corrente

Creepy thought of the day

Nobody pretends that democracy is perfect or at all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. - Winston Churchill, November 11, 1947

What's creepy about this quote is the context in which it appears on the homepage of a company that manufactures touch screen voting machines in California.

See quote here: Sequoia Voting Systems (bottom of page)

It's as if they are telling us that any security imperfections in their computerized voting crap is ok because, hey, nobody's perfect. That Winston Churchill dude said so much, so fuck off whiner. In typical creepy smirking corporate PR style they are already shrugging at any accountability in the event their product is nothing but a lie machine. (Read: A Deafening Silence, link below, for further context.)

Last night, I experienced the illusion of casting my vote on a state of the art touch screen "DRE" (direct recording electronic) computer voting system. The poll workers were helpful and showed me how to vote. However, when I asked them a detailed question such as, who is the vendor that makes these voting machines, all I got was a blank stare. Do you have any information on these machines? No answer. I had to examine the machines myself to find out who made them. I didn't know that my most basic question was going to be a rhetorical one.

The particular model I went through the motions of voting on was an "AVC Edge" with a software (firmware) version of 4.2.4 (according to the label on the back), manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland, California. However, the software version number displayed on the touch screen was 4.2, not 4.2.4. (Should I be concerned that the software running didn't match the label on the back?) You can even view a demonstration of how the AVC Edge works on their company web site. ~ continue reading A Deafening Silence by Brian D. Barry

More on past Sequoia problems: HERE

Via Alice at GOTV

The Fairfax County Democratic Committee will vote on the following resolution at its March 23rd meeting:

WHEREAS, the right to vote, and to have that vote properly counted, is fundamental to democracy; and

WHEREAS, the integrity of the electoral process requires transparency and verifiable trust that elections cannot be accidentally or purposely manipulated; and

WHEREAS, the ability to conduct recounts and audits is necessary for verifying the integrity of the electoral process, and meaningful recounts are not possible with electronic voting machines, nor is it possible to determine whether errors have occurred during balloting; and

WHEREAS, any machine is subject to many forms of accidental error or intentional fraud, and software driven voting machines enable such errors or fraud to a much larger extent than previously possible; and

WHEREAS, computer security experts overwhelmingly agree that no amount of testing or certification can demonstrate the absence of errors, and that the only way to ensure accuracy, and prohibit tampering, is to require machines to produce an audit trail that the voter can verify and seal at the poll; and ~ continue reading: Resolution Supporting Voter-Verifiable Audit Trails

Resource index of links on topic of: Black Box Voting

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