Reply #75: The possibility of fraud in these machines in astounding

[Jack Rabbit]

EDITED for typing.

I wrote computer programs for 25 years and know what I am talking about. Anybody who has ever taken and received a passing grade in a basic lower-division programming course would be expected to have the skills to rig an election, especially in an environment where the voting software is the property of the manufacturer and beyond public scrutiny.

To write a module for counting a vote in pseudo-code, it would look like this:

MODULE CountVote (iTotalVotes AS INTEGER, iVotesCandidateX AS INTEGER, iVotesCandidateY AS INTEGER,
. . . . . . . . swVoteX AS LOGICAL, swVoteY AS LOGICAL):

DECLARE n CONSTANT INTEGER 100.

ASSIGN iTotalVotes = iTotalVotes + 1.

IF iTotalVotes < n THEN DO:
. . ASSIGN iVotesCandidateX = iVotesCandidateX + 1.
ELSE DO:
. . IF swVoteX THEN ASSIGN iVotesCandidateX = iVotesCandidateX + 1. ENDIF.
. . IF swVoteY THEN ASSIGN iVotesCandidateY = iVotesCandidateY + 1. ENDIF.
ENDIF.

RETURN iTotalVotes, iVotesCandidateX, iVotesCandidateY.

END MODULE.

The first 100 votes are recorded for Candidate X, regardless of for whom the vote was actually cast. If there is a verification module, one who voted for Candidate Y may still be informed that he voted for Candidate Y, yet the vote still counted for Candidate X. Paper trails are little assurance against voter fraud in this kind of environment.

This, of course, would be no accident.

The only assurance we have against these machines being used fraudulently is not to use them. Votes should be recorded on paper and only the paper ballot counted. Electronic machines may be an aid in voting, but they should not be the vote recorder under any circumstances.

There are some things that should be pointed out about computers that make them wholly unsatisfactory for the purpose proposed, even excluding willful fraud.

Another thing to point out about computers is that damaged hardware can make the software do some very funny things. What happens when coffee is spilled on your keyboard? I have also worked with a computer whose memory nodes melted after the air conditioning in the room in which it was stored failed. This, too, can happen.

Who among us has not had the experience of data being lost in a power failure? I've had hours of work lost under those circumstances. Could one's right to vote be canceled by a lightning storm? Yes, it could.