Vote: Election Education and Fraud
'It's Not the People Who Vote that Count;
It's the People Who Count the Votes' ~ Stalin
PHOTO ID IS A RED HERRING: IF YOU WANT TO PREVENT FRAUD THEN YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO VOTING MACHINE FRAUD.
2011 - 20 million do not have a gov't issued photo ID.
Several states have passed a new law requiring individuals to show government-issued photo IDs to vote. The law's supporters say it will help deter voter fraud, while opponents argue it will make it difficult for minorities, students and the elderly to cast their ballots. Host Michel Martin discusses both arguments with long-time civil rights activist and former Presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson, as well as Republican political strategist Ron Christie.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=137003621&m=137003616
One of the most frightening examples Johnston has turned up is in one of the nation's most treasured franchises: the right to vote. He said he's found that most voting machines have almost no security to reveal tampering. Thus, he said, it's a fairly simple matter to tinker with the electronics while machines are in storage or being transported by the truckload. He has even demonstrated how he can turn cheating mechanisms in voting machines on and off by remote control.
"It's much easier to steal the election, right at the electronic voting machine," said Johnston."In many cases, we see security devices or electronic voting machines where we really have to wonder, 'Did anybody spend 60 seconds figuring out the security issues?"
Johnston and his team said they have learned that all too often, the highest tech systems can be cracked by the lowest tech methods
2009
Sequoia Voting Systems has inadvertently released the SQL (Structured Query Language) code for its voting databases. The existence of such code appears to violate Federal voting law.
Sequoia is controlling the elections from within the database itself. Since they didn't strip this controlling SQL code out, we have the chance to study it, and since it came from a purely legal source, we can for the first time study a voting system from the inside out, in public.
Jim March to Open Voting Consortium - OVC-discuss] Something really big: Sequoia source code, free to download and study, no NDAs.
"Folks, you'll love this. Sequoia blew it on a public records response. We (basically EDA) have election databases from Riverside County that Sequoia insisted on "redacting" first, for which we paid cold cash. They appear instead to have just vandalized the data as valid databases by stripping the MS-SQL header data off, assuming that would stop us cold.
They were wrong.
The Linux "strings" command was able to peel it apart. Nedit was able to digest 800meg text files. What was revealed was thousands of lines of MS-SQL source code that appears to control or at least influence the logical flow of the election, in violation of a bunch of clauses in the FEC voting system rulebook banning interpreted code, machine modified code and mandating hash checks of voting system code.
I've got it all organized for commentary and download in wiki form.
This is the first time we can legally study a voting system's innards without NDAs or court-ordered secrecy. Join the fun :).
First goal is to prove that Sequoia did in fact vandalize the data files by stripping the MS-SQL headers - if so that will affect other public records inquiries against Sequoia.
Second goal: what does the code do, what are the security implications, is it as big a violation of the FEC rulebook as it appears?
Thanks, Jim March "
Among other issues, this raises the possibility that Sequoia and Riverside county collectively violated the California Public Records Act. It is obviously legal to distribute MS-SQL data files that you create; Microsoft holds no "secrecy claim" to them. Sequoia claimed to be "removing their trade secrets but given the amount of source code found it's obvious that's not what happened.
Legally speaking, redaction of a data file is allowed. Vandalism isn't. Establishing which one happened is an important project goal, as it could allow us to go to court and get an unedited set of the files for further study.
9/09 Diebold sold its voting-machine business to Election Systems & Software of Omaha Diebold decided in 2006 to focus on key markets, including A.T.M.'s and security systems, said Mike Jacobsen, a Diebold spokesman. Election Systems & Software operates election services in 39 states and overseas. Now they are controlling all the votes in the U.S. S. Candice Hoke, an election law professor at Cleveland State University, said the sale raises questions about the consolidation of election services. “It's a massive consolidation of voting-system vendors,” she said. Premier has about 180 employees in the U.S. & Canada - operates in 33 states.
Google Sequoia AVC Advantage montgomery county pennsylvania election problems.
Voting Systems Used in Pennsylvania The Board of Elections in each of Pennsylvania's sixty-seven counties can choose which system voters in the county will use. There are currently ten different systems or combinations of systems in use throughout the Commonwealth:[30] Failures by State
2008
Premier (Diebold) admits to flaw that drops votes 8/21/08
2008 Election Timeline
Timeline and related material about presidential debates, primaries, and caucuses for the 2008 presidential election. Also includes news stories and a list of presidential candidates with links to websites.
2006
"Diebold says"glitch-free," just don't touch those touchscreens" Apparently Diebold has gotten the machines to work relatively well together, but only when using a mouse. If the touchscreen is tapped, the machine loses contact with its peers. Diebold is touting this mouse thing as a fix, and is offering to provide 5,500 mice for their e-poll books if state officials in Maryland give the go-ahead. Unfortunately, during a recent mock election, a poll-worker tapped the touchscreen despite repeated warnings to the contrary, and screwed up the system, requiring a reboot which took 30 seconds.
Happy Voting
http://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/hotel-minibar-keys-open-diebold-voting-machines
"The access panel door on a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine — the door that protects the memory card that stores the votes, and is the main barrier to the injection of a virus — can be opened with a standard key that is widely available on the Internet. [snip]
"Chris's key was left over from a previous job, maybe fifteen years ago. He said the key had opened either a file cabinet or the access panel on an old VAX computer."
"How to steal an election by hacking the vote"
Diebold demands that HBO cancel documentary on voting machines. Film saying they can be manipulated 'inaccurate' 2006 Diebold Inc. insisted that cable network HBO cancel a documentary that questions the integrity of its voting machines, calling the program inaccurate and unfair.Diebold Election System President David Byrd said in a letter to HBO President and Chief Executive Chris Albrecht posted on Diebold's Web site. Short of pulling the film, Monday's letter asks for disclaimers to be aired and for HBO to post Diebold's response on its Web site. "We stand by the film," said Jeff Cusson, a spokesman for HBO, which is a unit of Time Warner Inc. "We have no intention of withdrawing it from our schedule. It appears that the film Diebold is responding to is not the film HBO is airing." The HBO documentary is based on the work of Bev Harris, the Renton woman who founded BlackBoxVoting.org, which monitors election accuracy. In 2004 the attorney general of California took up a whistle-blower claim filed by Harris against Diebold and settled with the company for $2.6 million in December.
2007
California voting systems code review now released 8/2007 - Matt Blaze
GAO Presentation that evote problems are very real. Randolph C. Hite at (202) 512-3439 or by e-mail at hiter@gao.gov.
Most vote machines lose test to hackers July 28, 2007
State-sanctioned teams of computer hackers were able to break through the security of virtually every model of California's voting machines and change results or take control of some of the systems' electronic functions, according to a University of California study released Friday. The researchers "were able to bypass physical and software security in every machine they tested,'' said Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who authorized the "top to bottom review" of every voting system certified by the state.
City loses voters' vital information 1/24/07
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/222892,CST-NWS-data22.article
About 100 computer discs with 1.3 million Chicago voters' Social Security numbers have been distributed to aldermen and ward committeemen, and the whereabouts of at least an additional six CDs with the same information are unknown, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. This follows another security lapse in October 2006, when voters' Social
Security numbers were available through the board's Web site. But unlike the Web site flaw, which was fixed in a few minutes, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for the Board of Elections to retrieve sensitive data physically scattered on more than 100 discs throughout the area.
"The cryptographer David Chaum, through discussion with top cryptographers such as Ron Rivest, has designed a secure and verifiable voting system. One of the goals of his design is that anyone can verify that votes were tabulated correctly. It's good to see real security/crypto people working on this problem. They also have a press release."
2004
Diebold knew of legal risks
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/cda/article/print/0,1674,82%257E1865%257E2095811,00.html
Oakland Tribune By Ian Hoffman 4/04 Diebold knew of legal risks Attorneys warned firm that use of uncertified vote-counting software violated state law.
2003 Voting Machine Fraud
Voting Machine Fiasco: SAIC, VoteHere and Diebold SAIC is a behemoth military defense contractor with a shadowy, if not tarnished, reputation, while former SAIC executives also have ties to VoteHere. Why is that important? Former President, Chief Operating Officer, and Vice Chairman of SAIC is Admiral Bill Owens, who is now Chairman of the Board for VoteHere. Owens also served as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was a senior military assistant to Secretaries of Defense Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney. Carlucci's company is Carlyle Group, while Vice President Dick Cheney's former employer is Halliburton.
Computer Voting Is Open to Easy Fraud, Experts Say By John Schwartz http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/24/technology/24VOTE.html
The software that runs many high-tech voting machines contains serious flaws that would allow voters to cast extra votes and permit poll workers to alter ballots without being detected, computer security researchers said yesterday. "We found some stunning, stunning flaws," said Aviel D. Rubin, technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who led a team that examined the software from Diebold Election Systems, which has about 33,000 voting machines operating in the United States read the paper at http://avirubin.com/vote.pdf
Hacking Democracy - HBO
This cautionary documentary exposes the vulnerability of computers - which count approximately 80% of America's votes in county, state and federal elections - suggesting that if our votes aren't safe, then our democracy isn't safe either. Don't allow vendors hack the vote. Don't allow states to privatize elections demand open software.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Black Box Voting - Eliminate Secrecy Consumer Protection for Elections
Paper ballots are the 'Currency of Democracy'. They've been helping to curb election fraud since 139 BCE!
Factcheck.org In this election year let me recommend this site run by the Annenberg School at UPenn and Teach Your Children - use this one http://www.factcheckED.org/ for the kids.
Historians are great at telling linear stories and written narratives that have a specific point of view, and an agenda. Historians try to make define a moment in time with a certain set of facts while they leave out others. Now with the advent of web 2.0 pictures might prove to be history's next frontier. The Internet uses pictures to show off the natural social process that history actually is.
We are always concerned with "trusted" sources of information. We want to believe that journalism is honest and that we get honest reporting from print, television, and online sources. We need to understand these relationships.
History and Myth Making
What is the Difference Between Information and Propaganda when Trusted Media Sources are The Official Story Tellers?
The House Sneaker, Starring "Fats" Hastert, & his sidekick "Sneaks" Foley.
The Sneaky "Sneaks" from Sneaksville © Dan Cassidy
Starring: The House Sneaker, "Fats" Hastert, & his sidekick "Sneaks" Foley.
Sneak, v., to move or walk in a stealthy or slinking manner; to creep or crawl furtively; to slink, or skulk.
Sneak, n., a sneaking, shifty, underhanded person. One who steals in a sneaking manner; a sneaking, shifty, underhanded person.
Sneak: “Of doubtful origin...” ( Oxford English Dictionary) Dictionary Dicks are the thought police.
Like the words "slang," "vagabond cant," and "thieves' jargon," “doubtful origin” is often a sneaky Anglo-Saxon code for the Irish language.
- Snighe, (pron. shniγə), n., crawling (as a snail);
- snigheach, (pron. shniγaċ), adj., creeping, crawling;
- snighim, (shniγəm), v., I creep, I crawl. Snag, n., a small creeping thing or person; a “crawler;” (ornithology), a tree-creeper.
- Snagadh, (pron. snagah), vn., creeping.
- Snagaim, v., I creep, crawl, or move slowly.
- Snagach, adj., creeping, crawling, snail-like.
- Snagaire, al. snagóir,n., a sneak, a creeper. (Dineen, 1071, 1078, Ó Dónaill, 1121, 1122)
Although “sneak” sneaks into works by William Shakespeare in the 16 th century, it was still classified as “Cant” by slang dictionaries as late as the 19 th century. Interestingly, the Barnhart Dictionary of English Etymology traces the English “sneak” back to the Irish snighim, I creep or crawl. . . .
- “A poore... Out~law, sneaking home. “(Shakespeare, Henry. IV, 1596)
- “Sneak, a pilferer. Morning sneak; one who pilfers early in the morning...To go upon the sneak; to steal into houses whose doors are carelessly left open. Cant.” (Grose, Egan, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785, 1811)
- Sneaker, n., someone who sneaks, creeps, crawls, acts surreptitiously; an athletic shoe.
- Snagaire, n., a sneak, a creeper, a crawler. (Dineen, 1071)
- Sneaky,adj., creeping, crawling, shifty, underhanded.
- Snagach, adj., creeping, crawling. Snagaí, n., creeper, crawler. (Dineen, 1071)
- Snigheach, (pron. shniγaċ), adj., creeping, crawling. (Dineen, 1078)
- “Jesus at the Movies: Some prominent proselytizers hope to save America -- and the world -- by doing some 'sneaky preaching' through a new movie they're calling 'one of the greatest outreach tools of the church in this century.'" (Sarah Posner, Alternet, Oct. 12, 2006)
INFORMATION
VS
PROPAGANDA
BIRTH / ROOTS OF FOX NEWS PROPAGANDA - STALINIST SYSTEM
2004 Rupert Murdock controls the news WATCH - OUTFOXED
Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
Bravenew Films 1 hr 17 min 41 sec Sep 14, 2004
Outfoxed examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know.
Fox News has once again identified a Republican as a Democrat and vice-versa.
October 4th 2006 Fox News labeled disgraced Republican Mark Foley as a Democrat multiple times in one night and they've done it again today, reversing the party affiliation of Sheldon Whitehouse and Lincoln Chafee in the Rhode Island Senate race.
About News Sniffer
The News Sniffer project aims to monitor corporate news organisations to uncover bias. Latest articles, Latest revisions. Blog
Tampering with Wikipedia
Keith Olbermann's story on the interesting authorship of many Wikipedia edits - Fox News, NSA over 100 entries. Aug. 16 2007: A young computer scientist has developed a program called Wikipedia Scanner that can show who makes changes to Wikipedia articles by tracing their computer address. Kevin Poulsen, senior editor of Wired.com discusses.
PRWatch.org
Taking a cue from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is interested in promoting media literacy and citizen journalism "of, by and for the people."
To achieve this goal, they publish a quarterly investigative journal, their "Spin of the Day", and the very useful PR Watch website. On the site, they investigate and craft critical appraisals of various public relations media. Recently, they have looked at the "green" claims made by print advertisements for various automobiles and media claims about other products.Overall, the site is a good resource for journalists and for people who are just plaincurious about the world of journalism and investigative reporting.
Who Contributed to their Campaigns?
Did you send in some money to someone's presidential campaign? Did your neighbor? How much and to who? Type in your address and see who your neighbors have donated money to. Or type in someone's name to see who they contributed to.
Links to individual state campaign finance disclosure agencies
Open Secrets Federal Level Data
NewsMeat - tracks celebraties, ceo's everyone you want to know about.
FEC Filings From Prospective 2008 Presidential Campaigns
Official records of Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings for the 2008 presidential election, including Statement of Organization and Statement of Candidacy forms. "This list includes campaigns who have raised or spent $50,000 or more (the threshold for mandatory electronic filing) from sources or to payees other than the candidate him or herself." Additional forms filed are listed under the candidate's committee, including quarterly reports of receipts and disbursements.
Most States Now Offering Campaign Data Online
The US Public Policy Committee of the ACM has released a study on statewide voter registration databases. We looked at accurancy, privacy, usability, security, and reliability issues of such databases.
The home page for the study is http://www.acm.org/usacm/VRD/ ; it contains the committee membership, executive study, and (of course) a link to the full study.
Center for Governmental Studies
Public Citizen founded by Ralph Nader
Douglas Jones University of Iowa associate professor
of computer science has become a leading expert on voting security in the United States and heads the Iowa State Board of Voting Machines and launched a National Science Foundation project called ACCURATE, or A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable and Transparent Elections. Jones said hand-marked paper ballots that can be counted by local machines are probably the best ballot choice.
Project Vote Smart http://www.vote-smart.org
A national library of factual information on 40,000 candidates for public office including President of the United States to state legislature to local elected officials. We cover them in five basic areas: backgrounds, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and performance evaluations made by over 100 liberal to conservative special interest groups.
In addition we interview presidential, congressional, gubernatorial and state legislative candidates and provide special services on issues for journalists, teachers and students. All information and services can be obtained in the following ways:
http://www.vote-smart.org/services.phtml
* The Voter's Research Hotline 1-800-622-SMART
* The Voter's Self-Denfense Manual
Information available through the above sources:
- Biographical and Political Backgrounds
- Addresses and Phone Numbers
- Voting Records
- Campaign Finance Data
Literacy
- August 6, 1965: Voting Rights Act
- 2006 TEXAS Why weren't you taught how to read?
- Can't Read? Then you can't vote.
- If Literacy Stats - why the low turn out.
- Learn the Presidents Song
1940 article from Popular Science about "modern" vote counting. Thought people might get a kick out of it in the context of the present voting machine discussions.
Tar and Feather all Electronic Voting Machine Vendors and Election Officials who tamper with our vote.