Send it to your state and local level LWV directors! Here it is, somewhat edited because HFishbone had made reference to having writtent to them last week.......
I have hit Oregon LWV; Portland LWV; Rogue Valley LWV.....will try to get all the local ones......
Dear League of Women Voters Director:
I am writing to encourage you to lobby the National League to encourage their support of House Resolution 2239; a bill that would mandate an auditable paper trail for electronic voting machines and ban the practice of keeping the software that runs those machines a secret.
My concern is prompted by revelations by independent researchers that the Diebold system software has serious security flaws. Computer security experts from Johns Hopkins have done an analysis on the software and have made some eyebrow-raising conclusions. The link to that 24-page report is below.
Today the New York Times reports on the issue. Here are some excerpts from their story:
"The software that runs many high-tech voting machines contains serious flaws that would allow voters to cast extra votes and permit poll workers to alter ballots without being detected, computer security researchers said yesterday."
"'We found some stunning, stunning flaws,' said Aviel D. Rubin, technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who led a team that examined the software from Diebold Election Systems, which has about 33,000 voting machines operating in the United States."
"The list of flaws in the Diebold software is long, according to the paper, which is online at www.avirubin.com/vote.pdf . Among other things, the researchers said, ballots could be altered by anyone with access to a machine, so that a voter might think he is casting a ballot for one candidate while the vote is recorded for an opponent."
"Peter G. Neumann, an expert in computer security at SRI International, said the Diebold code was "just the tip of the iceberg" of problems with electronic voting systems."
I encourage you to read the full New York Time Article at
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/technology/24VOTE.html and the John Hopkins report at: www.avirubin.com/vote.pdf
This issue is too important to be ignored. In light of this information, it is vital that the National League change their position against paper audit trails. Please take appropriate action and express your support of House Resolution 2239.
Cordially,
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
