Rogue code could seriously skew US presidential election results

[kpete]

Rogue code could seriously skew US presidential election results

If you thought the electronic voting systems being used in the upcoming American presidential elections guarantee a fair ballot...think again. Small changes to these machines' software by a rogue programmer could completely distort election results without us even knowing it, says an expert.

6/25/2008 8:00:00 AM By: Brian Jackson

This Fall's U.S. Presidential elections could be stolen by one person – not Democratic candidate Barack Obama or Republican candidate John McCain – but by a rogue programmer writing code for one of the many electronic voting machines used, experts say.

After the 2000 election dispute in Florida forever ingrained the term "hanging chad" in the public consciousness, the U.S. began funding user-friendly e-voting systems.

Many researchers now say Al Gore should have won that election by a wide margin over George W. Bush, and blame a confusing ballot system for the error.

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"One programmer could make a change in the software that would affect 100,000 votes," says David Dill, an investigator with ACCURATE. "That's a one-attacker team."

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/news.asp?id=48929

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. This doesn't have to be

There are well-established models involving paper trails and reverse verify/audit options in voting - and it's available as a free/open source/publicly reviewable options - but the people in charge of choosing voting machines are morons.

[Vincardog]

2. They are not morons every defect in the machines is intentional and benefits the party machine

No moron could design as system that fails at EVER level.