2,639 votes
Ensure reliable & trustworthy election technologies
Electronic voting machines are insecure, unreliable, and prone to a variety of problems that undermine trust in our elections process. Optical scanners and other technologies have some problems as well.
The CTO can create a clear roadmap to get reliable, trustworthy, verifiable voting technology into every precinct in America by the time of the 2010 elections.
Additionally, the CTO should employ information designers to create a national standard for ballot designs so that all citizens are ensured the right to a ballot that is clear, easy to use, and reliable.
the zapkitty
Analysis part 30
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source
Open Source can and has produced code that is more robust and secure than proprietary code.
And it is not sane to have any code running our public elections *hidden* away from us by corporations who have a huge stake in the outcome of elections.
But invoking the phrase "Open Source" does not magically make EVMs secure...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 29
From what studies had been performed it was obvious that EVM software was buggy and insecure... the obvious first idea was to make the software Open Source and open up the machines to public inspection. Of course this flew like a lead balloon with the EVM shills (both corporate and state) but it would no doubt be a vast improvement.
But would it make EVMs actually secure?
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 28
Ideas were proposed among election integrity advocates and debated. Given the fact that HAVA was the law (one based on unrealistic concepts), and given that EVMs were in place and that states had no budget for replacing them (said budgets instead being drained by the corporations for "maintenance and setup fees"), the ideas had to start with the EVMs in then in place.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 27
People tried to find solutions. Studies of EVMs were done where feasible, and always the same results: Unsecure. Hackable. And the people who by games theory and by long history in politics were the most likely to game the system were the ones entrusted with providing the security that the EVMs themselves lacked: the insiders at state and corporate levels.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 26
But election integrity schisms did not start or end with Daily Kos.
With HAVA wrecking the rule of law in state electoral processes and EVM shills spewing vast amounts of lies, excuses and deceptions concerning EVMs, with scientists and researchers banned by law from investigating EVMs or reporting their findings if they did investigate... reactions were fragmented.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 25
A very unfortunate pattern was set early when the popular netroots site Daily Kos banned talk of malfeasance during the 2000 elections as "conspiracy theories"... and not incidentally banned by default any talk of election integrity (EI) that questioned the status quo.
This was a self-destructive policy that effectively *enforced* the right-wing talking points on EI issues.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 24
The budding netroots encountered the election integrity question and wrestled with it... but since the ""bipartisan"" HAVA act actually followed a very right-wing agenda at its core the same screaming tsunami of lies, denial, distortion, deception, even more lies and faux outrage greeted *every* inquiry into elections, HAVA and EVMs.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 23
And the EVM wave washed across America! Well... mostly.
Some places like New York simply said "No. Not until you answer some of the questions about these machines."
And questions there were. Lots of them. The HAVA steamroller had raised awareness of EVMs and then as EVMs began affecting places that had not had to deal with them before many people began asking "WTF?"
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 22
And EAC officials often falsely told state officials that HAVA mandated EVMs for Federal elections... when even *that* power-grab of a bill didn't dare go that far.
But the EVMs were still EVMs. The machines were always labeled as "Unhackable!" even though the EVMs' inherent vulnerabilities remained *unchanged* from the earliest reports (back in Analysis part 6).
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 21
HAVA mandated billions for election "upgrades" while outlawing punch-card and mechanical lever machines.
A "temporary" agency called the Election Assistance Commission was created and guess what? It turned out to be all about EVMs and assisting corporate control of elections and has failed abjectly at every one of its *mandated* duties.
http://www.bradblog.com/?cat=159
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 20
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine
I think the parallel to Klein's theory is appropriate and it turned out that, yes indeed!, HAVA was not about "helping Americans vote" but instead was all about converting the various states' electoral systems to, essentially, corporate control and transferring billions of dollars to the corporations.
Sound familiar?
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 19
Regardless of the various causes of the 2000 debacle...
The event and its aftermath waved a huge red flag emblazoned "Shock Doctrine!" in the faces of certain parties... who proceeded to slam through Congress a profoundly misnamed bill called the "Help America Vote Act" (HAVA) that was *supposedly* aimed at preventing a repeat of 2000.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 18
(I am the zapkitty. Snark or die!)
Hey, I even gots a genuine conspiracy theory about that incident reported here by a left-wing liberal kook to back it up. It's towards the end of this video:
http://www.hd.net/drr227.html
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 17
And then it happened.
The event that changed everything and put America on a wartime footing against a deadly new enemy and thus, we were told, forced the abandonment of the rule of law and the gutting of the U.S. Constitution and all state constitutions.
The event: the terrorist attack known as the 2000 elections...
The enemy: "hanging chads"...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 16
"Proprietary!", "Tinfoil!" and "Luddite!" became common battle cries from the EVM shills.
But the corruption of the electoral process was perforce piecemeal, with some states refusing to allow their strict concepts of electoral law to be compromised despite the presence of EVMs, and others even refusing to allow EVMs at all.
To certain parties this was intolerable...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
gots to beware the ^c 'n' ^v from the main essay... apostrophes are running amuck amidst the verb tenses...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 15
And the electronic elephant of EVM's grew larger and larger and sporting ever-fancier frills while pirouetting on the coffee table in the living room. Still spewing toxic crap all over American elections because the supposed fixes to EVM's built-in security vulnerabilities were as far away as ever.
More studies were done, more warnings were issued and ignored...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 14
Through the late 90's the non-electronic components of the various state electoral systems were systematically corrupted by intent and also by the mere presence of EVMs themselves, corrupted further than ever before in the checkered past of America's electoral history because "we need the machines even if our laws and state constitution don't allow it. It's progress!"
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 13
(Ironic because the EVMs have been (ab)used in some of the most racist voter disenfranchisement campaigns seen since the days of Jim Crow with the simplest being "No Working EVMs = No Vote." But those particular stories are for later...)
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 12
The States are to be responsible for elections, an inevitable move at the time of the Revolutionary War but also a deliberate one by the Founders in order to place a necessary check on that aspect of Federal power.
Yeah, it's that civics lesson checks and balances thing again... but don't mention it nowadays or the EVM shills will begin screaming "RACISM!" Ironic, yes?
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 11
Since the mid-20th century it's been useful to the politicos, election officials, and corporations for the American "consumer" to be lulled into a since of complacency about elections, to have them think of voting as a quick, mechanized chore one did before or after work before getting back to the serious business of consuming... and then watching results on the evening news.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
While I'm helping Stan 314 understand his budding Ivotronic addiction, my analysis will continue with the 2000's...
When the EVM insanity spiraled to infinity and beyond and the first organized resistance to EVMs began fighting... and infighting... When paper trails and open source as EVM solutions blossomed and then faded. And just how Holt's reform bill went from good idea to utter fiasco.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Reply to Stan 314 addendum
Bad link for the Florida report on
ES&S Ivotronic flaws. Sorry!
Report from the Ohio Secretary of State is just as damning:
http://www.bbvdocs.org/ESS/EVEREST-ESS.pdf
And latest paper trail hack can be undetectable even with full recount. Is for Sequoia and not tried on ES&S yet but outlook does not look good:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6369
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Reply to Stan314 part 2 of 2
And it is a matter of faith... not science:
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/pdf/FinalAudRepSAIT.pdf
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6671
http://www.usenix.org/event/evt08/tech/full_papers/aviv/aviv_html/
http://vote.nist.gov/threats/papers/papertrailhack2.pdf
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Reply to Stan314 part 1 of 2
Stan314 said:
"Hmm. I used the eletronic system in Henderson, NV and was very impressed:..."
Congratulations! Welcome to faith-based voting! Please enjoy your newfound religion to your heart's content... just don't mind the rest of us if we want to stop Congress from making the beliefs of your new faith into laws governing how the rest of us vote.
about 1 month ago
Stan314
Hmm. I used the eletronic system in Henderson, NV and was very impressed:
1. It pointed out an issue I forgot to vote for on.
2. It presented an eletronic view of my votes and let me review and change them.
3. It then printed a machine scanable copy for my final review - to be used for recounts.
That seems pretty safe to me - just randomly recount and compare.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 10
And all the while certain parties practiced very hard on all the OTHER ways of stealing elections. Voter suppression schemes, electoral officials abusing their powers to game the ballots and even the polling places themselves etc... It was all an old game in electoral politics, but now people were working to a semi-coherent scheme and laying long-range groundwork.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 9
So it continued through the 1990's, with the very large elephant of intrinsically insecure EVM's standing in the middle of the living room and crapping all over American elections with relatively few people wanting... or daring... to point out the mess.
And the elephant grew...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Interlude
My analysis, while long for this format even now, is not as detailed as even a cursory examination of the subject should be. I'm just focusing here on the facts that bear on exactly why the vague proposal by jesse_kocher is such a very ill-advised approach to actually solving the ongoing mess.
And yes all this background will help to understand what the problem is.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 8
So... the corporate types were often whispering their bland reassurances into the ears of government types who had been working for them a year ago. And they handwaved "security" by invoking "trained personnel" and "polling place controls"... even though the "trained personnel" in the "controlled polling places" were actually the *most* capable and the *most* likely to tamper...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 7
And thus the fact that the concept of voting by EVMs, e-voting, had certain fatal flaws was... understated... by corporations and corporate and government scientists who instead went about spinning their own reality of "just good enough" or "fixable in the future."
For you see, the corporate/government revolving door program was operating at full spin overdrive...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 6
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had arrived... and even then it was being pointed out that it was impossible to secure EVM's against fraud.
http://www.thelandesreport.com/1985.htm
http://www.itl.nist.gov/lab/specpubs/500-158.htm/lab/specpubs/500-158.htm
But people were always being
reassured that the level of fraud could be *minimized*... in the future...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 5
Electronic vote tabulation began sneaking into elections in the 1960's, gradually increasing its sway over elections as each year saw an ever-increasing percentage of the votes cast nationwide being counted by software.
And problems, studies and warnings issued by those studies all increased as well. By the 1980's things were really heating up.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 4
And the reason for this is the prize at stake: Control of the wealthiest (before the economy was wrecked and the treasury drained) and most powerful (before military was driven into the ground) nation on Earth.
So how did we get here... a situation where technology that is insanely easy to game is actually running elections? And why do I say that technology can't get us out?
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 3
One of the differences in emphasis that needs to be applied to elections is that in game theory you assume that all users are attempting to "game" the system at all times.
You *plan* for an environment where everyone lies, everyone cheats, and everyone steals everything that isn't nailed down :)
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis part 2
This distinction between technology and game theory is important.
Remember the adage "If the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything starts looking like nails"... ?
Election integrity has many components, and technology is only one of them.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
And part 2 won't post... waiting for feedback from uservoice.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Analysis, part 1 of... whatever is required.
What we have in jesse_kocher's proposal is a vague statement that reeks of "Tech Über Alles" in the area of election integrity and election reform.
But election integrity and election reform are NOT technologies... they are actually exercises in *game theory*.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Hmmm... some comments go through, others don't. Criteria? Will ask...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Australian e-voting supporters, especially in the government, do love to talk up their system, and by the time the Wired Magazine article got through with it... it had become "Australia's Universally Used and Much Beloved Open Source E-Voting System and Cure for Cancer"... which, it seems, is how much of the world still thinks of it today.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
What happened to Australia's wonderful open source-voting system everyone talks about?
It never was.
Aside from experiments aimed at the disabled and military , Australians fill out paper ballots as usual.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
pmocek
"This is absolutely essential."
?
But if it is flatly impossible for a variety of reasons, which it is and which fact I shall proceed to prove in subsequent comments, then you're just following the old path blazed of ideology over science... just exactly as the last major voting "reform" effort did.
And we've had quite enough of the age of unreason, don't you think?
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
Explanations, references and links should and will follow such statements as I have made here... but I have no idea how this forum's software will react to lot of links so first a lot of hard data, knowledge gathered from the field, references, and links to a multitude of scientific studies can be found at
http://bradblog.com
and
http://blackboxvoting.org
to be continued...
about 1 month ago
pmocek
This is absolutely essential.
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
John Argent said
"... does anyone realize it was not the machines that were the problem in FL it was the people not taking responsibility for properly voting?"
Are you aware that that is misinformation?
The GAO audit said no such thing... and in fact NO ONE has yet found a way to explain FL-13 that jibes with the known facts... no one at all:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5125
about 1 month ago
John.Argent
if you take the SAT in highschool the directions state completely color in the circle with a #2 pencil , an idiot puts a line thru it with a blue pin and fails because the machine cant score the test, who do you blame (popular answer the machine because nobody wants to admit to being an idiot)
about 1 month ago
John.Argent
I find this funny #1 leave it to the states - NO they are part of the problem -FL has an issue with voting machines and it throws the whole country into a tizzy, design 1 machine 1 set of rules and we all have to follow it. #2 the machines does anyone realize it was not the machines that were the problem in FL it was the people not taking responsibility for properly voting - continued
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
... continuing...
jesse_kocher said:
"The CTO can create a clear roadmap to get reliable, trustworthy, verifiable voting technology"
If by "voting technology" you mean EVMs that are reliable, trustworthy and verifiable then that statement is incorrect. In fact it's so flat out wrong it hurts to listen to it.
No, the CTO can't work miracles.
... to be continued...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
... continuing...
jesse_kocher said:
"Optical scanners and other technologies have some problems as well."
Badly slanted. Op-scans *are* electronic voting machines (EVMs) and are as subject to malware and malfunction as DREs. The only difference is that there is an actual paper ballot left behind to manually recount... after the damage is done.
... to be continued ...
about 1 month ago
the zapkitty
jesse_kocher said:
"Electronic voting machines are insecure, unreliable, and prone to a variety of problems that undermine trust in our elections process."
This is correct. From what you wrote about op-scans immediately afterward I assume you actually meant Direct Record Electronic (DRE) machines, most often known as "touchscreens".
to be continued
about 1 month ago