States' Testing of Voting Technology
Confidence - or maybe it’s about lack thereof, if you look at from the point of view of commentator Rady Ananda. While she produced another nicely compiled report today in OpEdNews.Com on several states that have conducted additional detailed studies of the security involved in software-driven election systems, she did little to instill any confidence in the outcomes. Consider her statement, I quote here:
"However, if the Pentagon is unable to deter hackers from its computers, surely our less-protected and less-funded election systems are much more vulnerable to attack. There is no doubt that winning elections in the most powerful nation in the world is strong motivation for anyone willing to do what it takes to win."
Just a tiny bit sensational IMHO; I mean on the one hand I concur about the vulnerability, but the thought of anyone willing to attempt to throw an election seems like a bit of stretch – at least until we accrue some hard evidence (not circumstantial) that such has, in fact, occurred (can anyone enlighten me?).
In any event, there is good learning about a selection of states in her latest annotation that tested and evaluated technology from Diebold (now known as Premier), Election Systems & Software (ES&S), Hart InterCivic, Sequoia, and Nedap (also known as Liberty). This report is a good informative read, and complements her earlier report on several “Expert Reports” from last January.
As Rady points out, her supplement should "serve to further inform the lay public about the continuing failure of computerized election systems to provide a basis for confidence in reported results." Well, here is where sparks fly from my Axe as it grazes the grind wheel.
I completely agree that this stuff needs to be documented; published, posted, and pushed into the hands of the public. But it’s also time to start talking about how to fix the problem. Admittedly, it will be some time before a general commentator is ready to report on solutions. There aren’t even any technology savvy journalists, editors, or pundits talking about solutions. But we need to start.
So, tell me what you think.
Thanks!
GAM|out
