Kucinich takes on Diebold

[weldon_berger]

Dennis Kucinich has expanded his House web site to include a section on Diebold and electronic voting. In a press release today, Kucinich said:

While Congress has passed legislation to ensure electronic voting can be conducted safely, implementation of the legislation has been slow. As a result, numerous problems have been found with the primary software provider, Diebold’s, product. According to an independent study conducted by Johns Hopkins University the most serious of numerous flaws in Diebold’s software permit a person to vote multiple times, view ballots already cast on a machine, modify party affiliation on ballots, cause votes to be miscounted, create, delete and modify votes on voting machine, and tamper with audit logs and election results.

Worse yet, it appears that Diebold has been aware of many of the flaws yet is unwilling or unable to fix the problems. That is why today, Kucinich has unveiled a new section of his website at: http://www.house.gov/kucinich/issues/voting.htm, to expose internal Diebold documents that show that it knew of flawed programs and made insecure changes to programs. Diebold has manipulated copyright law to intimidate universities and Internet service providers in order to remove these incriminating memos.

Hurrah for the elf from Cleveland!

[MrSoundAndVision]

1. You know, I bet Dean and Kerry

Were just about to do something about Diebold. Well I'm sure they will catch up soon.

MRSAV

[weldon_berger]

2. That'd be nice, wouldn't it?

I really don't understand why we need competing voting systems. Get the National Institute of Science and Technology to develop one decent machine with verifiable software, and leave it at that.

[gristy]

3. wtf?????????

While Congress has passed legislation to ensure electronic voting can be conducted safely, implementation of the legislation has been slow.

Friggin SAFE electronic voting? What the f**K do I care if it is friggin SAFE? What the h*** does that mean???? I want my vote to count, Dennis. Does anyone on the Kucinich campaign know anything at all about this issue??

Kucinich's press release is pathetic. His web page on the subject is better.

[weldon_berger]

4. At least he's on it.

I really would like to see Dean and Kerry et al incorporate a "free and fair elections" plank into their platforms.

[Eric J in MN]

6. maybe what they mean by safely

Maybe what they mean by "safely" is that the Help America Vote Act was intended to require a paper ballot so election integrity would be safe, but the touchscreen manufacturers didn't want to bother with printers, so they intentionally misintepreted the language to mean that printing a report after the election satisfied the requirement.

I admit the press release could have been worded better, but at least Kucinich is addressing the issue, and he is a co-sponsor of HR 2239, "The Voter Confidence Act."

[creativelcro]

7. well, apparently

verifiedvoting.org and others have been providing Dennis with all the info related to this issue. So, the must be well-informed. Yet, that "safe" word makes me wonder... -CV

[Eric J in MN]

8. the Kucinich quote is right on

Even if some of the press-release could have been better phrased, read the direct quote:

“The potential voting problems, if we continue to use these untested software programs and voting
machines, will make the disaster of Florida in 2000 look mild,” stated Kucinich. “Private voting
machines, free from oversight or transparency, only serve the private interest. I am proud to join today
with over 50 colleges in this act of exposing Diebold. It is only through transparency and public
awareness that we can reverse this dangerous trend of insecure voting.”


Kucinich is a co-sponsor of 2239. He gets it.

If the person who wrote the press-release should have phrased a sentence or two differently, don't hold that against Kucinich.

I don't even hold it against the press-release writer. No one's perfect.

[Upfront]

5. At Last

Dennis helps the get rid of B**** cause. Thanks Dennis.

[onebigbadwulf]

9. I love that guy

If he doesnt get president I definitely want to see him in the cabinet. The guy is awesome.

Sec of state.