BBV: Calif. Halts E-Vote Certification

[GregD]

Forgive me for gloating, but I think we just won one!


http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,61068,00.html

SACRAMENTO, California -- Uncertified software may have been installed on electronic voting machines used in one California county, according to the secretary of state's office.

Marc Carrel, assistant secretary of state for policy and planning, told attendees Thursday at a panel on voting systems that California was halting the certification process for new voting machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems.

The reason, Carrel said, was that his office had recently received "disconcerting information" that Diebold may have installed uncertified software on its touch-screen machines used in one county.

Alameda County, a Democratic stronghold that includes the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, converted to all-electronic voting last year at a cost of more than $12 million. The county used the machines in state elections last year and in last month's gubernatorial recall election. The machines will also be used in tomorrow's municipal election in Alameda.



edited title

[Bushfire]

1. Have to love this

Diebold officials, who were attending the meeting, seemed surprised by the announcement and expressed displeasure to several panelists afterward that it had been introduced in a public forum. They were unavailable for comment.

Also present at the meeting were representatives from Solano, San Diego and San Joaquin counties, where officials are waiting for state certification to begin using the new machines.

Officials from Alameda County's registrar of voters were unavailable for comment.

on edit: Bwaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!

[AlabamaYankee]

6. How arrogant are these guys?

"...expressed displeasure to several panelists afterward that it had been introduced in a public forum"???

Last I heard this was a Democracy (or to you lurking rabid wingers, a "representative republic") where full discussion of critical issues is epected to be conducted in a PUBLIC forum. They sell Voting machines, for crying out loud! Are they that irony challenged?

Josh Marshall says it best: "Wake me up when we're back in America."

[GregD]

2. I totally forgot

that the meeting was today. And an email just arrived from the folks that were there.

From the note that I received:

The Voting Panel meeting was shocked with the announcement that the Agenda Item regarding the certification request for the "modification" of the AccuVote TS to the TSx, was indefinitely cancelled. Jim March reported that a Diebold representative was "grim-faced". Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation described it as a major occurrence. She thinks it is the first time a Secretary of State has ever announced such an action so publicly, and such a serious basis for the action.

His latest Comment was based upon the Diebold memo I (ed. the fellow who wrote this email) sent out the other day dated Novmber 27, 2001 in which the writer, Deborah Seiler, a representative for Diebold (and I believe a former employee of the California Elections Division), revealed some pertinent information. Especially information regarding Lou Dedier's discovery of the hackability of the PCMCIA card used by ES & S. The very same company he went to work for 11 months later as Diebold's Vice President and General Manager for California operations.

////////////////

I gotta tell ya - I TOTALLY REGRET not being there today. I saw this woman Seiler last time, and was told that she was ex-SoS staff. I would have paid cash to see the look when that announcement came down.

Pray that this sets a precedent and that we have momentum on our side now.

Thank goodness for all those lovely emails, and everyone that has forced them to remain online!

[hunter]

10. I wish I could have been there.

Yes, I'll "pray that this sets a precedent and that we have momentum on our side now."

[hang a left]

3. And what about the recent election that has taken place

in Alameda County. Where the hell else was this software used. I don't believe that it was just Alameda County.

[hang a left]

4. and what ever happened to "let the lawsuits begin"

[GregD]

5. EFF Press Conference Tuesday in SF

drip, drip, drip...


Electronic Frontier Foundation and Stanford Law Clinic Sue
Electronic Voting Company

Student Publishers and ISP Aim to Stop Diebold's Abusive
Copyright Claims

San Francisco - A nonprofit Internet Service Provider (ISP)
and two Swarthmore College students are seeking a court
order on Election Day tomorrow to stop electronic voting
machine manufacturer Diebold Systems, Inc., from issuing
specious legal threats. The Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF) and the Center for Internet and Society Cyberlaw
Clinic at Stanford Law School are providing legal
representation in this important case to prevent abusive
copyright claims from silencing public debate about voting,
the very foundation of our democratic process.

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/blackboxvotingcgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=49&forum=DCForumID25

[proud patriot]

11. Fingerscrossed

:-)

[maggrwaggr]

7. I'm shocked! Absolutely shocked!

I think they should look at the other counties as well. LA County anyone? Plenty of electronic voting machines there.

So is he "governor elect" Ahnold or "governor Select" Arnold?

I would like to see proof he actually won. Nobody's showed it to me yet. I live here, and I saw almost no support for him.

[PennyLane]

12. Seriously?

Because I read several message boards and Blog sites that were very
favorable to him, and I got the impression, he was the belle of the ball!

[leesa]

26. Were they real people or RNC staffers?

I saw one yard sign in Poway, which is as ignorant and conservative as towns come.

[farmboxer]

8. Republican Manufactured And Programmed Voting Machines

insure Bush of reelection! Bush is very secure in reelection because of the voting machines! The people can't vote Bush out of office because the election has already been decided by Republicans!

[proud patriot]

9. Thank You BBV

California owes a debt of graditude .
The investigation will show the flaws
and other States will follow ...
I can feel it in my bones

[truthisfreedom]

13. retrofit! retrofit! retrofit for permanent printed records! and no thermal

paper either! something archival!

we get receipts at the store.

we get receipts at the ATM.

we get receipts at the gas pump.

we get no receipts when we place someone at the helm of the only superpower in the known universe. more than a bit odd, innit?

[punpirate]

14. Congratulations, Californians!

Despite the recent choice for governor, maybe a little sanity prevails in the county governments. Let's hope they do a thorough review and set some sensible standards in the process, including a mandate for a paper ballot.

If it has to be done county-by-county, then that's the process.

Good work, guys and gals.

Cheers.

[Zhade]

15. FUCK!

Why - WHY??? - couldn't this have happened before SchwarzeNazi was placed into power?

You just KNOW that election was rigged, people! Damn the timing! Better late than never, but still, damn it, this could have saved our asses!

[proud patriot]

16. I'm fumming

remember on election night , how there was nothing
from Alameda county forever then all of a sudden
the election was called without Alameda reporting.

I know the Secratary of State had 31 days to certify
the election . Has the election been certified yet ?

[Zhade]

18. 4 days left by my count.

And no - NO - movement on all the irregularities found in the election???

What the FUCK are we DOING, people? We're letting them steal the state!

[hunter]

17. I don't know that this election was "rigged"

It's still plausible that the voters of California wanted a plastic action figure to solve their problems. I have talked to quite a few people who voted for Arnold, and I suppose we'll all be learning the hard way that Arnold was a very poor choice.

Thus, for now, "Black Box Voting" and Arnold's politics are currently unrelated items in my fight book.

[GregD]

20. The biggest factor in Arnold's election

was the media, IMO.

They gave him a free pass on freaking everything. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, was challenged.

He refused to debate all but at that one event. Not a problem to the media, regardless of the many events in which the other major candidates participated in.

He refused to expain his platform, and answer question in detail. Not a problem to the media, regardless of the other candidates ability to explain in very terms what their vision of the future looked like.

He claimed to take no "special interest" money - that was not true. Not a problem to the media, regardless of the reports that were out there.

Many people begged the media to cover the Palast / Lay / Milkin story - not a word hit the media, regardless of the huge problems that California faces with enegry costs.

The allegations about his sexual conduct were excused and passed of as "dirty politics". A woman I know that voted for him (whom if she was molested would be intolerable - rightfully so - until she received justice) passed it off as "oh, I'm sure we're going to hear all sorts of things"... Nothing mattered - it was all simply ignored.

One of the channels, I think it was CNN, stated something to the effect of "Where Arnold is, we'll be there" - he got TONS of free publicity, he won the brainless vote from people who won't analyze facts, and looking at the Diebold counties I don't think there was that much of an opportunity to mess with the votes sufficiently to throw the election. I'd love to find it, but I don't see anyone showing us a smoking gun...

I agree with Hunter - there were other issues that factored into his election, and I don't think BBV was a big factor.

[Kelvin Mace]

19. Well, understand

If illegal software was used, it could open up a challenge to the election. Has the election been certified?

BTW, California's actions will have a lot of influence on the rest of the nation. I implore all Californians to call their reps and the SoS office and make your feelings known. Nothing less than a FULL investigation, with supeonas, is called for. Turn over EVERY rock in the state.

Tell your friends, your co-workers, your family...

Call-FAX-Email-Write-Visit

Raise hell! Turn up the heat.

David Allen
Publisher, CEO, Janitor
Plan Nine Publishing
http://www.plan9.org

[proud patriot]

21. I just went to the Sec of States site

went to the Election Dates and results page
The results are not listed .
here is the link
http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_elections.htm

[hunter]

25. Try this link:

http://vote2003.ss.ca.gov/

The election results are not final yet. The list of counties that are still unfinished is sort of interesting. You can find that here:

http://vote2003.ss.ca.gov/Returns/status.htm

If your county has a "U" listed, find out why.

:evilgrin:

[arcane1]

22. sweet! Letter-writing works!

I know I was mailing the hell out of Contra Costa's election folks, and they were VERY concerned about this. We just need to keep up the HAMMERING!!!

:bounce:

[AP]

23. If you're in CA, especially, the county in Wired story (Alameda)

contact your legislators NOW!

If you don't know who they are, or if you need their phone numbers, get them here:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

[Undemcided]

24. I used to live in Alameda.

This should be open source.