Pentagon Cancels Internet Voting System

[RamboLiberal]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040205/D80HB5RG0.html

The Pentagon won't use an Internet voting system for overseas U.S. citizens this fall because of concerns about its security, an official said Thursday.

The official, who requested anonymity, said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz made the decision to scrap the system because Pentagon officials were not certain they could "assure the legitimacy of votes that would be cast."

Computer security experts who last month reviewed the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment, or SERVE, had urged the Pentagon to scrap the system, saying it was too vulnerable. The experts said the system could be penetrated by hackers who could change votes or gather information about users.

"Internet voting presents far too many opportunities for hackers or even terrorists to interfere with fair and accurate voting, potentially in ways impossible to detect," the experts said in a statement Jan. 21. "Such tampering could alter election results, particularly in close contests."

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Excellent news!

n/t

[Taeger]

2. Woooohoooooo!!!

Celebrate good times, come one!!!!!!

This is the first card to fall in the electronic voting pyramid of cards.

Beyond this, we can count on the Pentagon not stealing the votes of a couple hundred thousand serviceman WHO HATE BUSH NOW!!!!!!

Trust for the overseas troops vote to be VERY ANTI-BUSH!!!!! They are stuck in that fucking quagmire mess for over a year. Bush couldn't even complete is weekend warrior stint.

[jokerman93]

14. Just remember though

This doesn't guarantee the absentee ballots of disgruntled soldiers will be counted. Many weren't counted in the Florida elections. I have no link on that factoid, but I distinctly remember some pundit dismissing the point as if it was common practice (and therefor entirely acceptable) to disregard absentee ballots.

[Whoa_Nelly]

17. Thought of that, too, Jokerman2004

But this at least casts heavy doubt that Internet voting will ever be used for our elections....at least am hoping that over time, it will still be one of the benchmarks for this to never happen.

[dwckabal]

29. Actually

in 2000, the FLA election boards were pressured to count ballots that were postmarked too late, most of which went for Bush.

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=202&row=1

The award-winning investigative journalist and author Gregory Palast first came to the attention of this writer during the presidential election debacle in 2000. When I first heard of the voter purge, based on Greg’s coverage and carried in my local newspaper on page A-22 in an AP article in early December, I realized immediately that this story might well be the real “smoking gun” of the “election.” More than the discounted over-votes (some 100,000 or more), more than the butterfly ballots (a loss for Gore of some 20,000 votes), more than the fraudulently wrought absentee ballots (remember the Republican “operatives” working illegally in election headquarters in two counties, illegally ‘fixing’ applications?), more than “the bourgeois riot,” more than the “reproduced ballots” (imagine that!), or the illegally counted absentee ballots from overseas (no post-marks and arriving late)—this was the story that demonstrated clearly an orchestrated attempt on the part of Republican operatives to steal the state of Florida for Bush and thus the national election.

[tom_paine]

3. This is good news indeed.

Finally, a win for the Good Guys!

[proud patriot]

4. Thank Goodness

:-)

[ixion]

5. while I understand why people think this is good news

It's really a sad commentary on the State of Things in this country. There is no reason is the world why an application cannot be developed to support this, but because of the rampant fraud and corruption in our government, we shy away from technology in favor of paper -- paper -- which has its own repercussions (more forest lost to logging).

[kayell]

6. Much as I dislike excess paper use

I'm more willing to sacrifice some pine trees that can be relatively easily regrown, than a democracy that can't.

[Taeger]

8. Print ballots on recycled paper!!!!

[stevedeshazer]

10. Better yet

Legalize hemp.

[leftchick]

7. perhaps he was concerned some Democratic hacker

might override their predetermined results?

[Judi Lynn]

13. No doubt, leftchick, no doubt. n/t

[lostnfound]

9. Thank God.! Well, and Bev Harris. ;-) n/t

[GregD]

15. Uhh...

Sorry, but I don't see what Bev had to do with the cancellation of SERVE. Not that I don't give her credit and humongous kudos for her excellent work on BBV, but...

www.servesecurityreport.org was written by a team of computer scientists, and the SERVE project was cancelled as a result of that report's findings.

Two of the authors of that report, Simons and Rubin, are central figures in the efforts that VerifiedVoting.org is leading. They participated in a press conference that we sponsored this morning:

http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.asp?id=1128

[hunter]

21. Thanks GregD

BTW I heard this news on ABC radio tonight, so I had to come here and see the DU take on it...

:)

I see it's not too wild yet... Maybe I ought to tell some Paul Wolfowitz vampire stories or something.

The BBC writes:

"Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz reportedly took the decision because officials could not "assure legitimacy of votes that would be cast."

It has been my experience that Paul Wolfowitz's idea of "legitimacy" and my own are not the same.

I smell some serious garlic here, and I like it. Now all we have to do is hang on tight until the sun comes up.

[GregD]

22. yeah, we're all waiting

for "the other shoe to drop"

Thanks Hunter. Stay in touch. Did you go to our site and do the Valentines thing? Takes a few minutes, but a lot less effort than driving to Sacramento.

Peace,
Greg

[Occulus]

23. Simons and Rubin have SURELY heard

of Bev's work.

[GregD]

25. Did you read the thread?

Neither my response, nor the message to which I replied, had anything to do with whether or not anyone knows of Bev's work. The message to which I replied was "Thank God.! Well, and Bev Harris."

My point is that I see no relationship between the DoD decision to stop SERVE, and Bev's journalistic, investigative or activism efforts. And I see every relationship between the report produced by the authors of www.servesecurityreport.org and the DoD decision.

Hate to spoil your day, but Bev is not the only person in the US (or even in DU) that is concerned about election-related security issues, and is actively taking a active role to oppose insecure voting systems.

[dusty64]

11. Good news for

a change.

[ignatius]

12. What wonderful news!!1 I am really getting nervous now, whenever

so much good news for us (bad for Dubya) comes out,something happens..orange alerts..something

[CHIMO]

16. Great Work

Keep on.

[robpopulace]

18. Good!

Internet voting = paper ballot voting via ticker tape parade.

[Arlington]

19. if Wolfowitrz canceled it...

it must ACTUALLY BE tamper-proof...

[BeFree]

20. Ummmm...what are ya trying to say?

Looked like some kinda praise for wolfie?

The reason this project was cancelled was that even I could have voted! It's so far from tamper proof, it might as well been planted on the moon!

Thanks ahead of time for your rapid reply, Arlington

[springriverdog]

24. Thank god

Finally common sense over comes.

[leftchick]

26. Anyone know how they will count the absentee ballots?

Optical scanner maybe?

[trogdor]

27. I suspect the real reason is because...

...it might actually be used. Plenty of disgruntled enlisted pukes out there.

[gristy]

28. THANK YOU BBV activists and technologists!

This is great news. And thank you Greg at Verified Voting who has been working so long and hard (and sometimes in the shadows) on this issue.

[Blue-Jay]

30. YES!

Good news indeed! (Fewer letters to write for me too!)

Now, it's follow-up time with my State reps to get a damned receipt from the Diebold machines. Two of the three that I've previously written have responded. One non-committal, one who is co-sponsoring the house bill, and one asshole that apparently doesn't read his email....

Still much to do....

[AffirmativeReaction]

31. I'm surprised

That they even considered it a viable option in the first place!