Is it true that an e-voting machine can be disabled by a magnet?

[elehhhhna]

Is this rumor based on fact or is it a new urban legend?

[LaurenG]

1. Computers DO NOT like magnets... nt

[B3Nut]

16. Depends on strength...

I don't know of a small magnet strong enough to bother the hard disk drive encased in the average PC...you'd have to put a strong magnet practically right on the drive itself, which would involve opening the case. The best you could hope for is random erasure of data on the disk platters...you wouldn't be able to change votes or anything else requiring data manipulation with any magnet.

Todd in Beerbratistan <- PC technician

[KurtNYC]

2. A sledgehammer would be more effective

[BlueEyedSon]

3. if the recording media it magnetic (floppy disk, mag card, tape)

then yes. You have to get the magnet pretty close to the recording surface though.

[Stand and Fight]

4. It's a computer.

Of course it can -- magnets will erase a hard drive or floppy disk... Voting machines have hard drives, so logic leads to the conclusion that this is NOT an urban legend.

[Oreo]

5. A strong magnet doesn't have to get too close

These magnets are so strong if you stick it to something metal... you can't get it off. I'm sure it would wipe it with a quick swipe

[elehhhhna]

6. Doesn't sound very secure.

[ArkDem]

7. A match works on paper.

[elehhhhna]

9. true. Let's put rocks in baskets! Worked in the Congo!

[ArkDem]

12. Paper covers rocks.

[elehhhhna]

13. Say it with me, now: scissors cut paper.

[Dora]

8. My magnet & computer story

One of my first jobs ever was as the lone clerk in a psych practice. This was in 1989, and this was my first job working with a computer. There was a behemoth of a PC in the office, and it behaved quite well on some days, but on others it seemed to be a computer possessed.

For weeks I chalked it up to my inexperience until one day when I was nearly ready to slam my stapler through the CRT because of its malfunctions and screen flips. I sat the keyboard and counted to 10, and my eyes landed on my paperclip holder, which was sitting on top of the big box of a hard drive, right next to the monitor.

I moved the paperclip holder to my desk. Problem solved.

[Dinocrat]

10. I don't think........................

the Neo-fascists would have to resort to magnets to rig the voting machines. I mentioned this in another thread, but isn't it feasible that the CIA, with all its experience in rigging elections in other parts of the globe, could do the same right here?

[Mist]

17. I have a similar story -

My new laptop worked fine for 5 months, then got hinky. It got bad enough that I took it to a "computer doctor." They told me it needed a new memory card. That evening, after I got the laptop home, I looked at the work area, and realized that it probably was the paper holder I'd put on the workspace a few weeks earlier-one of those wedge-shaped things with a small metal plate and a removeable ball to hold the paper. Though it was a small magnet, it was strong. I threw the silly thing out-no problems since then!

About the "vapor trail" voting machines- magnets sound good, but a steam roller would be more satisfying!

[B3Nut]

18. The magnet wasn't affecting the PC.

It was affecting the monitor, which stray magnetic fields will do. Magnets to all kinds of fun things to color CRT's...which is why CRT's need to be degaussed (demagnetized) on occasion. Nearly all modern CRT's have built-in degaussing - most do it on power-up, and you can degauss manually using the monitor's on-screen menus.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Gold Metal Flake]

11. More effective would be a new Boston Tea Party.

They don't work well when wet.

[elehhhhna]

14. Sublime in its simplicity.

[malmapus]

15. Hrm I didn't get to take a good look at the one I was using

They couldn't be dumb enough to have the media in the machine could they?

I had assumed it was just I/O and that they would have the storage device behind it or something.

[MGKrebs]

19. I believe the data is stored on a PCMCIA card.

Removable.

[malmapus]

20. Makes sense for it to be removable media

I've been sitting here trying to think of what cables I remember seeing when I glanced over the thing.

EDIT: Would still think they would have the voting machines networked together just to make it easier to "tally" (and I use tally very loosely). Which is why I was thinking the "dumb terminal" approach.

[ArkDem]

21. Don't need cables for wifi.

[malmapus]

23. Yeah, I wouldn't use wifi for something like voting

Not secure enough IMHO, but then again, I'm not diebold.

[MGKrebs]

22. At the end of the day, they pull all of the PCM cards,

and take them to one of the machines, which is designated a "tabulator" or something. They insert the cards one at a time and that machine performs the precinct totaling. As far as I know, the machines are not linked in any way other than for electrical power.

I DO know that the machines here in Georgia have IR capability, and not only that, there are actually TWO PCM slots. Somewhere, someday, somebody could cause wireless modems to be inserted in these slots. If anyone ever hears of poll workers being trained to ignore a PCM card in a slot, I would want to look into that.

(This info applies to Diebold machines in Georgia, the only system I have any familiarity with.)

[malmapus]

24. Good info

I wish now that I took a closer look at the machines we used here in California. I was just soo psyched to get dumbass out of office I didn't bother.