Krugman - Hack the Vote

[Cassandra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/opinion/02KRUG.html
"Inviting Bush supporters to a fund-raiser, the host wrote, "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." No surprise there. But Walden O'Dell — who says that he wasn't talking about his business operations — happens to be the chief executive of Diebold Inc., whose touch-screen voting machines are in increasingly widespread use across the United States.

For example, Georgia — where Republicans scored spectacular upset victories in the 2002 midterm elections — relies exclusively on Diebold machines. To be clear, though there were many anomalies in that 2002 vote, there is no evidence that the machines miscounted. But there is also no evidence that the machines counted correctly. You see, Diebold machines leave no paper trail.
<snip>
Early this year Bev Harris, who is writing a book on voting machines, found Diebold software — which the company refuses to make available for public inspection, on the grounds that it's proprietary — on an unprotected server, where anyone could download it. (The software was in a folder titled "rob-Georgia.zip.") The server was used by employees of Diebold Election Systems to update software on its machines. This in itself was an incredible breach of security, offering someone who wanted to hack into the machines both the information and the opportunity to do so."

YES!!!

[Myra]

1. Holy CRAP!!! Thank you Cassandra!!!

I wrote to Krugman recently and begged him to report on this!
I bet a bunch of others have done the same thing!

Bev, are your fingerprints on this????

Woo hooo!!!!!

Let's all write to Krugman and keep this kicked!
Forward this column to everyone you know.
Make printouts, whatever...

[Mel]

3. I think so?

check out this thread posted by Bev.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=806191


I'm so happy that Krugman wrote this!! Woooo hooooooo! :kick: forget about those Nader bashing threads let's :kick: it up here!

[monarch]

6. It's a hard story to sell

I don't know whether the technology stuff is daunting or the idea that our vote can be so easily manipulated, but I have to really make myself read the Diebold stuff and I read just about everything on DU. I just can't imagine the average citizen following the story.

[arlib]

12. Speak for yourself

It seems remarkably straightforward to me and many others. I've forwarded stories about Diebold's troubles to many friends and they reacted very favorably and in turn passed the stories on to others. Someone must be able to comprehend this "daunting" "technology stuff" or the story would never have grown into the mainstream issue that it has now become. This piece is from the NYT, not exactly a fringe publication. I can never understand why some people on this board advise playing down the very issues that resonate strongly with the public. Or perhaps I do.......

[Cassandra]

8. I was so pleased to see this

my mouth just dropped open while reading it.

[Sliverofhope]

2. Excellent column

Be sure to read the whole thing. Sums it all up perfectly for a neophyte like me who has yet to get his hands dirty in the BBV arena. Will hopefully do the same for many others.

[The Zanti Regent]

4. PAUL K THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET!

He asks "WHY IS THIS NOT NEWS?", a challenge thrown right at the assholes who run the Screw York Times!

[fabius]

5. Yee-Haw! Paul's on the case!

Thank God for Paul Krugman. And Bev Harris! Heroes of American democracy.

It's absolutely incredible that we have all known about this for months thanks to Bev (almost a year in fact) and only now does it hit the so called mainstream press.

And the NYT has not even done any kind of visible story on it.

[dbt]

7. Excuse me, fabius

But the truly incredible thing abut the "mainstream press" is how far in bu$h's pocket it is! Only four years ago, I would have scoffed at such an idea, yet here the media is, quite content to act as a mouthpiece for the Regime.

And "thank God for Paul Krugman and Bev Harris?"

DAMN RIGHT!

:hi:
dbt

[GreenGreenLimaBean]

9. kick

Forget Tiger Woods, Krugman's The Man.

[Catfish]

10. This is important

I think it's the most important issue we face as a country. If we can't trust the validity of elections, we really can't accept our elected officials as legitimate. How can recounts occur if there's no trail? I know where I live recounts have changed election results. Have any of the Democratic candidates addressed this issue? Yes, good for Krugman, he sometimes feels like our last voice.

[T Roosevelt]

11. Did Bev ghost write this for Paul?

Just reading through it I kept thinking this is something Bev (or other DU BBVers) would have written. Great stuff!!!!

[realFedUp]

13. Congrats Bev and DUers working on this issue

and to Paul Krugman who remains a sane
voice for what's right with this country.

[Logansquare]

14. I was incredibly excited to read this

When it's in the NYT, its in the pipeline, finally! Congrats to Bev and all of the hard-working folks who researched Diebold.

[scumboy]

15. What to do?

The question is, how do we address the issue so that it doesn't sink into oblivion?

I would suggest we all forward Krugman's column (and/or the earlier article by Bev) to our elected representatives, to every news outlet we know (including newspapers, wire services, broadcasters, etc.), and to everyone we know personally as well. This won't become a big story unless we make it a big story. (And so what if Fox News receives 5000 copies of it -- all the better. It will make it harder for them to ignore it.)

We should inquire of news outlets why such a huge story isn't on the front page. We should demand a full investigation of Diebold and of the government officials responsible for oversight of the federal contracts under which the voting machines were developed. We should also demand that the source code and the Diebold facility where the machines are produced be open to full public inspection on-demand at all times. So what if it slows down their production schedule. The validity and accuracy of our electoral system is far more important than the profits of a single company. As long as Diebold seeks to evade scrutiny, their concerns aren't worthy of consideration.

[tom_paine]

16. Great post! Welcome to DU, scumboy!

:toast: :toast:

[scumboy]

17. Thanks...

Thanks tom... I stumbled onto DU by chance yesterday. It didn't take me long to decide to join. I'm a life-long independent who has recently been coerced into becoming a Democrat. Who coerced me into it? The Republicans. I'm one of those people who is as mad as hell, and not interested in taking it anymore.

[RainDog]

18. Welcome to DU, scumboy

yes, it's incredible how many people the Republicans have outraged over the last three years.

maybe Bush is a uniter after all...uniting us all to get his lying, crooked, plutocratic ass out of office.

welcome to the fray.