N.C. Judge Declines Protection for Diebold - ABC

[goforit]

N.C. Judge Declines Protection for Diebold - ABC

<http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1354023>


"RALEIGH, N.C. Nov 28, 2005 — One of the nation's leading suppliers of electronic voting machines may decide against selling new equipment in North Carolina after a judge declined Monday to protect it from criminal prosecution should it fail to disclose software code as required by state law.

Diebold Inc., which makes automated teller machines and security and voting equipment, is worried it could be charged with a felony if officials determine the company failed to make all of its code some of which is owned by third-party software firms, including Microsoft Corp. available for examination by election officials in case of a voting mishap.

The requirement is part of the minimum voting equipment standards approved by state lawmakers earlier this year following the loss of more than 4,400 electronic ballots in Carteret County during the November 2004 election. The lost votes threw at least one close statewide race into uncertainty for more than two months.

Con't...."

This is terrific news!!!!

[sinkingfeeling]

1. All Right!! Way to go NC!

[formercia]

2. That's what we need

Case law. 49 to go.

[in_cog_ni_to]

3. HA! Show the code you bastards!

WTG, NC!!! :woohoo:

[Kelvin Mace]

10. They don't want to

because it is just as crappy as it was last time we looked at it.

[Bozita]

4. Diebold was hoping for an "activist judge" who would "legislate from the

... bench"

[goforit]

5. If your a libral in NC you are a libral. NC won't take sh*t from no one!!!

I love to watch this state!!!

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

6. WOW! Way to go, North Carolina!

:yourock:

[redqueen]

7. Now that's some encouraging news!

Let's try to get this done in every state!

:bounce:

[laureloak]

8. Good job NC! But there are still voting irregularities in NC that

need attention so don't stop yet.

BTW, I would love to know which counties already have Diebold.

[Kelvin Mace]

12. The big one is Gaston Co.

The election director lost her job over problems with the count. Gaston was mentioned in the infamous Diebold memos as one of the counties where "end runs" were made around the database.


Edit: added URL

More info here:

http://blackboxvoting.com/s9/index.php?serendipity%5Baction%5D=search&serendipity%5BsearchTerm%5D=gaston

[laureloak]

33. I'd like to know if Moore County used Diebold machines.

John Edwards grew up in Moore County.

[Kelvin Mace]

38. Here you go...

Moore Co. has Danaher

http://www.ncvoter.net/machines.html

[Kelvin Mace]

9. I post more details on this here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5473986&mesg_id=5473986

This is a very significant win in NC, and was managed with little help from the NC SBoE.

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org

[tledford]

41. The NC SBoE was apathetic

Actually, the SBoE in North Carolina resisted the passage of this law a few weeks ago, but not terribly actively.

What did the trick, I am convinced, is the local progressive Democratic organizations, which encouraged emails, snail mails and phone calls to state representatives and senators. Frankly, we bombarded the poor guys, and caught the state Republican party (which is poorly organized) sleeping. And since Democrats hold a slight majority in the state chambers...

:-)

[Kelvin Mace]

42. What I was referring to was their actions on the suit

Yes, they dragged their feet and did a lot to try and thwart the law when we were working on it, especially Robert Cordle who sits on the SBoE.

As to the Republicans, we have had little problem with them in NC on this issue. Actually, they seem to be our only allies in Guilford Co. where election director George Gilbert (a Dem) is doing his damndest to avoid getting rid of his crappy touch screen systems. Two Republicans chaired the Select Committee that drafted the law and one was quite outspoken that their WOULD BE a paper ballot.

[marions ghost]

11. Diebold claims they can't comply with state law because:

'The dispute centers on the state's requirement that suppliers place in escrow "all software that is relevant to functionality, setup, configuration, and operation of the voting system," as well as a list of programmers responsible for creating the software.

That's not possible for Diebold's machines, which use Microsoft Windows, Hanna said. The company does not have the right to provide Microsoft's code, he said, adding it would be impossible to provide the names of every programmer who worked on Windows.'

[formercia]

13. Use Open Source Software

and it's free.

[electropop]

25. Exactly. Open source is more secure in general then Micro$oft.

Because it's already been scrutinized by large numbers of programmers with every point of view.

[Kelvin Mace]

19. Oh well,

guess you can't bid then. The other vendors don't seem to have a problem.

[Richard Steele]

14. Ding, dong, the witch is....slightly inconvenienced.

I'm still celebrating this though!
This was NOT a minor win for those of us
who live in NC- we just dodged a HUGH bullet!

Sorry for y'all in the other 49.
Keep at it, it's gonna happen!

[Kelvin Mace]

17. Yes, we still have to get

a Diebold croney out of the SBoE's pocket.

[Richard Steele]

22. Yes, indeed, the fight for REAL DEMOCRACY is never over.

And Keith Long needs to be ridden out of NC on a rail.
(figuratively, of course)

And so far it doesn't look like we'll be getting
much help from INSIDE the BoE.

[meganmonkey]

15. Nice!

:)

[garybeck]

16. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

[Peace Patriot]

18. Elections in which any component of an electronic voting system cannot

be reviewed by the public are not elections. They are tyranny.

All such elections should be invalidated.

Also, any elections in which the voting machinery has not been properly certified--even if the software is open source--should be invalidated.

As for Diebold, if they use of piece of crap software like Windows to count our votes, they deserve whatever they get.

Throw Diebold and ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

And hats off to you, South Carolina! Isn't this a first? A successful challenge to the secret programming?

[Lex]

20. North Carolina, not South Carolina.

nt

[Kelvin Mace]

21. So far, so good.

We passed a law in the Summer to require code to be dislcosed. Now if we can just get our election officials to follow it.

http://www.thoughtcrimes.org/s9/index.php?serendipity%5Baction%5D=search&serendipity%5BsearchTerm%5D=gilbert

[marions ghost]

23. I think so, but not sure....

Kelvin Mace, IS this the first serious challenge to secret programming?

:bounce: for North Carolina

[Kelvin Mace]

24. For NC, yes

for the nation, I dunno, possibly.

[glitch]

26. K&R for the woohoo! nt

:woohoo:

[Festivito]

27. I'd love to see what this automatic vote is about.

People on DU, here, noted that a vote for Bush rather than Kerry showed on the screen. That it took several tries to correct the vote to be Kerry. Then, one, said that just as the hit the submit vote, he saw the vote change from Kerry back to Bush. When asked, the vote helpers said something to the effect of that's the auto vote feature or something close.

Now, I want to know what this auto vote business might be.

[marions ghost]

28. oh yeah

that's the auto vote feature alright...you don't have to make a decision, it just votes for you :evilfrown:

[Kelvin Mace]

34. There is no "autovote" feature I am aware of.

The problem described happens for two reasons I am aware of:

1) Some system are set up with "default" votes. Why this would be allowed since I am sure it is illegal is beyond me. The "feature" should be outlawed and folks who fail to remove it (or who use it) should be prosecuted (I am in favor of them serving time in Iraq).

2) Touch screens are finicky pieces of equipment. They are easy to damage, require careful calibration, and are very sensitive to temperature changes. This means it can sometimes be very quirky when you are selecting making selections.

Touch screen technology is not appropriate for voting machines.

[Festivito]

37. Then, I'd love to know what this DEFAULT vote is about.

There does not have to be a default vote. But, if there is one, if coding creates it, we need to know what it is and its characteristics.

A finicky touch screen might be responsible, however, such decimates the overall accuracy. I'd love to get these guys at least on something like false advertising of their accuracy.

The cards had more accuracy.

Touch screens need better technology before they can be ready for voting application. Not yet, as you indicate.

[Kelvin Mace]

40. Any system

which does not render a hard copy ballot that can be examined and verified by the voter has no place in any democracy.

[caligirl]

29. THANKS! Just left a detailed msg at the elections office for the Cal SOS

I called the Sacramento office of the SOS and got transferred to the elections office division looking into the Diebold machines.

Why would Cali buy these if Diebold is worried they could be charged with a felony in NC for not divulging software code, I asked the man.

[Kelvin Mace]

35. We are the first state to make

this a crime.

[marions ghost]

36. Everyone who has been working on this

so hard in North Carolina deserves a huge round of ear-splitting applause (with whistles). If North Carolina can become a state where fair elections actually occur, then any state can. The Repuglicans think of North Carolina as easy pickin's.

Thanks for all your work Kelvin Mace.

[Kelvin Mace]

39. Thank you, but major acclaim goes to Joyce McCloy

As I posted earlier:

Diebold continued its pattern of arrogance yesterday when its attorney had the gall to cast aspersions on Joyce McCloy for running a grass roots campaign against a multi-billion dollar corporation. The voters of the North Carolina had one advocate group, Joyce's www.ncvoter.net which has run with NO money other than what volunteers have taken from their own pocket. Unlike some people I could name, Joyce does not even ask for donations to cover her time and expense and never has.

Diebold, on the other hand, has spent millions fighting her group and many others like hers. They have hired ITAA, a multi-million dollar lobbying firm to attack her and anyone else that DARED oppose the industry's atempt to fob off crappy, insecure voting machines on the voters. Diebold has harassed dozens of activists with bogus legal attacks claiming copyright infringement because they dared expose Diebold's questionable, and arguably illegal, activities.

Despite all their lawyers, money, and political clout, they have been thwarted by people like Joyce McCloy who had nothing on their side except the certainty that their cause was Right and Just.

I don't mean to shortchange some of the officials in NC who helped in this fight, epecially Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, Rep. Verla Insko, Sen. Austin Allran, and Rep. Susan Adams who took up the challenge and sponsored the law that Diebold tried to sidestep. Other volunteers also came up to bat for the voters, dedicating hundreds of hours of their time, like Justin Moore, Andy Silver, Janice Sears, Chuck Herrin, Warren Murphy, Joseph Waymack, Chris Telesca, Dennis Burns, and Bob Giudici, and many others I am forgetting. But in North Carolina, this fight started with Joyce McCloy, and she desrves the lioness' share of the credit.

I would like to ask you to join me in thanking Joyce McCloy for all of her incredibly hard work over the last two years, she is a true hero.

[CanOfWhoopAss]

30. OOOOhhhhh YEAaaaah!!!! nt

[Deja Q]

31. Somebody of integrity, thank you Judge Narley Cashwell! And a big F.U. to

Microsoft, who given the circumstances should open up the fuckin' code or go slither back under their matress where they've hid their dollars euros. These fuckers ditch the dollar, which is anti-American enough...

[Wilms]

32. .