Md. Vote Machines Flawed, Consultant Says

Associated Press ^ | January 30, 2003 | Tom Stuckey

[mr.sarcastic]

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Maryland's new electronic voting system has many potential security flaws that must be corrected but is nevertheless "worthy of voter trust," a technical consultant told legislators.

Michael Wertheimer, who worked on a report presented Thursday to the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, said a team that simulated an election as a test found several ways vote totals could be changed. He said touch-screen machines could be disabled simply by repeatedly jamming a voter card into a terminal or lifting it up and pulling out wires.

But Wertheimer, who works for RABA Technologies, added that "we feel the system will accurately render the election" in March.

He listed changes that should be made before the primary election and long-term recommendations to improve security of the machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems Inc. of North Canton, Ohio.

Recommendations by the RABA team included protecting the machines with tamper tape and giving each machine a different security password.

The RABA report confirms "the accuracy and security of Maryland's voting procedures and our voting systems as they exist today," Bob Urosevich, president of Diebold Election Systems, said in a statement Thursday.

"With that said, in our continued spirit of innovation and industry leadership, there will always be room for improvement and refinement."

Maryland spent $55.6 million to buy Diebold machines for every jurisdiction except the city of Baltimore, which already had a touch-screen system.

Concerns arose last summer about whether touch-screen systems are vulnerable to fraud following the release of a report critical of the machines' security. The legislature hired RABA to study how vulnerable computer voting systems are to tampering and fraud.

[mr.sarcastic]

Also today in the Baltimore Sun .

A quote from the Sun article:
Wertheimer said it would take nearly a complete rewrite of the computer code to fix the machines' flaws.

"For a guy who just wants the vote to be accurate, I'd rather dumb down the software and add receipts," he said.

Diebold "basically had no interest in putting actual security in this system," said Paul Franceus, one of the consultants. "It's not like they did it wrong. It's like they didn't bother."

Another quote from the Sun article:
While results can now be encrypted - after criticism that they weren't being - something called authentication is missing. Authentication tells the main computer that the person sending in results is the one who is actually permitted to do so.

[mr.sarcastic]

I bet Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is wishing these had been in place before the 2002 Gubernational election.

[randog]

Maryland's new electronic voting system has many potential security flaws that must be corrected but is nevertheless "worthy of voter trust," a technical consultant told legislators.

TRANSLATION: "Go ahead and use the machines but don't blame me if something goes wrong."

[evad]

...and still no audit trail????

Priceless!

[evad]

...and still no audit trail????

Priceless!

The RATs won't even have to go to the trouble of printing up the phony ballots ...they can just phone it in directly to the data base.

[mr.sarcastic]

...and still no audit trail????

No audit trail, and no authentication when the results are sent via modem from precincts to the state.

[maica]

Another quote:
Maryland spent $55.6 million to buy Diebold machines for every jurisdiction except the city of Baltimore, which already had a touch-screen system.

*******

I have not heard ONE word of concern about the Baltimore city touch-screen system - I did not even know they used a computer in Baltimore city. I agree that this Diebold software is very suspect, lacking a paper audit, but haven't we noticed that the dems are trying VERY HARD to spread the idea of a faulty system and the risk of cheating on eeevil Republicans.

We need to be ready to respond to these charges.

[TheSarce]

Electronic voting ping...

[Thom Pain]

The new machines are flawed? What about the old ones? If they are not faulty, how do you explain Mikulski??

[expatpat]

Yeah, and Baltimore is where most of the voter fraud occurs.

[maica]

Curious, isn't it! I am going to find out more about the city's machines.

[George W. Bush]

I knew from the title that the name would be Diebold.

The 2000 Floriduh nonsense is only a fraction of what we're likely to see this year. But then, we're never going to be able to prove it the next time. No more chads, no audit trails, hackable machines, backdoors in the voting machine's code, closed source software.

Diebold = end of elections.

[mr.sarcastic]

I did not even know they used a computer in Baltimore city.

I think they were first used for last year's city elections.

[mr.sarcastic]

We need to be ready to respond to these charges. That's why there needs to be a paper trail. It's easy to toss around accusations when there's no tangible means of verifying results. And we all know Maryland already has a dicey election record (Glendening vs. Sauerbray 1994).

[gathersnomoss]

...."potential security flaws that must be corrected but is nevertheless "worthy of voter trust,"

So, it has flaws if the republicans are ahead and it is worthy of voter trust if the libs are winning. One sentence to cover your candidate.

Don't you just love that liberal Maryland. A great place to live if it was more mainstream.

[mr.sarcastic]

The 2000 Floriduh nonsense is only a fraction of what we're likely to see this year. But then, we're never going to be able to prove it the next time.

And the irrational left doesn't need any more excuses to spew their conspiratorial fantasies. But if they manage to win the Presidency, suddenly they won't have any problems with the lack of a paper trail anymore... funny how that works.

[maica]

You'll get no argument from me. The Sun has been reporting on the weaknesses of the Diebold system since last summer. I could not believe that anyone could support a system that has not verifiable audit.

This is a prescription for disaster. The masters of crooked elections are all pointing fingers at the GOP. And the (stupid) party has left themselves open to the charge by being so dense!

[mr.sarcastic]

The masters of crooked elections are all pointing fingers at the GOP.

They sure are. A couple weeks ago I overheard a Deaniac campaigning outside a library in Howard County discussing this issue with another liberal. I believe an exact quote was, "You know what happened in 2000, only this time there will be no way to fight it."

Yeah, and Maryland Democrats are such saints.... the GOP wins one election and suddenly all the election fraud in Maryland is our fault.... heh.

(On a side note, I should have grabbed a couple bumper stickers... souvenirs of a great general election that could have been.....)

[catonsville]

As a long term Marylander, I do not care how technically astute these machines are, the Pols in the Baltimore City Precincts will find a way to rig them.

Just half-kidding here.

[mr.sarcastic]

So, it has flaws if the republicans are ahead and it is worthy of voter trust if the libs are winning

Exactly. And that's how the Baltimore Sun would report it too.