Board-Ansicht
Mix-Ansicht- noch mehr zu Diebold und den Zählmaschinen; reicht f. 1 Wochen-Ende! - Emerald, 25.09.2004, 21:25
- Wie wahr - crosswind, 25.09.2004, 21:55
noch mehr zu Diebold und den Zählmaschinen; reicht f. 1 Wochen-Ende!
-->By Joseph Bacchus and Stacy Kaper
Fox News
Thursday, September 23, 2004
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,133214,00.html
Critics of the Diebold touch-screen voting machines turned their attention
Wednesday from the machines themselves to the computers that will tally the
final vote, saying the outcome is so easy to manipulate that even a monkey
could do it.
And they showed video of a monkey hacking the system to prove it.
In the minute-long video produced by Black Box Voting, Baxter the chimp is
shown deleting the audit log that is supposed to keep track of changes in
the Diebold central tabulator, the computer and program that keeps track of
county vote totals.
Black Box Voting founder Bev Harris said the demonstration shows that the
system -- which will be used in more than 30 states, including Maryland --
is dangerously inadequate when it comes to stopping election fraud.
But a Diebold spokesman insisted that the system is secure despite
"incessant" criticism from organizations such as Black Box Voting.
"The fact of the matter is what you saw was a staged production...
analogous to a magic show," said David Bear, the Diebold spokesman.
Even if the system could be hacked, he said, it could only be done by a
person with"unfettered access to the system." Bear noted that elections are
not just the machines, but also the people who work the elections.
"Quite honestly it's somewhat insulting to elections officials and
volunteers," he said to the idea that elections officers would tamper with
vote results.
He cited"multiple levels of redundancy" that would ensure that"any
deviation would immediately be noticed" and dealt with.
But Black Box Voting on Wednesday demonstrated two quick ways that"an
unscrupulous person with no computer skills whatsoever" could sabotage vote
totals, according to Associate Director Andy Stephenson.
The entire voting record can be deleted by choosing"reset the election" on
a drop-down menu, he said, or a hacker can destroy a tabulator's ability to
recognize ballots by un-selecting three checkboxes on a program control
panel.
Once those changes are made, a hacker could cover his tracks by deleting the
audit log, as Baxter did.
The Diebold central tabulators use a program called"GEMS" that saves vote
totals in Microsoft Access, a Windows-based database program.
GEMS requires users to enter a password to access the vote totals, but
Harris showed that the totals can also be opened -- and altered -- with
Access, without ever running GEMS.
Because Access functions are already built in to the Windows operating
system, the totals could be altered even if a computer did not have Access
installed on it, said Herbert Thompson, a computer security expert who
teaches at the Florida Institute of Technology. He demonstrated how to
change vote totals with a six-line program in Microsoft notepad,"a simple
text editor" that comes with all copies of Windows.
But Maryland election officials agreed with Bear that no hacking can happen
unless the hacker is physically at the computer. The central tabulators are
safe from any such outside tampering, said Donna Duncan, director for the
Maryland State Board of Elections election management division.
State elections officials also said Wednesday that they are confident they
can protect the system from a decidedly lower-tech threat.
Elections administrator Linda Lamone said she told Maryland State Police and
the Governor's Office of Homeland Security in a conference call Wednesday
that contingency plans are in place, should a terrorist attack or weather
disaster occur during the election.
Without going into details, Lamone told the Election Law Subcommittee of the
House Ways and Means Committee that alternative polling sites have been
identified and the elections board is prepared to handle a recount, should
it be necessary.
"We probably have the most secure system in the nation," said Lamone, adding
that her office is working with state police to"go over and above" security
measures currently in place.
Lamone, who was dismissed earlier this month as elections administrator
before winning a stay from the state's highest court, said all of Maryland's
voting machines were upgraded this summer and are on schedule to be used
Nov. 2. She said the machines will also undergo a series of security tests
before and on the day of the election.
She did not discuss the potential for outright acts of aggression at the
polls, something that worries Nancy Dacek, president of the Montgomery
County Board of Elections.
Dacek said Wednesday that she fears that critics of the new voting system
may try to physically sabotage the machines. She pointed to a recent
incident in which a poll judge had to be ordered to return a voting machine
that was used for demonstrations at an suburban folk festival.
As a precaution against such sabotage, some Montgomery County machines will
not be set up until the morning of the election, rather than the usual night
before.
Republican Delegate Jean Cryor told Lamone she hopes the state is ready for
whatever happens after the election.
"I think votes will be challenged all over the state," she said.
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RELATED LINKS:
THE NATIONAL BALLOT INTEGRITY PROJECT TASK FORCE:
http://www.ballotintegrity.org
WIRED'S E-VOTING COVERAGE:
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/
BLACK BOX VOTING:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
------------
PREVIOUS NHNE NEWS LIST ARTICLES:
ACTIVISTS FIND MORE E-VOTE FLAWS (9/22/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7918
READY OR NOT, ELECTRONIC VOTING GOES NATIONAL (9/20/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7906
DIEBOLD GEMS CENTRAL TABULATOR CONTAINS STUNNING SECURITY HOLE (9/1/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7807
E-VOTE GLITCH DEMONSTRATES NEED FOR PAPER TRAIL (8/14/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7725
Election Verification Project (8/9/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7686
Michael Moore To Monitor November Elections In Florida (8/3/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7660
KERRY BUILDING LEGAL NETWORK FOR VOTE FIGHTS (7/19/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7582
US LAWMAKERS REQUEST UN OBSERVERS FOR US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (7/6/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7529
QUESTIONS RISE AGAIN OVER FLORIDA FELON 'PURGE LIST' (7/4/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7513
DIEBOLD BANS POLITICAL DONATIONS (6/10/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7370
CALIFORNIA BANS E-VOTE MACHINES (5/2/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7142
DIEBOLD E-VOTING IN HOT WATER IN CALIFORNIA (4/22/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7108
HOW E-VOTING THREATENS DEMOCRACY (4/1/2004):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/7009
NEW EVOTING SECURITY PROBLEMS TO BE ANNOUNCED TOMORROW (12/16/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6443
BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW WITH BEV HARRIS ON ELECTRONIC VOTING (12/4/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6363
DIEBOLD RETRACTS LEGAL THREATS OVER VOTING MACHINE FLAWS (12/2/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6347
DIEBOLD FORCED TO PAY FOR AUDIT OF ALL THEIR VOTING MACHINES IN CALIFORNIA
(11/13/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6244
NEW YORK TIMES TACKLES ELECTRONIC VOTING CONTROVERSY (11/11/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6236
THE LATEST ON THE VOTING MACHINE SCENE (10/20/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6133
DIEBOLD MACHINES YIELD DUBIOUS RESULTS IN CALIF. RECALL (10/9/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6072
BLACK BOX VOTING: THE BOOK IS OUT OF THE GATE (10/1/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6029
BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW WITH BEV HARRIS OF BLACKBOXVOTING (9/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6025
BLACKBOXVOTING WEBSITE PULLED OFFLINE (9/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6009
E-VOTING CLEARED IN MARYLAND, BUT CONCERNS REMAIN (9/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/6004
MORE NEWS ON VOTING MACHINE CONTROVERSY (8/31/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/5868
ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES FACE AUDIT (8/12/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/5790
VOTING SOFTWARE COULD ALLOW BALLOT FRAUD ON A MASSIVE SCALE (7/26/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/5716
HOW TO RIG AN ELECTION IN THE UNITED STATES (7/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/5672
LEGISLATION INTRODUCED TO REQUIRE ALL VOTING MACHINES TO PRODUCE PAPER TRAIL
(5/30/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/5431
VOTING MACHINES THAT LEAVES PAPER TRAILS (5/10/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/5279
CONTROLLING ELECTIONS THROUGH VOTING MACHINES (5/7/2003):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/5260
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