Diebold President: "Still working out kinks in Touchscreens"

[DEMActivist]

Representatives from Diebold, which sells both systems, told the council that Boston was better off with the optical scanners. John Silvestro, president of the company, said the optical scanning system reduces lines at polling places and helps preserve the integrity of elections by leaving a paper "audit trail." He also said the touch-screen system would cost the city about six times as much money, and that companies like his are still working the kinks out of the touch-screen machines, a newer technology.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/214/metro/Menino_OK_s_new_voting_machines+.shtml

[ibegurpard]

1. Well, isn't that special.

I wonder what he would have been telling them a few months ago. And I also wonder what he would have to say if someone raised any questions about the methods for tallying totals from optical scans.

[Rose Siding]

2. Is he knocking Diebold systems that are already in use?

Out loud? In public?

[DEMActivist]

3. Makes Georgians feel warm and fuzzy, I bet

You know, the state where the entire election was conducted on these "imperfect" touchscreens?????

[ibegurpard]

4. That is some pretty damning backpedaling on his part.

I'm eager to see where this story continues to go.

[punpirate]

5. That's not just backpedaling....

That's moondancing away at about warp 2....

Wonder if the election officials in Maryland are shitting bricks right now....

[DEMActivist]

10. moondancing away at warp 2

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Perhaps if I can get my jaw off the floor over this statement, I can figure out how to quit laughing over this apt depiction.

[Andy_Stephenson]

18. LOLOLOLOLOL n/t

[BevHarris]

44. Okay, who is this guy exactly?

Is he a president of Diebold Inc., or of Diebold Election Systems, or of a distributor or licensee of Diebold? Can anyone find out?

Bev

[nostamj]

6. the Georgia 'elections'

need to be invalidated and redone (among others...

(why why why aren't Jeb and Katherine in PRISON yet ???)

[punpirate]

7. Only reason I can think of...

... is that no self-respecting prison would have them....

[DieboldMustDie]

22. why aren't Jeb and Katherine in PRISON yet ?

Who's going to bring charges against them, John Ashcroft?   Florida A.G. Charlie Crist is also a Republican.

[punpirate]

8. I also wonder about...

... HAVA provisions for the disabled in this recommendation. ??? Have they or are they planning to make modifications to the OS system to enable those provisions? Thought that was their excuse for pressing so hard for TS.

Cheers.

[Chesapeake]

9. Kinks?

Kinks in the voting systems. NICE

[DEMActivist]

11. You think this means.....

We Georgians have a "kinky" Senator and Governor?

That does explain an awful lot. :evilgrin:

[punpirate]

12. Kinks, yeah...

... very technical term, that.

Hey, any bets that after their early-week bluster that they've actually been having a look at their own code?

Or called the boys at JHU back for a bit more serious chat?

Cheers.

[DEMActivist]

14. It's more likely they had an "Ohhhh, Boooob?" day

with Mr. Urosevich.....

You know, those "Oh, Bob? Can you step into my office for a moment?" days?

Bev and I have our "Oh Bob?" conversations on a regular basis when we need a really good laugh.

My guess would be that Mr. Urosevich has been lying to his superiors for some time now. In particular, he's likely told some real whoppers about what was on that FTP site.

[Eloriel]

13. Looks like we've convinced SOMEone that these machines are baaaad

Now I hope the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, and various Secretaries of State will get the message.

Eloriel

[DEMActivist]

15. More importantly....

I wonder what Cathy Cox thinks of this?????

How much you wanna bet me that she's hiding in Cheney's cave today?

[punpirate]

16. Perhaps...

... they should get a link to that article.

Just sunk in, too, that Silvestro said "that _companies like his_ are still working the kinks out of the touch-screen machines...."

He hammered his competitors, too....

[Chesapeake]

17. everybody needs to email them

and tell them Diebold said there are KINKS

[DWright]

19. Someone needs to tell Michael Barnes!

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0703/25voting.html

Ga. backs touch-vote plan despite critical study

A state election official said Thursday he is "very confident" in the security of Georgia's new touch-screen voting system, despite a study that concluded it is highly vulnerable to fraud.

"My confidence in this system is the same as it was . . . before I read the report," said Michael Barnes, assistant elections director in the secretary of state's office.

Barnes was in charge of Georgia's statewide rollout in November.

[w4rma]

20. Diebold *has* to be paying that guy, indirectly or directly

Noone can be that stupid.

[Trajan]

39. His was a rash and obviously untrue statement ....

Given the fact that the Johns Hopkins group is HIGHLY regarded as experts in this field, and the fact that Mr. Barnes is NOT such an expert ..... Couple this with one ONE MORE fact: that ALL application software is EXTREMELY difficult to trace and verify for all possible cases and all possible configurations ......

For ANY person to give SO much confidence into such a system with SO many holes ... is simply absurd ..... it is irrational ......

IF this man is not on the take, he is CERTAINLY slow on the uptake ..... he is at least that ......

[aquart]

30. Where is Michael Barnes' offshore account?

Because no honest man could have made that statement. He's prepaid is our Michael.

The question is, where did he stash the money? Oh, and did it come from Diebold or interested Republicans?

[DEMActivist]

32. I think it's more likely...

birds of a feather. The degree of arrogance exhibited by this man is equaled only by the Diebold programmers.

[DieboldMustDie]

21. When Republicans start winning in Boston...

we'll know for sure that their machines are rigged ;)

[preciousdove]

38. That's what I thought about Minnesota...

especially choosing shallow Hal, lapdog Coleman over former VP Mondale who would start with 16 years seniority in the Senate.

:wtf:

[TacticalPeek]

23. Your lead "Diebold President"...

I thought it meant aWol.

[Eloriel]

33. ROTFL

GOOD one!

Eloriel

[DEMActivist]

24. kick

.

[BevHarris]

25. I really think Diebold may not have known what was on the ftp site

Once they get through the full contents of the 40,000 files (assuming Bobby Urosevich and crew didn't disappear anything) they are guaranteed to get a few more ulcers.

Bev

[RedEagle]

26. If Boston could face a voting rights challenge

as alleged by Nadine Cohen of the LCCR, that challenge would be to allow machines that allow fraud?

Just asking.

Anyone ever tell these people about Accupoll and Avante? Isn't there a new one out that enables independent voting by the disabled but still produces an optical scan ballot?

All of the above provide audio review and I think all of them would or could produce an audio review of the paper ballot, too.

FYI, one of the out-and-out lies about voting secrecy, paper ballots, and the blind is that people are being told that the blind will have to have the paper ballot read back to them by a sighted person. Absolutely false.

Even if no option is provided for review of that paper ballot, what's the difference in voting for them, paper ballot or no paper ballot? I don't mean to be insensitive, but it puts them in the same spot.

A voter-verified paper ballot system is going to be a lot more secure, because sighted people using it are going to notice if it's screwing up. With a touch screen, it could be used the whole election and no one would know.

Regarding a previous post about touch screens and calibration and how it messes up votes- if the touch screen gets out of calibration, then a vote for candidate A could be registered instead for candidate B, or no one at all, because the area you are supposed to touch is no longer registering where it is supposed to, under a box or something. This can happen just by touching your finger or hand on a part of the blank screen for too long, or sometimes just by touching one of the choices for too long. These screens should be recalibrated on a regular basis throughout the election. The system should detect this and you should also catch it in the review. That, however, won't protect against an underlying problem in the programming....

[aquart]

31. What a shame.

Does it feel like the fires of hell inside?

[DEMActivist]

27. Kick

.

[Generic Other]

28. I know nothing about counting votes, Miss Scarlett!

We be better off using our fingers.

[hedda_foil]

29. Kick!

[yowzayowzayowza]

41. The Canadians are!!!

n/t

[Kelvin Mace]

34. One thing that is now certain...

with all the attention that Bev has now managed to bring to the subject, anyone who loses in 2004, espcially on a Diebold CVM, will go directly to court, will not pass Go, will not accept defeat gracefully. The slightest irregularity in the votes has a good chance of a judge tossing the results and issuing rulings and statements from the bench that will not make Diebold stockholders very happy.

David Allen
Plan Nine Publishing
Proud to be with Bev on the side of democracy!

[BevHarris]

35. Will all candidates who will accept losing on Diebold machines

please raise their hands?

[JetJaguar]

36. See the Kinks live.

Diebold To Webcast Analyst Conference

NORTH CANTON, Ohio, Jul 23, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Diebold, Incorporated (NYSE: DBD) will hold an analyst conference on August 4 and 5, 2003 in North Canton, Ohio. Services and product demonstrations will take place on August 4 at the company's headquarters and advanced technology center in North Canton and Green, Ohio. Formal presentations highlighting Diebold's business and growth strategies will be webcast on August 5 beginning at 9:00 a.m. (EDT). Presentations will be given by Walden W. O'Dell, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer; Gregory T. Geswein, senior vice president and chief financial officer; Michael J. Hillock, president, international operations; Thomas W. Swidarski, senior vice president, strategic development and global marketing; and David Bucci, senior vice president, customer solutions group.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000608/DIEBLOGO )

The live webcast of the presentations on August 5 will be available from Diebold's Web site at www.diebold.com beginning at 9:00 a.m. (EDT). The replay can also be accessed on the site for up to one year after the conference.

...

[BevHarris]

37. See the kinks live in the source code:

My new favorite programmer comment:

"this file is simply to avoid barfing"

(This is the entirety of the file.)

[Trajan]

40. I completely understand this file .....

SOME part of the code is looking for it, and will trap out (crash) if it isnt found ..... It doesnt have to do anything: just be there .....

Chuckles .... they do have a sense of humor though .. eh ? ...

[BevHarris]

43. Oh yes. You got it exactly.

And it won't find it because they moved all the files into another area.

Other comments -- from a vendor (note that they promised they used exactly as is, no changes, in order to avoid triggering additional examination)

the company that made the code had a note that it MUST remain read-only!!!

They promptly changed it to read-write.

Bev

[cthrumatrix]

42. So they "admit" we may have * because of "kinks"...? the people who

are responsible for this should be in JAIL. There is no reason other than deception why this was never brought up before being used for various elections.

This admit basically removes all validation of any election in which Diebold was used and deserves immediate attention.


Enter ---- the capture of Sadam .....