No Voting Machines for Leon County: You Won't Believe Why

[kster]

Companies that make automated voting machines have refused to sell any of their devices to Leon County, Florida after county election supervisor Ion Sancho dared to question the reliability of their products.

According to the Washington Post, Sancho hired a group of computer experts to see if they could hack into the voting machines, and guess what, they could. While the machines were resistant to tampering from the outside, the examiners found that election workers could alter vote counts by meddling with the machines' removable memory cards.

Sancho's dedication to voter confidence and accurate elections so angered the voting machine makers that they refused to sell Leon County the machines they need to meet Florida's new requirements for handicapped-accessible polling places.

"I've essentially embarrassed the current companies for the way they do business, and now I believe I'm being singled out for punishment by the vendors," Sancho is quoted in the Washington Post.

Also See:
Electronic Voting Machines Fail
Ohio City to Re-Vote After Diebold Voting Machine Over-votes
Electronic Voting Flawed, GAO Reports



http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/a/217109.htm

[Sperk]

1. so? why would he want to buy them anyways? I don't get it.

n/t

[autorank]

3. Good point. FL law mandates this. He has little choice.

I'd prefer paper everywhere but Sancho is stuck with the FL law.

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. Is it Florida law or HAVA?

[autorank]

2. Sancho is a hero. He should buy the Indian voting machines.

Tell current vendors to f' off.

India went to electronic voting several years ago. Indian politics are serious hardball. The parties often times are at serious odds, they despise each other. There are riots at times, etc.

If there were problems with their low tech electronic voting solution, you can be sure there would be loud cries of election fraud from those who felt victimizes. This has not materialized.

The Indians took a low tech, secure approach that doesn't cost much.

Sancho, go buy Indian...a reliable electronic voting solution.

[Amaryllis]

6. He can;t. Only the three vendors who won't sell to him are certified

for FL.

[justice1]

7. I was wondering about buying machines from another country

How much do you want to bet that HAVA doesn't allow for it.

[autorank]

16. Theh states decide. So much for globalization. We probably have

the countries we "influence" use our macines too. Neat package, nice rigging, total information awareness;)

[garybeck]

4. it's not just because Sancho angred them, it's really because

they are afraid of having their code scrutinized. They know we will find all their bugs and backdoors. they know if they sell to Leon, their scam will be discovered, they'll be forced to fix their code and they won't be able to steal elections anymore.

O, if only there was more than ONE election supervisor in the country who gives a crap about the integrity of their elections. This should be going on everywhere.

[electropop]

8. So f-in' what if he can't install their crime machines?

He is causing huge attention to this problem, and maybe this can be used to discredit the machines, the vendors, and the Florida GOP. Maybe he can get some help from the FL Supreme Court.

[garybeck]

10. no doubt

he's gotten a vote of confidence from the electorate. they love him, as we all do here. maybe they'll just have to use hand counted paper ballots :)

[electropop]

12. Oh the horror! Hand-counted paper?

But that's so... 20th century, so 9/10, so...reliable.

[babylonsister]

5. Could Mr. Sancho pleeze come to TX and piss off some people? nt

[Book Lover]

9. Yeah, I've got some folks in CA he could have a chat with, too. (nm)

[garybeck]

11. hear Ion Sancho tell his story here ::::>>>>>

Brad Friedman / Ion Sancho interview. Highly recommended:

http://www.solarbus.org/election/audio.shtml

[RubyDuby in GA]

14. I would pay him to come to Georgia and piss off our lovely system- Diebold

Or at least bring him in to give a seminar on how to royally piss them off to the point of them leaving on their own.

[autorank]

17. The "miracle patch" of 2002 -- Cleland & Barnes stunned...

That was quite a deal. Barnes and Cleland suffer 11-14% reverssals from the last pre-election polls and lose...and a Diebold contractor says he put a software patch on 33% of the Diebold machines in the state warehouse just prior to the election. Was that ever investigated? (he asked with a :)

Kathy Cox certainly has a strange agenda. She's like our Secretary of State in VA, appointed by Warner and retained by Kaine. She doesn't think paper trails are really necessary.

Please tell me that Cox has no chance in the Democratic primary (even if she does;)

[RubyDuby in GA]

18. I've said from Day 1 to anyone who will listen that there is simply no

way that we lost the 2002 election for Senator and Governor. Just. No. Way.

With that being said, Cathy Cox is actually polling a lot better than the other Dem in the Gov. primary. BUT...she has angered a lot of the liberal base in Atlanta by refusing to answer questions about Diebold, then storming off in a huff at events where she is asked. She pissed me off royally when she turned down money from Emily's List because the other Dem candidate, Mark Taylor, is trying to paint her as on out of touch ultraliberal. I will pull out my own fingernails before I support him.

I hate to tell you, but if the primary were held today, she would win. And unfortunately, she is preferrable to the other one.

Oh, to answer your question: Was that ever investigated? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!! You so funny! Or simply, no.

[FogerRox]

15. Another good find from kster, KNR