Post election Voting machine round up

Lest all of us forget about the Voting machine's inabilities, faulty mother boards, vote missing, etc it will be another election coming with the same problems.
I think it is time that we push forward to find a better voting solution, better voting machines for this great social networking or as I would like to call it, mother of of all social networking. So I started crawl the net hunting for solutions. There are many a sites that devotes themselves to uncover the hidden truths in these machines. But this time I will stick to one site, that I became to trust during h Sony rootkit saga, Freedom to tinker.
Freedom to tinker has a collection of articles that tells us the state of voting and the machines right now. I will start with one just before the elections.

1.Diebold Quietly Recalled Voting Machine Motherboards
2.Diebold’s Motherboard Flaw: Implications
3.Unattended Voting Machines Already Showing Up (with a photo as well)
4.Post-Election Review
and end with post election review.

From the article;

"This is supposed to be impossible. Having examined a similar version of Diebold’s software, I know that when the Cast Vote button is pressed, the system is supposed to (1) invalidate the smartcard, then (2) record the vote, then (3) kill the voting screens, then (4) eject the smartcard. This voter saw Steps 1 and 4 happen, but not Step 3. (We don’t know whether Step 2, recording the vote, happened.) At least one voting screen was still there, and that screen was active: something happened when the Cast Vote button on that screen was pressed, but it wasn’t the something that would normally happen.

It’s hard to see how this can happen, absent a subtle, serious bug in this part of Diebold’s software. And by “this part” I mean the part that carries out the four-step procedure that includes recording the vote. Could this bug have affected vote recording for other voters? What other problems could it have caused? We don’t know. We could probably tell, given access to a Maryland voting machine."

I think it is time that we look at all the voting machines, not only just Diebolds, and be ready for the next election.

Tags: evote, voting machines, Diebold, 2006 elections, Social networking

Weseepeople, Diebold and elections!

What a social networking site got to do with Diebold and elections? A lot I guess after reading some article in the press and blog sphere. On of the earliest large peaceful social efforts were elections did not matter whom we elected for what position. All the people were equal, and had the same right as the one next to them. But now somehow it seems that Diebold decides it for you,
like;
You have voted! when you have not!! and let you not vote!!!
Let yo vote again, in the above case!!!! But did you really did not vote? No one will ever know!!!!!

Confusing? yes exactly what I felt when I ran through those very informative write ups. Did read them not once but twice to get the feel of the idea. My information comes mainly from three articles and misinformation from Diebold. You too will find that the response given to one research by Diebold get debunked very clearly by another research/article.
Here are the three articles that I am referring to;

1.Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine by
Ariel J. Feldman, J. Alex Halderman, and Edward W. Felten

There is a full report in pdf format, and don't forget to read about the PDF troubles at Geemodo.
Also you can download and watch a video of the operation of diebold and the procedure of making a loser a winner. Benedict Arnold VS George Washington. And Benedict Arnold won even though George Washington had more votes! That's where democracy goes to Diebold.
For that read the next blog below, it does a much better job than me.
2. Where democracy goes to Diebold by ZDNET blogs This brings together all the information together and gives you a better view.

3. Avi-Rubin's Blog My day at the polls.
I don't think Avi needs an introduction, he has been working on this issue for a long time is a die hard, Diebold fan.
All three gives a very good assessment on the current state of affairs of Diebold voting whatever.
As usual Dibold has claimed that the Princeton research was done on an old version of the machine. Then Diebold, give the team a new one.