"US presidential election at mercy of hackers"

"Security is not the most important thing," he said. "What's more important for elections is auditability."

Machines NOT connected to the internet will be JUST fine.

I don’t understand this weird, strange idea that people what that all electronics are vulnerable to attacks by ‘hackers’.

I’m a “hacker”. Hackers do not “attack” anything. I wish people would stop using that word incorrectly, or as an “accepted definition”, because it is NOT an accepted definition.

Also, voting machines are downloaded, at least the ones I have seen, into a portable system for counting.

They are sent over vulnerable phone lines or the internet.

You’re right to mention that hackers aren’t crackers,
of course, though most people equate the two.

An internet connection per se isn’t necessary to manipulate
‘voting’ electronics, though too many of them do have wireless
connectivity. The Hursti ‘hack’ of an opscan system, for example,
didn’t require any internet connection.

Even without cracking, there are also the serious problems
with unreliability, excessive cost, errors, and the lack of
necessary audits.

I do agree that there are vulnerabilities.

HOWEVER... like anything else associated with keeping ‘security’ it comes down to the personnel operating the equipment.

In my job here, it comes down to a “trust” that has to exist for us to do our jobs between us and the “customer”. In our case there are clearance checks, and many other checks that go on - and, there has to be a work ethic that exists.

If you’re going to hand voting machines over to just any joe blow then you’re going to have problems. Period. If you at least run background checks and make sure that the folks operating the systems, collecting and counting the votes are ‘trustworthy’, then you have mitigated 98% of the problem.

In National Security, our biggest threat isn’t a cracker/hacker/phreaker, or a Chinese Spy, or a terrorist. It’s the “insider threat” - which is what I think you and I are both talking about.

But, no matter HOW the voting is accomplished, or how procedures are written there will ALWAYS be problems, always be people trying to cheat the system. It doesn’t matter WHAT the system is. People tend to be dishonest when they think it will benefit them in some manner.

This is a problem with this Liberal Society in which we’ve found ourselves living. There are various levels of “right and wrong” to many people, so adding a few votes, or stealing them away is no big deal.

Remember, there has been a saying for many years, “My vote doesn’t really count”. That has been FED to us since I was in elementary school.

At my age, I’ve figured out they were trying to indoctrinate me even back then - but they failed. I’m a society outcast now... I carry a gun when I feel like it, I think everyone should. I think that 18 year olds should have ALL the rights of adults (if you’re going to set a limit on adulthood, it should pertain to ALL 18 year olds and ALL that it entails). I think I should be LEFT alone, people shouldn’t make laws, or rules in my neighborhood to bother me. If I want to paint my house WHITE, I will. If I want to paint it lime green, then tough. And so on. People like that idiot that recently got banned, RobertPaulsen seemed to think that “Society sets the rules” and the rest of us individuals must abide by them, even if the Constitution says otherwise.

So.... voter fraud may happen. But so what? Let it. It all comes out in the wash.

There isn’t any need to ‘trust’ anyone with voting.

The votes could be real ballots, counted out in the
open in front of everyone.

The best personnel in the world can’t make sure that
the process works when the systems used are designed,
built, and operated in secrecy.

The stakes are very high with elections, and the use
of these defective electronics simply makes it easier
to disenfranchise voters and get away with it.

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