NationStates Jolt Archive

In most states across the US, electronic voting has been implemented. This seems great, since it cuts down on counting time and human interaction. Of course, due to monetary issues, just about every state has adamantly refused to have any type of paper trail. This means that, instead of being more convenient, the current system would allow anyone with knowledge of computers that got access to the machines to alter the outcome of the election - and no one would ever know!

An interesting point, my boyfriend recently had access to a Diebold voting machine. Wondering if he could erase votes with ESD, he hit the card with a small electrical pulse. Not only did doing so erase all data already on the card, it also gave him administrative access to the computer. He could have easily reprogrammed the computer to count a vote for Kerry as a vote for Bush, or to not count votes at all but to simply count the number of votes and have one candidate win over the other.

People, your politicians have decided that other issues are more important than spending the money to put printers onto computers so that you would *know* that your vote is being properly tallied. Why does this not seem to bother anyone?

Don't worry, you're not the only one who's skeptical on electronic voting - myself included.

I am worried too! Aloto f people are and there are people who are fighting it but you wont hear it from the corporate TV media because we don't want a mass movement on our hands as that wont help the corporations that run them get their candidate elected as easily.

I am worried too! Aloto f people are and there are people who are fighting it but you wont hear it from the corporate TV media because we don't want a mass movement on our hands as that wont help the corporations that run them get their candidate elected as easily.

Well, I know the ACLU is planning on contesting lots of elections, but they can't do anything until after the election happens. I'd be more interested in seeing people push their politicians right now, while they can still get printers.

California cared so much they (we) insisted on paper trails. It's not that no one cares. But, calls to arms are a good thing-keep pressing.

THIS IS NON-PARTISAN!! It's not because republicans might electronicly rig an election, it's just as easy for democrats to do that or (and this is far more likely) for the Mickey Mouse/Frank Zappa ticket will win the presidency.

A paper trail just makes simple sense.

A paper trail makes sense ESPECIALLY due the nature of this situation and the importance of its place in the design of democracy altogether. Without accurate or relatively accurate representation of the populace being governed then the United States has already dropped the most important founding and lasting criterion of its even being significant in its place in the world for what it supposedly stands for. Granted, the last few years have already been a great derailment from that, but it got help being that way through the last presidential election and the people interested in making sure people aren't represented have more districting control and congressional control than they ever have. If these people have the will of the people, truly, then everything's fine, just politics of the wanting and the having like always. If not, they need out, and the people's vote needs to remain intact and integrative as was originally set out to be (not the "help" of the electoral college here where the people don't have enough status on their own to make an "informed" decision from within the loop), not the case of an electronic balloting machine giving a voter turn out (for example) for the Republicans to the tune of 11,661 voters in 3 different districts, all of which had a total populace near half the turnout.
No more deal with Diebold, Siemens AG or ES&S. If these people are involved, check 'em out and see how they're shootin' so far.

For the discussion, hoping there is one, what does anyone here know about Jeb Bush's urge on the Republican party to vote absentee?
I ran across a few stories of late that paint an unflattering picture of fraud regarding the issue. Recently at that.

Here in .de, electronic voting is standard in a few cities (in fact, I never 'made a cross' on paper despite voting in each election). iirc, it is hard to get administration access to the voting maschine. But there are a lot of additional reasons why things can go wrong. First: electricity. Here in Cologne, someone pulled the plug of the voting machine instead of the coffee machine. Second: Data transmission: We had the problem that data was not transmitted correctly - and suddently the FDP got 20%. Third: The complexity. Paper and pencils can be ordered by many companies, manual labor to count the votes is cheap, voting machines are complex enough to prevent most companies to wish to develop them. Which means the government becomes dependant to one company.

iirc, it is hard to get administration access to the voting maschine.

As I pointed out, all it takes is a little ESD on the voter card.

But there are a lot of additional reasons why things can go wrong. First: electricity. Here in Cologne, someone pulled the plug of the voting machine instead of the coffee machine. Second: Data transmission: We had the problem that data was not transmitted correctly - and suddently the FDP got 20%. Third: The complexity. Paper and pencils can be ordered by many companies, manual labor to count the votes is cheap, voting machines are complex enough to prevent most companies to wish to develop them. Which means the government becomes dependant to one company.

I understand the wish for an electronic voting machine - after all, marks on paper can be subjectively viewed by anyone counting. However, a paper trail (with printed out names for the person to see) is absolutely necessary to ensure safe and fair voting.

For the discussion, hoping there is one, what does anyone here know about Jeb Bush's urge on the Republican party to vote absentee?
I ran across a few stories of late that paint an unflattering picture of fraud regarding the issue. Recently at that.
It wasn't Jeb who was urging people to vote absentee, but a county level Republican party sent out a mailer to their voters urging them to vote absentee because of the potential for fraud. They embarassed the state party and Jeb, and pulled the mailer later. It's a pity, too, because they were right to be worried about it, just not for the reasons they thought.

Want to really get worried? Wired (http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65031,00.html?tw=rss.TOP) has an article about how a five line script could change an election on a Diebold machine. This ain't conspiracy theory stuff, folks.

As I pointed out, all it takes is a little ESD on the voter card.

Here in .de, voter cards are still on paper and checked by persons, not by electronic. I was referring to the system I know.


Want to really get worried? Wired has an article about how a five line script could change an election on a Diebold machine. This ain't conspiracy theory stuff, folks.

uh-oh, I don't think e use Diebold, but /me will do absentee voting next time