Must have been about a year go that I blogged about getting a group of luggers together to from "OpenVote" (or was it eVote?), a not-for-profit venture to create a multi-language touch-screen open-source voting system that would write votes to a central database but also print out encrypted bar code paper ballot that could would be scanned in as a double-entry right after the ballot was printed that could also be tabulated later in case of a re-count.
But the all-import wireless helmet cam got in the way again.. perhaps I should have continued to push down the OpenVote path. At least Diebold, for now, has pulled out of the NC race. I had a SERIOUS problem with the then-CEO of Diebold "promising to personally deliver the Ohio electorate to President Bush". I'm still left to wonder about that. Greg On 1/4/06, Rick DeNatale <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 1/4/06, Tanner Lovelace <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Rick, you mention "programs", but didn't go any further. Let me elaborate > > on that a bit. :-) > > > > Not only are there "programs" on the Diebold flash cards, but they are > > written in an interpreted language called AccuBasic. This is a serious > > problem because the Federal Election Commission standard > > specifically stipulates that interpreted code in a voting machine is > > absolutely not allowed. The interesting thing on this is that these > > machines were FEDERALLY CERTIFIED! You've got to wonder just > > what that means now that it has been shown that the Dielbold machines > > should have in no way, no how been passed. > > Well, they probably got around this because it depends on the meaning > of interpreted. AccuBasic is compiled in the same sense that Java is > compiled. I'm not sure that interpretation is really that much less > secure anyway. Sure you can hide stuff in the interpreter, but as Ken > Thompson pointed out in his Turing Award lecture > http://www.acm.org/classics/sep95/ you can hide stuff in the compiler > as well. > > And as far as I know, the federal government doesn't actually certify > voting machines, this is done by the state and local governments under > federal guidelines. The recent lawsuit over the illegal certification > of Diebold DRE machines was against the state of North Carolina. > > There's seems to be quite a bit of decertification activity lately, > and some jurisdictions are already looking for new money to buy > replacements for the machines they purchased under the Help America > Vote Act. > > And I'm surprised and concerned that the test last month in Leon > county FL, shows that the optical scan machines might not be as good a > solution to verifiable voting as many open voting advocates, including > me, thought they were. > > If any of you have seen George Carlin recently, and in particular his > recent "Life is Worth Losing" HBO concert, he opines that democracy is > just an illusion. I fear that he might have a point. > > -- > Rick DeNatale > > Visit the Project Mercury Wiki Site > http://www.mercuryspacecraft.com/ > -- > TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug > TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ > TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/ > -- TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
