NY: (State Supreme Court Decision) Another Boost for Nassau's Fight to Keep Lever Voting Machines!

[Wilms]

NY: (State Supreme Court Decision) Another Boost for Nassau's Fight to Keep Lever Voting Machines!

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New York State Supreme Court Justice Michele M. Woodard ordered the New York State Board of Elections to release the ES&S DS200 Ballot Scanner and related EMS to be evaluated by Nassau's expert Dr. Alex Shvartsman, of Voting System Security, allowing Nassau "to provide specific examples of the flaws" they claim exist in the system.

The court denied the State Board of Elections request to keep secret voting unexamined. The court found that "ordering this discovery is not in contravention with the previously issued Federal Court orders."

Now, what will ES&S do?

[aquart]

1. Sweet Nassau. Can you save Manhattan, too?

[Bill Bored]

2. The US Court of Appeals' 2nd Circuit is in Manhattan

They are in a position to help end the madness too.

[Wilms]

3. ES&S e-Voting System Used in California Cracked Wide Open

?1279807942

ES&S e-Voting System Used in California Cracked Wide Open

By Ryan Paul | Last updated December 5, 2007 9:01 AM

Earlier this year, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen established strict new standards for electronic voting machines, requiring independent code audits, Red Team security testing, and support for paper records. The Red Team testing process primarily involves subjecting the machines to review by security experts who attempt to hack the software and bypass the physical security mechanisms. Recent Red Team tests of ES&S voting machines have uncovered serious security flaws.

Previous Red Team tests commissioned by the state of California revealed significant vulnerabilities in devices sold by Diebold and Sequoia. At the time, ES&S declined to participate in the testing, citing lack of preparedness. The tests on the ES&S machines were finally conducted in October, and the results, which were recently published (PDF), show that products from ES&S are as insecure as the rest.

The first round of tests focused on the physical security of the Polling Ballot Counter (PBC), which the Red Team researchers were able to circumvent with little effort. "In the physical security testing, the wire- and tamper-proof paper seals were easily removed without damage to the seals using simple household chemicals and tools and could be replaced without detection," the report says. "Once the seals are bypassed, simple tools or easy modifications to simple tools could be used to access the computer and its components. The key lock for the Transfer Device was unlocked using a common office item without the special 'key' and the seal removed."

After bypassing the physical security of the voting machines, the Red Team researchers were able to gain direct access to all of the files on the systems, including password files. "Making a change to the BIOS to reconfigure the boot sequence allows the system to be booted up using external memory devices containing a bootable Linux copy," according to the researchers. "Once done, all the files can be accessed and potentially modified, including sensitive files such as the password file which can be cracked by openly available cracker programs. New users may be added with known passwords and used by the same attacker or other attackers later."

snip

http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2007/12/security-testing-uncovers-severe-security-flaws-in-ess-voting-machines.ars

[Scuba]

4. Thanks for this important post re: fundamental democracy breech.

[Wilms]

5. Judge Wants New York's Voting Machines Tested

Judge Wants New York's Voting Machines Tested

By ADAM KLASFELD

MINEOLA, N.Y. (CN) - A state Supreme Court judge ordered that the New York Board of Elections submit the electronic voting machines it approved for the September primaries to a testing facility in Connecticut. Nassau County and its Republican and Democratic Elections Commissioners claimed that the machine at issue, the ES&S DS-200, malfunctioned in Florida during the 2008 presidential elections.

Judge Michele Woodard's decision and order responded to a complaint filed in March by Nassau County and its two major parties. They sued the state after the Board of Elections demanded that pull-lever voting machines be replaced with computerized voting technology.

In the original complaint, Nassau County election commissioners said that lever machines have been "trusted" for more than a century. They did not want to have to replace them with electronic voting technology that "is notoriously vulnerable to systemic hacking, tampering, manipulation and malfunction."

Woodard's order also denied the state's request to stay Nassau County's lawsuit.

snip

"Since Nassau is not using Dominion's system, it would probably be very helpful for a Dominion county to arrange to have their machines evaluated by joining the lawsuit," said Howard Stanislevic, founder of the E-Voter Education Project, in a mass email.

snip

http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/07/23/29079.htm

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. Beware, NY says levers can be scrapped now

In this article

Where do voting machines go when they die
http://larchmont.patch.com/articles/where-do-voting-machines-go-when-they-die

[Wilms]

7. kick n/t