BBV: Fairfax County, Virginia [View All]

[ramblin_dave]

A Democrat was elected chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors last Tuesday. But Republicans are challenging the results because a small number of touchscreen machines that failed were removed from the polling places for repairs. Here's the story:

http://www.news8.net/news/stories/1103/109093.html

But the video link on that page is even more interesting - click "Watch the eVideo". In the video, reporter Doug McKelway reassures Fairfax Countians that their machines are "standalone" so they "can't be hacked", and that they have a paper trail. He contrasts the Fairfax County system, the WinVote system made by Advanced Voting Solutions, to the Diebold system and explains some of the controversy about Diebold voting systems.

But look at the WinVote system in the video and at Fairfax County's web site:

http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/gov/eb/winvote_equip.htm

It's obvious that this system is no different than Diebold. There is no paper trail that the voter can see, just a cash register style paper printout of totals just like Diebold. As for being standalone, that in no way would make it so it can't be hacked. Even the Fairfax County web site says "this system has the capability to transmit election returns electronically to the office of the Electoral Board and on the internet should we choose to do so". This system is just as standalone as Diebold is.

If you live in Fairfax County, VA then please contact WJLA reporter Doug McKelway (ABC 7 in D.C.) and Fairfax elections manager Judy Flaig to voice your concerns and clear up the mistakes in McKelway's report. The WinVote system is very similar to Diebold, it has no "voter verified" paper trail and I'm sure someone with design information could hack it just like the Diebold machines.

More info on WinVote here:

http://clients.enfocom.com/avs/products_winvote.html