Never Mind the 'Results', Election 2006 Was a Disaster for E-Voting Systems Across the Nation

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ComputerWorld http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=security&articleId=9004987&taxonomyId=17&intsrc=kc_feat

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINE SLAYS NINE!
Terrorizes Florida in Thrill-Kill Rampage

That headline was from a satirical column http://www.columbusdispatch.com/flipside/flipside.php?story=dispatch/2006/11/06/20061106-B8-02.html written by Andy Borowitz published last Monday, the day before Tuesday's mid-term election.

Unfortunately, given the post-election coverage by some of the nation's leading media — or at least their headline writers — it seems that only an event such as a Diebold voting machine becoming "unmoored from the floor and…trampling everyone and everything in its path," as Borowitz wrote, would qualify as anything more than a "glitch", "hiccup", "snag" or "snafu". At least if you guage the coverage from the headline writers at NYTimes or Associated Press.

"Voting System Worked, With Some Hiccups," declared the AP headline on Wednesday. "Polling Places Report Snags, but Not Chaos," echoed the Times.

"Hiccups"? "Snags"? Try telling it the thousands of voters around the country who were unable to simply cast a vote last Tuesday because new, untested electronic voting machines failed to work. Monumentally. Across the entire country.

"Not Chaos"? Apparently the Times headline writers failed to check with the folks in Denver who were lined up around the block for hours to vote. They didn't even bother to read the the Denver Post who headlined the problem as a "Voting Nightmare" during the day on Tuesday and quoted voter Lauren Brockman saying "We will not get to vote today," after he had showed up before work to vote at 6:45 a.m. at the Botanic Gardens only to wait on line for an hour before giving up....

For the complete story, including bullets barely dodged this week — from the Allen and Santorum Senate races to innumerable U.S. House elections currently uncountable and unrecountable due to the failures of these god-forsake machines — and the ravages of an American electoral system in tatters no matter how the headline writers at the major national media and the Voting Machine Apologists are hoping to spin things…see my complete piece just published at ComputerWorld…

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3747

THE ABOVE TEASER STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3770
COMPLETE COMPUTERWORLD ARTICLE: http://tinyurl.com/ymczrw

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K&R