BRAD BLOG: CA SOS REFUSES TO RECERTIFY DIEBOLD! (For Now...)

[BradBlog]

CALIFORNIA SEC. OF STATE REFUSES TO RE-CERTIFY DIEBOLD VOTING MACHINES! (For Now...)
SoS: 'Unresolved significant security concerns', 'Source Code Never Ever Reviewed'
State 'Punts' Issue Back to Feds for Further Testing, State Senator Objects -- Complete Letter from SoS, Senator Bowen's Full Statement...

Late this afternoon, Sec. of State Bruce McPherson's office sent a letter to Diebold Election Systems, Inc. Vice President David Bryd, informing him that the state is declining -- for the time being -- to re-certify Diebold AccuVote touch-screen machines in the state of California pending further testing and certification by Federal authorities.

In the letter, on McPherson's letterhead (complete letter at bottom of article), Caren Daniels-Meade, chief of the Elections Division writes that "Unresolved significant security concerns exist with respect to the memory card used to program and configure" the Accu-Vote operating system and touch-screen equipment.

In a statement reported by AP, SoS spokeswoman Jennifer Kerns announced problems discovered during routine testing...by state employees and independent consultants including discovery of source code that "had never, ever been reviewed"...

Complete Story, Text of Letter to Diebold from CA's SoS, and a Press Release from State Sen. Bowen:
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002183.htm

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[madrchsod]

1. gee--i wonder who would buy diebold?

they have the banking industry division that would be snapped right up and i wonder what company would do that?

[McCamy Taylor]

2. Hot damn! San Leon Co. Florida started an avalanche!

The California SOS was SOOOO ready for Faith Based Voting despite the requirements of California law. THis is a miracle and we owe it all to the people in San Leon Florida and Dieb-throat and the ones suing Diebold and

ESPECIALLY To Bradblog!

:toast: :bounce: :toast:

Here is the recent "Diebthroat Saga" in cartton form for anyone who hasnt been folowing it:

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/050918.htm

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/051116.htm

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/051208.htm

Oh man, oh man, Diebold is going down! Gotta go post this in the "Diebold: Enron Redux?" thread in Salon.

[nicknameless]

7. This ISN'T good news for CA. The rethug SoS is looking to feds to certify!

He's trying to keep CA election protection groups from doing the testing -- he wants to leave the decision about whether or not to certify Diebold's crap up to the feds!

[bleever]

3. My problem with this is, it casts doubt on all previous Diebold results.

Oh.

[texpatriot2004]

4. It certainly does Bleever. n.t

[nicknameless]

5. Don't trust ANYTHING that CA SoS McPherson says.

They "tested" Diebold TSx machines in August. The machines had a 30% failure rate -- but a couple months later, that scumbag McPherson was saying that he was considering re-certifying them. Add that to his unpublicized public hearing, etc ad nauseam.

I consider this announcement much the same way that I considered Ahhnold saying that he was going to review Tookie Williams' case.
"Don't worry about a thing" ... and then the axe falls.

Take this line:
"pending further testing and certification by Federal authorities"

How many nanoseconds do you suppose the feds would take to certify these crappy machines?

Any machines used in CA elections are supposed to be certified by the state. Does McPherson have the right to hand that responsibility off to the feds?

California's Election Code Section 19202 allows for interested parties to apply to test voting machines and components.
BBV.org applied back in June, but they've been stonewalled. McPherson is in violation of that section of the Election Code.
The last thing he wants is to have another test in California, which would reveal more Diebold problems.
He has allowed Diebold to draw up the conditions of any tests and wants them to be held in secret.

I would take McPherson's letter as more of a warning rather than good news. We need to stay vigilant.

[autorank]

6. "Am I sure I want to recommend this thread?" Of Course I do!

There must be problems with Diebold we can't even imagine. The request for "source code" is a pre-emptive cover for Bruce baby...he's jumping ship before the country has a collective Diebold tea party and throws them all in the SF Bay!!!

It's about time, ESS and Sequoia...get ready...it's pierce the veil time.

:nuke:

[nicknameless]

8. This is terrible news for CA!!!

McPherson's office, rather than simply decertifying Diebold once and for all in California, has today decided instead to pass the buck back to the the so-called Federal "Indepenent Testing Authority" (ITA). The ITA is a group of several companies chosen and paid for by the voting machine companies such as Diebold themselves, to test their equipment and software on behalf of the Federal Government. Those ITA labs then either certify the software and/or hardware or send it back to the company with the results of the failed tests kept confidential.

State Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach) has been an outspoken critic of McPherson's process for considering recertification of Diebold and has otherwise been a watchdog on issues related to the quickly changing Electoral landscape in the Golden State. She released a statement to The BRAD BLOG late this evening (complete statement posted at end of this article). Bowen is critical of McPherson's plan to "punt" the issue back to the Feds and says in her statement:

“The Secretary of State shouldn’t punt the decision about whether Diebold machines should be used to count ballots in California to the federal government and an 'independent’ testing authority that’s financed by the voting machine vendors. That decision needs to be made in the open, right here in California.”

Does this POS SoS, McPherson, have the legal right to leave certification up to these crooks?!

[nicknameless]

9. Here's an article about the scumbag "testing labs" that McPherson wants

to leave CA certification up to:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/avi-rubin/the-dirty-little-secrets-_b_12354.html

The ITAs are hired by and paid by -- the vendors. That is, when a vendor has a voting machine that they want certified, they find an ITA who is willing to certify the voting machine. Any memos about flaws that are discovered remain confidential. There is no requirement to disclose any problems that are found with the machines. In fact, the entire ITA report is considered proprietary information of the voting machine vendor. After all, they paid for it. This provides an incentive for ITAs to certify machines, to satisfy their clients.

Avi Rubin, the writer of this article, commends McPherson "for the dialogue that he opened up" about the ITAs.
He must not know our POS SoS very well.
As I posted to another thread, McPherson is a master at saying one thing but doing another.

[Peace Patriot]

10. Yeah, I figured they'd have a backup plan or two. But I'm with autorank.

I think the veil's off. An important Florida county (the capitol county) just banned their OPTISCANS. Diebold stockholders and voting integrity advocates just sued them. Wally just resigned. And an aroused public in California just forced them into Plan B.

We mustn't treat a significant public victory as a defeat because the forces of darkness have backup plans! Come on, nicknameless, pat yourself on the pat and be cheerful, for once. We KNOW it's a long slog. But we're still here. We're not going to give up. And our numbers are growing by leaps and bounds. I understand your concern. I myself fell victim to stupidly cheerful optimism and consequent lack of vigilance last year, re Shelley. Didn't see the target on his back. So we do need to be reminded that the fascists never sleep.

But still, I say, give a cheer! This matter has moved way forward, from a year ago.

[nicknameless]

11. Every time I've gotten my hopes up, they've been dashed.

I want to be optimistic, but "it isn't over until it's over".

We proved the TSx machines were crap in August (30% failure), so McPherson held a secret BS test with "specially selected" Diebold machines (3% failure). Then he said he was ready to re-certify them.

In June, BBV.org applied to have Harri Hursti test Diebolds (per CA Election Code 19202) in CA, and McPherson is STILL stonewalling them (SIX months now).

Then yesterday, he says that he wants to leave the decision of certification up to the feds? So no, I don't see this as a victory. :(

Edited to add:
"... be cheerful, for once"(?!) Why would you write that?! This issue is hardly behind us, and unfortunately McPherson has shown himself to be nothing like Ion Sancho. If you trust McPherson and the feds, you must know something I don't.

I'm with State Senator Debra Bowen on this one.