnerable, a security penetration team revealed that an ES&S test system was no better than the rest. Reportedly, Red Team researchers were able to circumvent physical blocks with little effort, and they were even able to access internal files by making a quick and dirty change to the BIOS and booting it up with an external memory device. Needless to say, this deceased horse has been bludgeoned quite enough, but if you're interested in seeing a dozen pages of epic failure, the read link has got you covered. [Warning: PDF read link]
Not to anyone's big surprise, e-voting is apparently not the most straightforward process in the world, but Connecticut's Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is going so far as to release a 90-second video clip that demonstrates how to correctly place a vote using a vanilla optical scan voting machine. Yep, this means you'll be able to surf on over and download a 1.5-minute instructional video that will purportedly "lure young voters to the polls," and while Bysiewicz did admit that those who could operate an iPod could likely figure out a voting machine, she's hoping that "providing voting information through a familiar mechanism" will somehow encourage the younger sect to get their vote on. We know, all of this is worthless sans a vid, right? Never fear, it's waiting to put you to sleep after the jump.
Right on cue, the Electoral Commission has published findings from a number of UK e-voting trials, and just as expected, they went about as awry as they possibly could. Within the 24-page document resides a comedy of errors that would certainly put any other system on an eternal blacklist, but the blind faith in e-voting continues to allow events such as these to complicate democratic procedures. For starters, it was noted that the "use of electronic counting significantly increased the total cost of delivering these elections compared with a manual count," and furthermore, the scanning of ballot papers "took a lot longer than expected due to the need to scan certain batches more than once." Needless to say, the amount of mishaps involved are far too numerous to cover in this space, but hopefully the UK will take our interestingly administered warning to heart now that it has experienced similar turmoil. [Warning: PDF read link]
The fact that some individuals still have any level of faith left in Diebold is quite baffling, but in case you were looking for just one more episode to dash your hopes of a hack-proof voting machine, open wide. As fate would have it, a fresh study in Florida has found that even optical scan voting systems "can be hacked into," which is causing quite a bit of concern considering that touchscreen alternatives aren't exactly an option in the Sunshine State. Reportedly, the document noted that "official memory cards in the optical scan machines could easily be exchanged with ones altering the vote count," and it was also stated that Diebold must "deal with the flaws" by August 17th. Yeah, we're sure it's all over that.
Voting machine makers scoffing at bad reviews? That's preposterous! Actually, it's not all that alarming to hear that Diebold, Hart InterCivic, and Sequoia Voting Systems all had less-than-amicable responses to a state study that "found that their machines could be breached by hackers." Of course, we're not exactly sure what all that groaning is about, as we've seen nothing but proof to back the investigation up. Nevertheless, Sequoia dubbed the review "an unrealistic, worst-case-scenario evaluation," Diebold kvetched that the study didn't look at its most recently developed software, Hart found "several inconsistencies, alternate conclusions, and errors," and Elections Systems & Software bypassed the rigmarole entirely by failing to provide their information to the secretary of state. Oh, the irony. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]
In an unprecedented attempt to shore up any possible flaws in its counties' electronic voting machines -- the same machines that have been examined and criticized nationwide on many occasions -- California will undertake a so-called "top-to-bottom" review of numerous systems from some half-a-dozen vendors, who must meet a set of seemingly rigid criteria if they want to receive certification for the 2008 election. Giving the proposed three-pronged approach -- initiated by Secretary of State Debra Bowen in collaboration with the University of California -- some real teeth is the fact that each of the three teams tasked with the actual work will be spearheaded by respected academics and leading private sector consultants, including none other than Princeton's Ed Felten, whose tireless efforts to expose the dangers of these shoddy machines are well known to readers of this site. Specifically, each system from manufacturers such as Sequoia, ES&S, and yes, everyone's favorite whipping boy Diebold will see a thorough review of their source code and documentation, along with what are being referred to as "red team penetration" attacks to test the terminals' hardware and software. Since companies are required to submit equipment for testing if they wish to partake in future elections, we could be seeing Diebold make the same begrudging exit from the Golden State as it did from North Carolina, for what we are not alone in suspecting is fear of exposing its flimsy code. Anyone who does choose to participate still risks being forced to make significant changes to their gear or perhaps even complete decertification, so when you Californians go to cast your votes in about eighteen months, don't be surprised if you have to mark up a piece of paper and drop it into a Equalivote-brand ballot box.
[Via Slashdot]

Oddly enough, it seems that the Sunshine State attracts more than just tourists and nice weather, as Florida is now facing yet another round of e-voting woes long after elections have ended. While Diebold machines certainly administered their fair share of fits, now iVotronic's own systems are purportedly to blame for a controversial election in Sarasota County last November. Upon further review, officials noticed "symptoms consistent with a known software flaw" in the aforementioned machine, which countered the "county officials' claims that a bug played no role in the election results." Of course, this won't mark the first time that late-blooming documents shed light on a potential voting mishap, but it seems that both parties are standing their ground on this one. Apparently, the issues were spotted during the primary election, but since they appeared on a "smaller scale," they weren't adequately addressed. Currently, no individuals have been legally blamed for their deceptive handling of the probable mishap, but we'd seriously suggest that Florida thinks mighty hard before loosing these flawed machines on the public next time around.
Now we know that we're not supposed to take pleasure in the misfortunes of others, but when habitually-shady voting machine manufacturer Diebold loses a $9 million contract and starts whining about it in court, well, we think it's okay to make an exception. As the nation's leading
In case the Brits were still wondering if we Americans finally had our act together in regard to e-voting, this should add yet another nail in the coffin. Among the bevy of states that saw all sorts of turmoil when voters turned to electronic machines to cast their support was Florida, and while a recent motion doesn't speak of that specific incident, it does highlight a good bit of potential negligence. Apparently, a note was "uncovered" last September (but was withheld until just last week) which documented a "possible problem" with Election Systems & Software's iVotronic touchscreen machine, but wasn't used to scrutinize the finicky system before loosed to the voting public. The eventually malfunctioning software was linked to a "dispute over the 13th Congressional District race in November," which supposedly caused a high rate of "undervoting," and allowed Vern Buchanan to take the questionable gold by a mere 400 votes. Regardless, it's a little late for a recount, don't you think? [Warning: PDF read link]






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