WP: Maryland's Diebold Voting Machines Had Defective Part

[DeepModem Mom]

Voting Machines Had Defective Part
Key Component Was Replaced in Touch-Screen Units After Repeated 'Freezes'
By Cameron W. Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 26, 2006; Page B05

The maker of Maryland's electronic voting system replaced a flawed electronic component in several thousand touch-screen voting machines in 2005, state election officials acknowledged this week.

To eliminate unpredictable "screen freezes" that have occurred since the machines were first used in Maryland in 2002, Diebold Election Systems installed new system boards in about 4,700 voting machines from four Maryland counties: Allegany, Dorchester, Montgomery and Prince George's.

The screen freezes do not cause votes to be lost, officials said, but they confuse voters and election judges who sometimes wonder whether votes cast on a frozen machine will be counted.

The acknowledgment of the repairs came in response to queries from The Washington Post and sheds further light on Maryland's troubled transition to electronic voting. Critics said it raises concerns about whether the state and company officials have kept the public adequately informed about problems with a system that cost taxpayers $106 million.

State officials said this week that they learned after the November 2004 election that a flawed system board was the source of the screen-freeze problem. But documents show that Diebold had diagnosed the problem early that year....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102501907.html

[babylonsister]

1. I fear we face one big mess in November, though I'm hoping

for the best.

[grasswire]

2. it's time for a regulatory investigation of Diebold

No other industry would be allowed to get by with such flawed merchandise and service. Hit them with litigation. Punish them with fines.

[woodsprite]

3. Has their ATM equipment been that faulty? I think not!

Wonder if that "part" will "fix" the election.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. That is something I never thought about! It can't be that faulty...

I don't think, or, given that it involves peoples' money, we'd hear a lot about it. So whattup?

[AndyTiedye]

5. Slot Machines in Las Vegas Are More Strictly Regulated than Voting Machinez

MAKING VOTES COUNT
Gambling on Voting
Published: June 13, 2004 (NY Times)

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.

2. The software on gambling machines is constantly being spot-checked. Board inspectors show up unannounced at casinos with devices that let them compare the computer chip in a slot machine to the one on file. If there is a discrepancy, the machine is shut down, and investigated. This sort of spot-checking is not required for electronic voting. A surreptitious software change on a voting machine would be far less likely to be detected.
…

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/opinion/13SUN1.html?ex=1402459200&en=40e4afe91f2a555f&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

[AllexxisF1]

6. How the Hell!

How the Hell is Diebold's software a trade secret that can be kept from the State that PURCHASED IT! I used to work for a large Defense Contractor in Northern Virginia (CACI, yes I know...) and anything and everything purchased by the Government is OWNED by the Government.

Moreover what the hell is so damn sophisticated about a voting machine? They make it sound like they invented Google or something, it's a simple program that takes a yes or no and reports it. Holy F-ing Moses what the hell is so hard about that? I would gather a top of the line slot machine has more programming sophistication than a damn voting appliance.

This is just crazy, and I can tell you this much. If we all come out in droves on Election Day and it still shows up that we loose their is going to be riots in the street.

[phoebe]

7. methinks Mr. Gates will be shown to be the conman he really is

n/t

[newyawker99]

8. Hi AllexxisF1!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Laughing Mirror]

10. Riots in the streets ... martial law ...

Do you think such nasty consequences of the Diebolding of the vote were intended?

Great post, AllexxisF1!

[LiberalFighter]

16. One of their emails

"All, Please delete all copies of this e-mail," said Feehan's message, a copy of which was obtained by The Post. "It should have been sent confidential. Call me for further specifics."

[williesgirl]

9. You need to read ENTIRE article, Diebold reps lied to officials

recommended

[gristy]

11. Defective Part????

The Voting Machine IS the System Board.

[OzarkDem]

12. Why are state elections officials allowing this to happen?

Don't they have control over their own voting machines?

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. Throw these overpriced pieces of crap out

and go back to pen and paper ballots, that can be hand counted.

Who cares how long it takes? You can hire half the country to count votes for what these machines have cost.

[Toots]

14. Diebold Election Systems installed new system boards in about 4,700 voting machines

Bush* and Rove certain GOP will win. :shrug:

[Javaman]

15. "repaired" right, uh-huh, gotcha. Move along nothing to see here...nt

[LiberalHeart]

17. This is what troubles me the most...

HOW could Diebold get access to the machines without the election officials knowing they were tinkering with them? Note the different treatment of this story in this AP story:

Reports: Diebold Quietly Repaired Voting Machines

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Elections officials in Maryland say they didn't know that flawed components had been replaced in several thousand Maryland voting machines in 2005. The Washington Post and Baltimore Sun report that Diebold fixed a "screen-freeze" problem that it had discovered in 2002.

http://wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=5599333
_______________

It puts the secretiveness right up there in the headline and first paragraph -- and I think that's what voters need to see and have hammered home. Diebold can do stuff to voting machines that the people who are supposed to protect them don't even know is happening.

Lou Dobbs is having a special on CNN this weekend to deal with the voting machine topic.

[Divine Discontent]

18. BS BS BS BS BS

go lou!!!


go lou!!!


go lou!!!


they can handle a billion financial transactions a day but they can't make voting systems work??




www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- antibush prodem stickers/shirts

[TrogL]

20. I'd be really surprised if only Maryland was affected

Maryland certified a completely different machine than what was actually used in the elections.

[april]

19. so what happens when our screen freeze?

we loose info that's what happens