Sale on eBay exposes vote security flaw-Encoders, access cards auctioned

[kpete]

Sale on eBay exposes vote security flaw
Encoders, access cards auctioned

By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 01/30/07

Some key components of one of Georgia's most sacred institutions — that had been discovered in discarded office furniture — were recently auctioned on eBay.

About 40 voter access cards and three electronic ballot encoders belonging to DeKalb County were purchased earlier this month on the auction Web site, according to Secretary of State Karen Handel. Another seven supervisor's cards, used to activate the encoders, also were up for bid.

All of the cards and encoders have been recovered, Handel said. The cards apparently had been used only for training in mock elections, and the encoders are obsolete; Georgia now uses electronic poll books to load voter access cards with the proper ballots.

But the discovery exposed a flaw in the security of electronic voting, which is already under fire over fears of hacking.

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According to Handel, DeKalb County renovated some of its offices and sold some of its old furniture.
Apparently, officials failed to check the drawers. The buyer of the furniture found the cards and sold some of them on eBay. The buyer turned out to be Diebold Election Systems, the manufacturers of Georgia's electronic voting equipment.

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more at:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/01/29/0130metvoter.html