Stories like this don't exactly inspire confidence... ____________ Officials Probing Possible Theft of Voting Software in Md. Ex-Delegate Says FBI Contacted Her About Disks She Received By Cameron W. Barr Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, October 20, 2006; B01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101901818_pf.html The FBI is investigating the possible theft of software developed by the nation's leading maker of electronic voting equipment, said a former Maryland legislator who this week received three computer disks that apparently contain key portions of programs created by Diebold Election Systems. Cheryl C. Kagan, a former Democratic delegate who has long questioned the security of electronic voting systems, said the disks were delivered anonymously to her office in Olney on Tuesday and that the FBI contacted her yesterday. The package contained an unsigned letter critical of Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone that said the disks were "right from SBE" and had been "accidentally picked up." Lamone's deputy, Ross Goldstein, said "they were not our disks," but he acknowledged that the software was used in Maryland in the 2004 elections. Diebold said in a statement last night that it had never created or received the disks. The disks bear the logos of two testing companies that send such disks to the Maryland board after using the software to conduct tests on Diebold equipment. A Ciber Inc. spokeswoman said the disks had not come from Ciber, and Wyle Laboratories Inc. said it was not missing any disks. Diebold spokesman Mark Radke and Goldstein said that the labels on the disks referred to versions of the software that are no longer in use in Maryland, although the Diebold statement said the version of one program apparently stored on the disks is still in use in "a limited number of jurisdictions" and is protected by encryption. The statement also said the FBI is investigating the disks' chain of custody. Michelle Crnkovich, an FBI spokeswoman in Baltimore, said she had no knowledge of an investigation. In an unrelated development, Maryland state auditors said in a report yesterday that the State Board of Elections is not properly controlling access to a new statewide database of registered voters or verifying what changes are made to it. The report comes at a time of heightened concern over the security and effectiveness of electronic voting systems. Legislative auditor Bruce Myers said it was unusual to allow "across-the-board access" by local election officials to a sensitive database, but Lamone defended the board's practices. In a letter released with the Office of Legislative Audits report, she wrote that the board "is unaware of any allegations of the falsification of additions or deletions to the system." The FBI investigation into the disks could focus further scrutiny on the security of Maryland's electronic voting system. The disks delivered to Kagan's office bear labels indicating that they hold "source code" -- the instructions that constitute the core of a software program -- for Diebold's Ballot Station and Global Election Management System (GEMS) programs. The former guides the operation of the company's touch-screen voting machines; the latter is in part a tabulation program used to tally votes after an election. Three years ago, Diebold was embarrassed when an activist obtained some of its confidential software by searching the Internet. The company vowed to improve its security procedures to prevent another lapse. The release of such software poses a risk, computer scientists say, because it could allow someone to discover security vulnerabilities or to write a virus that could be used to manipulate election results. In September, computer scientists at Princeton University who had obtained a Diebold voting machine demonstrated how a program they had created could secretly alter the votes cast on the machine. Diebold President Dave Byrd called the demonstration "unrealistic and inaccurate" and said it ignored the "physical security" measures used to safeguard voting machines. The Washington Post obtained copies of the disks Wednesday and allowed Avi Rubin, a computer scientist at Johns Hopkins University, along with a colleague and a graduate student, to review the software on the condition that they make no copies of it. "I would be stunned if it's not real," Rubin said. Rubin, who has said that electronic voting systems that do not produce a paper record of each vote cannot be secured, led a team that produced an analysis that pointed out security vulnerabilities in the Diebold software found on the Internet in 2003. Sam Small, the graduate student, said the version of Ballot Station "was consistent with what we've seen previously." Small could not gain access to the GEMS software because the material on two of the disks was protected by a password. Radke, the Diebold spokesman, said the versions of Ballot Station released since the version identified on the disks have many new security features. The Diebold statement said "it would take years for a knowledgeable scientist" to break the encryption used on the software apparently contained on the disks delivered to Kagan. But Rubin said "the data and files were not encrypted" on the Ballot Station disk he reviewed. The Office of Legislative Audits report also said the Maryland elections board has paid bills submitted by contractors without proper documentation and has not taken appropriate steps to safeguard its computer network and Web site. Lamone said, "It seems inappropriate to base findings on a partially implemented system," referring to the new MDVOTERS database, which Maryland has established to comply with federal law. She said it is appropriate for local election workers to have access to the database and said procedures are in place to verify changes. Lamone concurred with the auditors' criticism of her staff's accounting practices and said they had "obtained nearly all necessary documentation" for contractors' bills. Providing the sort of local oversight envisioned by the auditors, she said, "simply cannot be conducted with existing resources."
So today we had two republican ads drop. Corker's ad in Tenn that has racist overtones against Ford. And an ad against Pelosi accusing the dems of pushing the gay agenda. Listen to the ad http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/...o_ad_says_dems_will_advance_homosexual_agenda And of course both republican races are "Shocked! Shocked I tell you!" and can't do a thing about it! The next two weeks are going to be nasty!
VA-Sen: George F. Allen vs. James H. "Jim" . . . ? You don't have to be Bev Harris or a Diebold obsessive to get pissed off about this story from Page B4 of today's WaPo. You just need to be a citizen who expects a basic level of competence and integrity in the election process: Let's review: 1) Two weeks before the election, we know that one of the two major party candidates for the top-of-the-ballot race in Virginia will definitely have his name truncated to "James H. 'Jim'" on the final voting machine screen seen by many NoVa voters before casting their votes. Meanwhile, his opponent, George F. Allen, will have his full name displayed; 2) We're being told that this error can and will not be fixed before Election Day -- in fact, Alexandria Registrar Tom Parkins is later quoted as saying that "this is not the kind of problem that has either shaken our confidence in the system overall or that of the vote. There have been far worse problems around the country . . . We're not comfortable with [this problem] in the long term, but we have every reason to expect it will be rectified before the next election." In that case, OK, then; 3) And there are no plans to shelve the ******* machines in favor of substitute paper ballots. I don't live in Alexandria, Falls Church, or Charlottesvile. But if I did, I'd be calling my Board of Elections and demanding that they get off their asses and fix this problem -- either by getting their machine vendor to display Jim Webb's entire ****ing name on their worthless machine or by printing paper ballots. Preferably ballots wide enough to contain that whopper of a name, "James H. "Jim" Webb." http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/24/111047/27
Well you know what they say... every little bit helps. Cheat a little here, send out threatining letters there... ugh. This sort of thing will drive the country to civil war before an assination will, imo.
Ah, but it's better than the Kos guy lets on... in Northern VA, where Webb has to do extremely well to have a chance, his last name will not appear. Meanwhile, Allen's name appears in full, but the party designator is dropped off. How convenient that in a year where Republicans are under the gun, the full name of a Republican appears on the ballot without party affiliation while his opponent's last name is dropped. Unbelieveable.
How did you know? Allen is one of my favorite guys, what a small world. Anytime a candidate is considered "mean", I will usually support him. I take offense to the Southern comment though.
Left off his last name on the ballot?? Left off his political party? You've got to be kidding. How is that possible? Do we live in a banana republic now, where virtually anything goes in the way of political corruption? Keep D&D Civil.
What does it mean when it says summary pages? When you are actually selecting a candidate, does the full name appear? If it does, is this summary page problem a big deal?
I hope some people take pictures of their voting screens so we can see first hand if these reports are as bad as they sound. Is that even allowed?
Republican mailer to senior citizens and signed by Liddy Dole... pay attention to the highlights... Drum... See the whole thing here... http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/blogphotos/Blog_NRSC_Survey.pdf
I was reading an interesting article about the coming election and how voters can be diligent about watching for voter fraud and what they can do if they suspect it, but this last paragraph sent chills down my spine! ----------- In parting, the most chilling thing Mark told me was his prediction of what the Republicans will do should Democrats win on Nov 7th, which he also expounded in American Spectator: "If the GOP should lose the House or Senate, its troops will mount a noisy propaganda drive accusing their opponents of election fraud. This is no mere speculation, according to a well-placed party operative who lately told talk radio host Thom Hartmann, off the record, that the game will be to shriek indignantly that those dark-hearted Democrats have fixed the race. We will hear endlessly of Democratic "voter fraud" through phantom ballots, rigged machines, intimidation tactics, and all the other tricks whereby the Bush regime has come to power. The regime will, in short, deploy the ultimate Swift Boat maneuver to turn around as many races as they need so as to nullify the will of the electorate." http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102606D.shtml
I have gotten "surveys" from Special Interest groups, both those typically affiliated with liberal causes and those affiliated with conservative causes. (The two that come to mind are the Sierra Club and the NRA.) They always have some small donation that they ask for "to assist with the costs of the the survey". No matter your opinion of this practice, it is common practice.
From the Miami Herald Posted on Sat, Oct. 28, 2006 ELECTIONS Glitches cited in early voting Early voters are urged to cast their ballots with care following scattered reports of problems with heavily used machines. BY CHARLES RABIN AND DARRAN SIMON dsimon@MiamiHerald.com After a week of early voting, a handful of glitches with electronic voting machines have drawn the ire of voters, reassurances from elections supervisors -- and a caution against the careless casting of ballots. Several South Florida voters say the choices they touched on the electronic screens were not the ones that appeared on the review screen -- the final voting step. Election officials say they aren't aware of any serious voting issues. But in Broward County, for example, they don't know how widespread the machine problems are because there's no process for poll workers to quickly report minor issues and no central database of machine problems. In Miami-Dade, incidents are logged and reported daily and recorded in a central database. Problem machines are shut down. ''In the past, Miami-Dade County would send someone to correct the machine on site,'' said Lester Sola, county supervisor of elections. Now, he said, ``We close the machine down and put a seal on it.'' Debra A. Reed voted with her boss on Wednesday at African-American Research Library and Cultural Center near Fort Lauderdale. Her vote went smoothly, but boss Gary Rudolf called her over to look at what was happening on his machine. He touched the screen for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis, a Democrat, but the review screen repeatedly registered the Republican, Charlie Crist. That's exactly the kind of problem that sends conspiracy theorists into high gear -- especially in South Florida, where a history of problems at the polls have made voters particularly skittish. A poll worker then helped Rudolf, but it took three tries to get it right, Reed said. ''I'm shocked because I really want . . . to trust that the issues with irregularities with voting machines have been resolved,'' said Reed, a paralegal. ``It worries me because the races are so close.'' Broward Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Mary Cooney said it's not uncommon for screens on heavily used machines to slip out of sync, making votes register incorrectly. Poll workers are trained to recalibrate them on the spot -- essentially, to realign the video screen with the electronics inside. The 15-step process is outlined in the poll-workers manual. ''It is resolved right there at the early-voting site,'' Cooney said. Broward poll workers keep a log of all maintenance done on machines at each site. But the Supervisor of Elections office doesn't see that log until the early voting period ends. And a machine isn't taken out of service unless the poll clerk decides it's a chronic poor performer that can't be fixed. Cooney said no machines have been removed during early voting, and she is not aware of any serious problems. In Miami-Dade, two machines have been taken out of service during early voting. No votes were lost, Sola said. Joan Marek, 60, a Democrat from Hollywood, was also stunned to see Charlie Crist on her ballot review page after voting on Thursday. ''Am I on the voting screen again?'' she wondered. ``Well, this is too weird.'' Marek corrected her ballot and alerted poll workers at the Hollywood satellite courthouse, who she said told her they'd had previous problems with the same machine. Poll workers did some work on her machine when she finished voting, Marek said. But no report was made to the Supervisor of Elections office and the machine was not removed, Cooney said. Workers at the Hollywood poll said there had been no voting problems on Friday. Mauricio Raponi wanted to vote for Democrats across the board at the Lemon City Library in Miami on Thursday. But each time he hit the button next to the candidate, the Republican choice showed up. Raponi, 53, persevered until the machine worked. Then he alerted a poll worker. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Honest mistake? It seems like more should, and could, be done about the problem.
a "well-placed party operative" BSing about some grand heinous conspiracy by the opposite party sent chills down your spine? this sounds a lot more like a "well-placed" peter vecsey source than something legitimate. i mean i'm sure some republicans will bring up fraud, but so have democrats in the last few elections they've lost (and in this thread). it's just how it goes.
The latest and greatest push poll question making the rounds... This question is being used in several close elections across the country; especially Tenn. and Maryland. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
gifford have you heard anyting about this? Md. Democrats Say GOP Plans to Block Voters By Matthew Mosk Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, November 2, 2006; B06 A recently distributed guide for Republican poll watchers in Maryland spells out how to aggressively challenge the credentials of voters and urges these volunteers to tell election judges they could face jail time if a challenge is ignored. Democrats said yesterday they consider the handbook, obtained by The Washington Post, evidence of a Republican effort to block people from voting Tuesday. "The tenor of the material is that they are asking folks, if not directing them, to challenge voters," said Bruce L. Marcus, an attorney for the state Democratic Party. "It's really tantamount to a suppression effort." Advocacy groups including the National Campaign for Fair Elections, Common Cause and the NAACP, as well as a George Washington University professor who is an expert on voter suppression, agreed with that assessment. Barbara Burt of Common Cause said the technique, last seen in Ohio in the 2004 presidential election, is an "insidious voter intimidation tactic." Republicans rebutted that charge, saying they merely are guarding against fraud. "I don't think that's borderline suppression," said state Republican Party Chairman John Kane. "It's making sure that people who have earned the right to vote are voting. We've had people die in wars to protect those rights." No one disputes the legality of having poll watchers set up folding chairs and monitor the election on behalf of their party. Typically, though, poll watchers are present to help ensure that their party's supporters get to vote, not the other way around. Democrats, for instance, have distributed advice to their poll watchers to "make sure that voters are not being turned away." "The key is the perspective each party brings to the process," Marcus said. "Our philosophy is, if we have a qualified voter, we're going to turn things inside out and upside down to get them to be able to vote." The GOP poll-watcher program, outlined in a 13-page document, states: "Your most important duty as a poll worker is to challenge people who present themselves to vote but who are not authorized to vote." It cautions, "Undoubtedly, the challenge process will be awkward and may cause consternation on the part of the challenged voter as well as the judges." It advises, "If there is cause to make a challenge, you should not hesitate to do so merely because it upsets the challenged voter or the election judges." It adds, "If the election judge should try to ignore your challenge, point out that they would be committing a criminal offense punishable by not less than 30 days in jail." Jonah H. Goldman, director of the National Campaign for Fair Elections, said the program "raises serious concerns." "When you have a political party telling people their Number 1 responsibility is to challenge voters, our ears certainly perk up," Goldman said. "This could either be intended to challenge voters in a discriminatory way or in a disruptive way. A lot of times, they just try to cause chaos and long lines." The manual provides a range of scenarios in which the volunteer should phone complaints to the party's legal headquarters or fill out "incident reports." The scenarios include voters who can't readily supply their full name, address or date of birth -- or who are assisted by election judges. "People raising questions about the poll-watcher program may be looking at it from the wrong perspective," said Dirk Haire, the legal counsel for the state GOP. "I wonder if they are concerned that efforts we take could uncover fraud." Democratic National Committee counsel Joseph E. Sandler said he believes one goal is to create a record for the GOP to use to challenge a close election's outcome in court. Kane disputed this: "I think what we're doing is protecting ourselves. The Democrats are going to have 500 roving lawyers out there looking for every possible legal challenge." Sandler said the legal team organized by his party will "be there to help deter the Republicans from effectively carrying this out. So people's votes are safe and secure." The poll-watcher programs also underscore how tense both parties are about turnout -- particularly among black voters -- in the final days of the contests for Maryland governor and a U.S. Senate seat. Various polls have shown that the outcome changes dramatically depending on how many black voters cast ballots. A recent Washington Post poll that measured black turnout at 25 percent showed Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D) with a lead of 10 percentage points over Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). A poll published yesterday by the Baltimore Sun that assumed black turnout at 19 percent showed the race as a statistical dead heat. Spencer A. Overton, the GWU professor, said a program designed to encourage Election Day challenges has the potential to disenfranchise black voters. "Parties target particular communities, and they don't apply the rules uniformly to all voters in all areas," Overton said. Kane, however, said the program is in no way intended to bar black voters. Ehrlich said he would not tolerate such an effort, adding that his plan has been to woo black voters, not turn them away. "I think our message has really struck a chord." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/01/AR2006110103202_pf.html
Nov. 2, 2006, 12:09AM Signs link Dems to terror and illegal immigrants GOP Fort Bend official says they are just repeating party's position By LORI RODRIGUEZ and ERIC HANSON Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Fort Bend County Democrats are irate about campaign signs linking Democrats to illegal immigrants and terrorists, but the Republican county commissioner who paid for them said they accurately reflect Democratic positions. Early voters in the heart of the heated race to succeed former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay were greeted Wednesday with red and white signs that read: "Want more illegals? Vote Democrat" and "Encourage Terrorists. Vote Democrat." By midafternoon, outraged Democrats had removed the signs but not the acrimony. "This is a majority minority county where Hispanics, blacks and Asians make up about 60 percent of the population," said Don Bankston, campaign coordinator for the Democratic Party in Ford Bend County. "This is an appeal to fear, racism and prejudice, and that is wrong." The "Encourage Terrorists" sign was placed near the early-voting location at Macario Garcia Middle School, named after a World War II Medal of Honor winner. Principal Viretta West summarily removed it. Precinct 3 Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers acknowledged paying $2,800 to the Republican Victory Committee PAC for 75 signs that tied Democrats to terrorists, higher taxes and illegal immigration. "All I am doing is repeating what the leadership of the Democratic Party's position is. So I am not sure why they would be upset about that," Meyers said. Harris County Republican Chairman Jared Woodfill said the core message behind the signs reflected the GOP position that Democrats are more lenient on homeland security issues and illegal immigration. "I may not agree with how they framed their message, but the positions are correct," Woodfill said. The campaigns of Democrat Nick Lampson and Republican Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, battling for DeLay's seat, walked a fine line in disavowing the signs. "Numerous parents from Garcia Middle School called and asked for the signs to be removed because they didn't want their kids subjected to that sort of hatefulness outside their school," Lampson spokesman Mike Malaise said. "This isn't helping the other side win votes." Lisa Dimond, Sekula-Gibbs' campaign manager, had not seen the signs. "I can't control or comment on what anyone might do," she said. "If someone wants to help out our campaign we tell them how to educate voters to vote for Shelley." lori.rodriguez@chron.com eric.hanson@chron.com chronicle
Josh has been following this story all weekend... Following up on the post below, I doubt very much that the national cable news networks will report on the NRCC robocall election sabotage scam. But will they? Has anyone see any reports on it? It would actually be important news reporting. If anybody sees any reports on the airwaves, let us know. And call it what it is, sabotage. They want another stolen election. (November 05, 2006 -- 07:04 PM EST // link) In the post I just did, I said I didn't know what there was to do about these 'false flag' harassing robocalls. But a friend points out that's not the case. There definitely is something you can do. If you've gotten one of these calls, write down as much information about it as you can (time, phone number, etc.) and call the 'metro desk' of your local paper. They're looking for political stories in the final days. And this is a good one. Again, what we're talking about here are calls which purport to be from candidate A when in fact they're from candidate B and which call back repeatedly if you hang up before the call is finished. They're intentionally harassing calls -- meant to stick the blame on the other candidate. You can help get the word out if you act now. A few basic pointers, which are basically common sense: Be polite. Just give the facts. And just say what you yourself have experienced. This is a form of election sabotage that everyone should know about -- not three weeks from now, but now, when voters are still making up their minds. Late Update: Here's a message from a Dem candidate in Kansas, who's apparently been on the receiving end of this scam. The word really needs to get out on this. And remember, it all appears to be coming from these guys. -- Josh Marshall http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
