8/13 Shelby TN investigation Diebolded. Internet voting 'nothing to deter attacker.'

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

Shelby TN investigation Diebolded. Internet voting 'nothing to deter attacker.'

August 13 2010

CTVoter has highlights of Ron Rivest Internet Voting Risks report: "There is nothing to deter attacker – Adv can attack anonymously over the Internet until he succeeds."...Candidates of Lee Co FL fiasco want do-over..."Hawkins County (TN)election glitch awards a different commissioner"...'Election Day From Hell' is a poll worker account of Shelby Co TN election...Review of Shelby Co TN election records thwarted by cnty agreement with 'Diebold'...US Rep Rush Holt asks AG to ensure 'viability of voting systems'...

All this and more in today's voting news below...

AL: Yates sues county over absentee election funds
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20100812/NEWS/100819948/1017/NEWS?Title=Yates-sues-county-over-absentee-election-funds
Etowah County Circuit Clerk Billy Yates has asked a court to order the county commission to pay him additional funds for his work as absentee election manager.

FL: Ballot snafu casts shadow over GIBA vote*
http://www.bocabeacon.com/?p=4848 A design glitch with the return envelopes provided to voters in Lee County is causing the ballots to be sent back to the voters. Not to the supervisor of elections office in Fort Myers.

The snafu has prompted at least two candidates for election to the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority board in the August 24 election to call for the primary to be scrapped and moved to a later date.

MD: Elections board shores up voter registration rolls with better oversight, technology http://www.marylandreporter.com/page5501215.aspx After an audit this summer pointed out that the State Board of Elections did not tightly control its voter registration system, changes have been made – but their effectiveness won’t be proven until Sept. 14.

MD: Rarely Used Public Campaign Funds Redirected for Voting Machines,May Be Retiring After 2010 Election http://www.marylandreporter.com/page5504421.aspx

NY: New York 2011 Redistricting Will Count Prisoners at Their Residence Before Being Incarcerated http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/08/13/new-york-2011-redistricting-will-count-prisoners-at-their-residence-before-being-incarcerated/

TN: The Hawkins County election glitch awards a different commissioner* (video)
http://www2.tricities.com/news/2010/aug/13/hawkins-county-election-glitch-10087-vi-19032/
The unofficial winners of Hawkins County elections were announced on election night last Thursday. The next day, the administrator realized many votes were counted twice. The mishap changed the winner

TN: Stand-Off On Shelby County Voting Numbers*
Elections officials and independent auditors battle over access to number
http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-democrats-election-challenge,0,767269.story
They weren't dancing. Two lawyers were physically being kept from pounding the legal sand out of each other. Welcome to the elections of 2010, Shelby County style.

Lawyers for the Shelby County Democratic Party and the Elections Commission had an agreement. Independent auditors could look at the numbers on the Diebold Computer system. But there was an immediate problem. County Attorney Greg Garrick was basically saying hey, I'd love to help you, "But it's not up to us. There is an agreement between Shelby County and Diebold not to release certain information about the machines. "

TN: SCEC Report - Part 2 * (attorneys blocked from audit log records)
http://leftwingcracker.blogspot.com/2010/08/scec-report-part-2.html
The poster log is a text file (I don't presume to be an expert but this was the explanation the experts put forth). The log keeps track of actions which could have been made to the system which would override vote totals. David Cocke was stunned that such overrides were possible, but assured Mr. Settle, as the "dispute resolver" on site, that we needed a copy of the log. The SCEC attorney consulted with Richard Holden again and announced that it was proprietary to Diebold and there was no way we were going to get it.

TN: Election Day From Hell* (precinct official in Shelby Co TN)
http://bluecollarrepublican.com/blog/?p=6234 Yesterday, August 5, 2010, I worked as a Republican Registrar at the 7200 East Shelby Road voting precinct.
...
Of course in such a circumstance, the voter is NOT turned away. Instead the voter is referred to the poll officer who calls downtown to the SCEC to verify the information. We learned quickly that there was an error in the EV record on our portable computers and the voter was permitted to vote. Soon after, we had a second voter with the same circumstance, and that is when we knew we had a problem. In operation, this was actually a minor snafu, a definite inconvenience for some of our voters who had to wait longer to vote, but NO ONE was turned away.
...
I’m sure we will hear more of the EV snafu in the days, weeks and months ahead. It really was a stupid mistake by a programmer and perhaps he or she needs to seek employment elsewhere. This was a biggee! Not only did it inconvenience voters, but it gives an excuse for others to question the integrity of the ballot itself.

TX: Testimony continues in election lawsuit
http://www.delrionewsherald.com/story.lasso?ewcd=4befdcd2bb7b3b3f Testimony continues today in the trial of an election lawsuit filed by Gustavo Flores, who claims that illegal mail-in ballots cost him the county Democratic Party nomination for a county commissioner position.

VA: Secure voting? *
Electoral board says machine area was breached; city says no
http://www.suffolknewsherald.com/news/2010/aug/06/secure-voting/
A disagreement over an alleged breach of the city’s secure voting machine storage area has led to the creation of new procedures to be followed by city staff when they need access to the area.

WA: Privacy upheld, money saved without ballot-envelope 'secrecy flap' (absentee)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012609237_signature13m.html
King County Elections spokeswoman Kim van Ekstrom said the county expects to save at least $150,000 a year it otherwise would have spent on more expensive envelopes and on hiring workers to remove the flaps so signatures could be verified.

WI: Officials dispute reliability of Waukesha County clerk's election data system
http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/100595954.html
Waukesha — Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus' decision to go it alone in how she collects and maintains election results has some county officials raising a red flag about the integrity of the system.
...
The tug-of-war between Nickolaus and administration is evident in a March 8 memo from Cummings to Nickolaus in which he said hardware and software on the clerk's computers were "obsolete, not repairable and unsupportable." Without improvements, he worried that the elections system could be "inoperative and irrecoverable.

WV: Massey, Others Weigh Fall Political Ads (Citizens United)
http://www.gavelgrab.org/?p=13121 Massey Energy is one of two large West Virginia coal companies that plan to buy advertising in fall congressional elections, while taking advantage of a Supreme Court ruling that would let them do so.

WY: Judge sides with American Indians in voting case
http://nativetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4049:judge-sides-with-american-indians-in-voting-case&catid=51&Itemid=27
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – A federal judge on Tuesday sided with American Indians and ordered Fremont County to elect county commissioners in five separate districts.

Internet Voting Watch

Cyberwar Is Hell
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/28/cyberwar-is-hell.html
While we obsessed over Russian spies, top diplomats were working to stop a greater espionage problem: the threat of cyberwarfare

CTVoter comments: Prof. Ron Rivest, MIT: Military/Overseas Internet Voting Risks and Rewards http://www.ctvoterscount.org/ron-rivest-militaryoverseas-internet-voting-risks-and-rewards/ ...Professor Rivest is a security expert, the ‘R’ in RSA Security, and 2002 winner of the Turing Award, the highest honor in computing. When Ron talks security, everyone including legislators and election officials should listen carefully.
...
Will Adversary attack voting system?
Is the Pope Catholic?
Will someone pick up $20 left on sidewalk?

National

Congressman Rush Holt asks AG to ensure 'viability of voting systems'
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20100813/UPDATES01/100813053/NJ-congressman-urges-Justice-Department-to-monitor-voting-accuracy
WASHINGTON – A New Jersey congressman is asking the U.S. Justice Department to monitor the November elections for potential vote-counting problems.

India: E-voting plans falter as few warm up to idea
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/E-voting-plans-falter-as-few-warm-up-to-idea/660035

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[Wilms]

1. They're having one heckava time in Tennessee. n/t

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

2. funny we worried about the paper ballots and its the voter rolls they're screwing up

I wrote this warning piece in 2009, which was published by an online paper:

Prevent Election Fiascoes in Tennessee – Enact Paper Ballot Law Now
By A Guest Commentator | August 11, 2009 |

A perfect storm is brewing for Tennessee voters for the 2010 election.
http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2009/08/11/prevent-election-fiascoes-in-tennessee-enact-paper-ballot-law-now/

I think Tennessee's 2010 election will be FUBAR