Voter Beware, Yet Again

[Snowbird]

I've been following and studying the voting system in this country for a number of years. To describe this system as murder and mayhem, is putting it mildly. But leave it to university students, this time from Univ. of Michigan, to totally hack in and demonstrate just how useless is our going to the polls.

This article in full is really interesting.


DC Internet Vote Scheme Hacker: "Within 36 Hours We Had Total Control of Server, Ability to Change Votes, Reveal Secret Ballot"

Tuesday 05 October 2010

by: Brad Friedman | THE BRAD BLOG | Report

As we posited in our coverage yesterday of DC's Internet Voting scheme which was hacked with the University of Michigan fight song, J. Alex Halderman, asst. professor of electronic engineering and computer science at the university, was, indeed, at the heart of the hack.

He details tonight that he and a small team of students were happy to participate in the test that DC election officials had announced, with just three days notice, inviting hackers to try and penetrate the system they planned to use this November, as developed with the Open Source Digital Voting Foundation.

Halderman writes in his explanation of how they did it:

Within 36 hours of the system going live, our team had found and exploited a vulnerability that gave us almost total control of the server software, including the ability to change votes and reveal voters’ secret ballots.

http://www.truth-out.org/dc-internet-vote-scheme-hacker-within-36-hours-we-had-total-control-server-ability-change-votes-reve

[Fredkc]

Any computer assisted means of voting is a complete farce.

There really is only one viable system around.
Paper ballots, anonymously marked by the voter, so that each voter can identify his own ballot, if required,
Hand counted, by more than one person, using video surveillance. Said ballots to be retained until such time as the election is certified.

The notion that this has somehow become antiquated is a farce. Any computer managed system is always vulnerable to mischief. Always will be. Those who seem to be pushing for something "faster" are those whose only real concern is learning the results sooner. They are:
Politicians who are looking to do 'damage control' and make proclamations before the competition, and
Media sloths, who simply want to be the first with reports, and have the whole thing 'wrapped up' before the evening news.

None of this serves the electorate! The simple question remains,
"What's the damned hurry?"
What is more important:
An accurate count, even if it takes a week? or
a fast count? Merely an answer, regardless of it's accuracy.

Fred

[shybastid]

This is comical in a sad sense . Why is there no larger public outrage?
If a University can go public about how they did it,then voter fraud can be prevented,not ignored
But it's not.
Diebold(voting machine manufacturer) got spanked a few years ago. And yet, they are still being contracted for more machines.
It's really sad that no one seems to give a rats ass that this malfunction in the voting process continues.:twitch:

[shadowstalker]

Maybe folks are finally getting the idea that the vote really does not count and are just sitting back and watching it prove it to the rest of the world.

[Snowbird]

Even hand counting has HUGE loopholes that can easily swing any election. Not all hand-counted precincts are equal. And, then of course, there is the transport system from the voting precinct to a middle storage or drop site and then to the election headquarters. Sometimes, more than likely because of the lateness of the drop-site drop off, the results sit in a barely locked storage room void of any security detail, over night. They are then taken by someone new to the election headquarters in the morning.

The site below contains essentially everything that you've ever wanted to know about U.S. voting techniques, but were afraid to find the answer. The short vid contains an overview of what is and what should be.


BlackBoxVoting.org

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/


I3_xFb1sWKU

[sjkted]

Any computer assisted means of voting is a complete farce.

There really is only one viable system around.
Paper ballots, anonymously marked by the voter, so that each voter can identify his own ballot, if required,
Hand counted, by more than one person, using video surveillance. Said ballots to be retained until such time as the election is certified.

The notion that this has somehow become antiquated is a farce. Any computer managed system is always vulnerable to mischief. Always will be. Those who seem to be pushing for something "faster" are those whose only real concern is learning the results sooner. They are:
Politicians who are looking to do 'damage control' and make proclamations before the competition, and
Media sloths, who simply want to be the first with reports, and have the whole thing 'wrapped up' before the evening news.

None of this serves the electorate! The simple question remains,
"What's the damned hurry?"
What is more important:
An accurate count, even if it takes a week? or
a fast count? Merely an answer, regardless of it's accuracy.

Fred

Agreed. Without a paper print out, it is impossible to be 100% sure the system has not been tampered with. In addition, for someone to even check to see if electronic votes have been tampered with would require access to the computer program source code, which isn't something that is freely available. So, even an independent expert would not be able to verify. In other words, we'll just have to trust them that they get it right again.

--sjkted

[conk]

Ever notice how people in "under developed" countries will fill the streets, rioting and screaming for truth at the least voting irregularity? But in the USA, no one raises an eyebrow when Diabolic, er, ah Diabold gets caught red-handed. Worse, Diabold is the tip of the 'berg. Soooo many other suspicious activities. Our vote does not count! Besides, the choices are always the lesser of two weasels.

[Carmody]

My idea was to be the first in line to vote.

Then, in my pocket, is this, as a key chain:

http://www.knivesandweapons.com/images/store/A275-sm.jpg

And somehow..the electronic voting system fails. Oh no Mr Bill!

And the paper ballot back up system has to be used.

:smash:

[Humble Janitor]

I'd recommend not voting at all.

So sick of the parading of the two-party system as our only choice. Well, I choose not to participate any further.

[xbusymom]

There really is only one viable system around.
Paper ballots, anonymously marked by the voter, so that each voter can identify his own ballot, if required,
Hand counted, by more than one person, using video surveillance. Said ballots to be retained until such time as the election is certified.



I will go for 1 better...

how about going completely transparent... instead of everyone trying to come up with an "original" secret code for THEIR ballot... why not just get a chalkboard and set up a committee and several cameras to witness and record the accurate vote as it takes place?

[xbusymom]

I'd recommend not voting at all.

So sick of the parading of the two-party system as our only choice. Well, I choose not to participate any further.

consent by default... you are still going to have to deal with what you/public end up with... whether or not you make your wishes heard...

[Beth]

I'd recommend not voting at all.

So sick of the parading of the two-party system as our only choice. Well, I choose not to participate any further.

I understand where you are coming from, but there's women who fought for me to vote. I honor them with an informed decision.

[Ba-ba-Ra]

I understand where you are coming from, but there's women who fought for me to vote. I honor them with an informed decision.

I understand how you feel. I had this dilemma also, until I realized as long as I was a "registered voter" I was still honoring those woman and their fight. Not being registered says one thing. Being registered and not voting, says something else.

We all know the system is FUBAR, but it seems we just don't know what to do about it.

[Carmody]

http://www.wimp.com/votesoftware/

Testimony, video, of vote rigging hardware/software by a software engineer.. that was hired by US politicians to do just that.

[sjkted]

There are several documentaries on this also on Youtube. The main example cited was the Bush/Kerry election and it seems there is a good amount of evidence for it. It ultimately turned into a non-issue because Kerry decided not to contest the official count.

JSe24deOpUY

--sjkted

[shadowstalker]

We all know that if no one voted they would still have an appointed leader..(dictator)

[Lost Soul]

We get whomsover or whatsoever Grosse Bruder picks for us. Gee, I feel like a citizen of the Soviet Union.

[Carmody]

We get whomsover or whatsoever Grosse Bruder picks for us. Gee, I feel like a citizen of the Soviet Union.


There never really was a difference, in many ways. History shows that this 'difference' is only an impression.

When the resources of the US (international war games and international money market manipulation) have dried up and the prune has been squeezed, the prune begins to realize there is an end ....and that it/they has been used..that it has been used for nearly 200 years, in various ways...and most notably in the past 100 years... to run roughshod over the rest of the world.

And as the beings that use countries for this purpose are well aware of citizens awaking and the ending of that usefulness, those controlling entities begin tearing down the fabric of the given country at a rate that is just ahead of the rate of increasing awareness of the citizenry of said used country. And when the death throes of the country and it's connection to global concerns is well planned, this can be used to orchestrate even more mayhem that can be controlled even further. The mark of the inhuman mind, the reptilian mind, is to not waste a move in one ending.. but in multiple outcomes. One thrust, multiple results and outcomes.

Same 'ole same 'ole.

In essence, at the core, there never was much of a difference when it comes to being controlled and being used as a tool. It is just that in the experiment of the united States (this time around) the citizens had a modicum of comfort..for a while.

Which only makes the citizens have a greater and deeper history of ignorance, with their short memories and attention spans. This is making them more easy to tear down, when the time comes. As it is now.

These critters play a long game. Generations.... centuries long. And if you don't see it... you'll simply die..while being ground to dust in it's mill.

[sjkted]

We all know that if no one voted they would still have an appointed leader..(dictator)

True. But, at least he would be exposed for being a dictator instead of the smoke and mirrors belief game we have right now. Basic problem solving: (1) understand and diagnose problem, (2) propose solution, (3) implement solution. If a good number of people think they can vote their way out of this, then how can we possibly formulate a solution with the majority thinking that it's the darn <<Republicans/Democrats>> in office.

--sjkted