once again, i ask... HOW DO THE DIEBOLD MACHINES WORK

[pimpbot]

When I voted, I was given a smartcard, which was used by other voters. I put it in, voted, and then gave it back to the poll worker. That card had no personal info about me, and neither did the voting machine. How do I make sure my vote for kerry actually counted?

[Endangered Specie]

1. You dont

Period.

[unblock]

2. you don't! that's the beauty of it! no ugly recounts!

because without a paper trail, there can be no recount.

just like, without evidence, there can be no trial. we'll just find you guilty now, no fuss, no muss!

[pimpbot]

4. how the fuck did this become the standard?

I swear, I could come up with better ideas after drinking a fifth. No wonder shit is so fucked up.

[cprise]

6. because computers = credibility

and Democrats were falling over themselves to institute "computerized voting" after the Florida 2000 fiasco. It was the easy way out for them after they backed down from fighting disenfranchisement.

A bunch of activists like Bev Harris and most Computer Science experts warned us for several years that BBV isn't in the least trustworthy.

[rooboy]

3. You can't be sure... that's the point.

It's just electronic data. It can be changed at any time by someone when nobody's looking. That's why a paper ballot MUST be printed whenever a touchscreen system is used.

Even if your vote was "counted" properly, nothing stops somebody going in and changing the totals. It stinks.

[cprise]

5. You don't

Your transaction was anonymous and there is absolutely no legitimate way to audit the data.

When you 'vote' with such a device, the CPU sets one set of bits on the display to say "Kerry" and then records the vote with a different set of bits that you cannot see. If the system is rigged, you probably couldn't tell.

[demobabe]

7. just think...

you may have just cast your ballot for the bush/cheney ticket!

we'll never know.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Was the smart card serial number recorded?

Is the serial number inviolable? Was it recorded? Isn't it easier for a smart card with a thousand votes to be swapped for another smart card with a thousand faux votes than it is to swap several ballot boxes with a thousand votes?

[rooboy]

9. It's even simpler than that...

if you hack the machine properly, the incorrect vote would be stored instantly on the card; i.e. machine says "thank you for voting for John Kerry", but the card marks a vote for Bush. One has no way of knowing.

[shelley806]

10. Here's how they work: with Rove support:--look at the date!

Published on Thursday, August 28, 2003 by the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Voting Machine Controversy

by Julie Carr Smyth


COLUMBUS - The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."
The Aug. 14 letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. - who has become active in the re-election effort of President Bush - prompted Democrats this week to question the propriety of allowing O'Dell's company to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election.
O'Dell attended a strategy pow-wow with wealthy Bush benefactors - known as Rangers and Pioneers - at the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch earlier this month. The next week, he penned invitations to a $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser to benefit the Ohio Republican Party's federal campaign fund - partially benefiting Bush - at his mansion in the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington.
The letter went out the day before Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, also a Republican, was set to qualify Diebold as one of three firms eligible to sell upgraded electronic voting machines to Ohio counties in time for the 2004 election.
Blackwell's announcement is still in limbo because of a court challenge over the fairness of the selection process by a disqualified bidder, Sequoia Voting Systems.
In his invitation letter, O'Dell asked guests to consider donating or raising up to $10,000 each for the federal account that the state GOP will use to help Bush and other federal candidates - money that legislative Democratic leaders charged could come back to benefit Blackwell.
They urged Blackwell to remove Diebold from the field of voting-machine companies eligible to sell to Ohio counties.
This is the second such request in as many months. State Sen. Jeff Jacobson, a Dayton-area Republican, asked Blackwell in July to disqualify Diebold after security concerns arose over its equipment.
"Ordinary Ohioans may infer that Blackwell's office is looking past Diebold's security issues because its CEO is seeking $10,000 donations for Blackwell's party - donations that could be made with statewide elected officials right there in the same room," said Senate Democratic Leader Greg DiDonato.
Diebold spokeswoman Michelle Griggy said O'Dell - who was unavailable to comment personally - has held fund-raisers in his home for many causes, including the Columbus Zoo, Op era Columbus, Catholic Social Services and Ohio State University.
Ohio GOP spokesman Jason Mauk said the party approached O'Dell about hosting the event at his home, the historic Cotswold Manor, and not the other way around. Mauk said that under federal campaign finance rules, the party cannot use any money from its federal account for state- level candidates.
"To think that Diebold is somehow tainted because they have a couple folks on their board who support the president is just unfair," Mauk said.
Griggy said in an e-mail statement that Diebold could not comment on the political contributions of individual company employees.
Blackwell said Diebold is not the only company with political connections - noting that lobbyists for voting-machine makers read like a who's who of Columbus' powerful and politically connected.
"Let me put it to you this way: If there was one person uniquely involved in the political process, that might be troubling," he said. "But there's no one that hasn't used every legitimate avenue and bit of leverage that they could legally use to get their product looked at. Believe me, if there is a political lever to be pulled, all of them have pulled it."
Blackwell said he stands by the process used for selecting voting machine vendors as fair, thorough and impartial.
As of yesterday, however, that determination lay with Ohio Court of Claims Judge Fred Shoemaker.
He heard closing arguments yesterday over whether Sequoia was unfairly eliminated by Blackwell midway through the final phase of negotiations.
Shoemaker extended a temporary restraining order in the case for 14 days, but said he hopes to issue his opinion sooner than that.
© 2003 The Plain Dealer

[Blaze Diem]

11. I have heard that the Diebold problem with counting votes incorrectly

is not in the "code" as many believe, but in the operating system itself...Any hackers or system profs around to explain this theory??

The challengers to EV machines may demand to check the code for accuracy and find it all checks out ok. But they don't find Diebolds secret voter weapon because its in the osys.
.
Well I have to work tomorrow..I'll check back Nov 3..pm.
Night all and hang in there ...Kerry's team suspected this problem and I have faith in his word to the American people.

"Every Vote Will Be Counted."
I believe Kerry has been in Foriegn Relations long enough to know how fascist regimes rig their elections..this one is no different.

Kerry's team is now doing what they were hired to do..Kerry will prevail.

Blaze