How I would steal an election [View all]

[Scuba]

There's much speculation about attempts to steal the Presidential election, with well-founded concerns about the use of electronic machines to record votes, either directly or through scanners. There are accusations that Mitt Romney's ORCA electronic campaign management system was a Trojan-horse vote flipper, and further claims that it was stymied by the secret avengers known as Anonymous.


I think Republicans are smarter than that.

If I was going to steal elections I would buy the companies that make the electronic voting machines and scanners. And I'd rig them in such a way that it was undetectable unless there was a paper ballot hand recount of the actual election.

My method would result in voting machines that passed every pre-election test and every post-election test. The mechanism that resulted in ballot flipping would be a microchip patiently waiting for the election date start time at which point it would activate itself. It would only flip votes during the hours when voting will occur, de-activating itself afterwards.

An algorithm would determine how many votes to flip. This could be pre-set, or managed dynamically if an internet connection were available, but that would leave a trail and I wouldn't do it. I could jigger the results with impunity, because my method would be so very difficult to detect. I wouldn't need to flip many votes; most elections are decided by slim margins.

I would conceal this microchip in a small blob of solder, or build it into a circuit connection, an innocuous spot on a board with hundreds of them. Testing every apparent chip on the board would not reveal my treason, because my chip would likely never be found. Miniaturization could be used to make it difficult to find even in a forensic lab.

With the entire world at stake, it would be worth any cost. And frankly, it wouldn't cost much. They're already making obscene profits selling the electronic scanners and voting machines to us. The taxpayers could fund it.

Only a very few people would know of this. An electronics engineer or two to design the necessary chips, plus their masters. The Chinese girls who manufacture and install the chips would think it's part for a microwave oven.

Only a hand count of paper ballots would ever reveal the discrepancies, and no amount of testing would point to the voting machines. Only melting and removing the solder or circuit connection would expose the tiny chip.

Oh, and I throw a lot of "chaff" in the air to distract any suspicious people. Red herrings to keep everyone looking elsewhere.


If there's any holes in this plan, please point them out. I'm an experienced tech, but neither the brightest nor the most devious. But if I wanted to steal an election, and had the cash to do so, this is exactly what I'd do.