Washblog

Steve Scher: Here we go, Gerald writes "Given the questions in the, there were a number of studies that came out about voting machines..."

Ron Sims: Yea...

SS: "And the problems with voting machines..." And I think it was, ah, California, that has, ah, held back on accrediting their voting machines

RS: Yea...

SS: "Given the questions," he writes, "about voting machines, do you still support allowing Diebold to control our elections?" is how he puts it.

RS: Well, the, umm, remember there's two different machines that we have in play. Ehh, um, the counting machines, um, as well as the machines that are at polling sites. We're talking about the counting machines.

We looked at the Secretary of State's work in California and the most recent work being done by another Secretary of State, and the upgrades, the patches, that Diebold is putting in place, are those that were demanded for certification by the State of California. And so when we get those, we will have what we call, the, the systems that California will be approving will the ones that we are as well.

 And, um, they're going to be hack proof.

SS: [pause] Promise?

RS: That's what everybody who's reviewed it, ah, has said. Um, we, um, believe it will be, um, hacker proof.

Fact Checking

Election equipment used to count votes are "certified", not accredited. Equipment must first be federally certified. This is incompetently done by the Election Assistance Commission. Then each state certifies gear for their own elections.

Decertification

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen decertified and conditionally recertified all of the voting equipment used in that state. This was done in response to the findings of their "Top to Bottom Review". Here are the conclusions about Diebold:

Withdrawal of Approval/Conditional Reapproval - October 25, 2007 Revision

The even shorter summary: California's researchers confirmed that all of Diebold's hardware and software is irredeemably unreliable and insecure.

This conclusion agrees with every independent analysis conducted to date.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner just released their review: EVEREST Voting System Review: VOTING SYSTEMS VULNERABLE.

Florida, Colorado, and other states have done similar work. Maryland, New Mexico, and others have already abandoned the Diebold touchscreens and are working for better ballot scanners.

Etc, etc.

Three Types of Machines

Ron Sims stated "remember there's two different machines that we have in play". There are three different machines "in play", each with its own set of problem. This misinformation is another attempt to obfuscate and redirect. Similar to Dwight "Diebold! Diebold! Diebold!" Pelz's reasoning that since our existing equipment is pretty good, we have no choice but to buy all new untested, uncertified gear.

In King County...

#1 - We currently use the Diebold AccuVote OS ballot optical scanner for both the precinct-based and central count. These machines have serious problems, most famously The "Hursti Hack", where memory cards were modified to change the vote count. Undetectably.

#2 - We also use the Diebold AccuVote TSx computerized voting machine. This is the infamous "accessible" touchscreen. These machines are irredeemably flawed and should not be used for any reason in any capacity.

#3 - We are planning to use Premier/Diebold's new DRS PS900 iM2 highspeed ballot image scanner. Contrary to what Sims stated on KUOW, California has not reviewed or certified the DRS unit. King County will be the first customer in North America. No one in North America has inspected this machine. It's not even federally certified yet, for whatever that's worth.

NOTE: Despite its problems, the most reliable way to count the votes today is to use the Diebold AccuVote OS optical ballot scanner at the poll sites. (TODO: Need link to study here.) This is a case of "the Devil that you know." All other available options are worse. Sad, but true. Fortunately, some of the AccuVote OS's biggest problems can be mitigated with physical security. Election expert Doug Jones, who co-reviewed the Executive's reckless plan, has a page explaining mark sense technology

The Reckless Plan

Quick review...

Executive Ron Sims' reckless plan to overhaul everything just before the Presidential election (general election November 2008) includes:

• Being the first customer to use the DRS PS900 iM2
• close the existing poll sites
• add new ballot drop off boxes (expensive)
• add new Regional Voting Centers (very expensive)
• eliminate paper ballots at the RVCs, only Diebold AccuVote TSx touchscreens will be available for an estimated 42,000 voters
• replace our paper poll books with electronic poll books (which have reliability problems, causing a few election meltdowns)
• use Election Trust's (nee VoteHere) Mail-in Ballot Tracker, which is expensive and doesn't actually work

Etc, etc.

I'm just repeating myself here. How many times did the little boy point out the emperor had no clothes?