Diebold's 'Showcase States' Wising Up

[mudwoman]

Georgia Senate Votes 51-0 for 'Paper Trail' Plan...

Diebold's Other 'Showcase State' Starts Wising Up

AP Continues to Report on Issues That Actually Matter, Albeit Not Particularly Accurately...

What's with AP? We thought all of this stuff was "conspiracy theory"?

It looks like Diebold's other "showcase state" who, along with Maryland, were the first to move to un-auditable paperles touch-screen voting machines is beginning to face the music. Reports AP...

"ATLANTA - The state Senate on Monday unanimously approved a plan that could lead to paper ballots being added to Georgia's electronic voting machines.

"My hope is that this legislation will take us one more step forward toward having the most trustworthy, secure voting system in the country," said Sen. Bill Stephens, R-Canton, the plan's sponsor and a candidate for secretary of state in this year's election.

According to the plan, which passed 51-0, precincts in Bibb, Camden and Cobb counties would be outfitted with the paper balloting for November's general election.

If all went well, the state could add the receipts to all of its voting machines by the 2008 presidential election, Stephens said.

Under current Secretary of State Cathy Cox, Georgia switched to an all-electronic voting system in 2002 in the aftermath of the chaotic presidential vote in Florida."
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledg ... 032432.htm


We should point out that what the GA Senate is talking about is not actually "paper ballots" as the AP story seems to erroneously suggest, but "paper trails". There's a difference, of course. More on that in a second.

For additional context here, we'll note (with a hat-tip to John Gideon) that Cox, a Democrat, is running for Governor now in the state. She, along with her counterpart in Marlyand, Linda Lamone had been huge supporters of paperless Diebold voting originally, going so far as to allowing herself to be featured on Diebold's brochures (see photo below).

Apparently Cox sees the writing on the wall, while the tone-deaf Lamone is still fighting to ensure nobody can ever actually count how her state's constituents actually voted (see this previous article.)

Also worth noting, unfortunately, is that what they seem to be calling for down in Georgia is "paper trails". The worthless, uncounted little "voter-verifiable" toilet-paper roll tapes which are almost never counted at all and, in the case of Diebold machines, have turned up completely blank on the busiest voting machines during the most recent Ohio election.

Well, it's a step in the right direction, anyway. If the state of Georgia wants to create new legislation for these "paper trails" now, only to have to face the music once again later to spend still another round of money in order to ensure full paper ballots that's up to them, of course. Though we might recommend skipping the middle step, and going right now to something that is actually countable.
http://bradblog.com/

'Daily Voting News' For March 06, 2006

The big news for the day today is that Georgia; the bastion of paperless voting, one of the last of Diebold's paperless frontiers; may actually have a vvpat very soon. The state senate, today, voted 51-0 to require a voter verified paper audit trail. And, Cathy Cox has left her counterpart Linda Lamone, of Maryland, to fend for herself as she has now come out in support of this bill. Speaking of Maryland, Gov. Ehrlich has again spoken out, more clearly this time, against paperless voting. My! My! Will wonders never cease....
Contd...
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002507.htm#More

MD Republican Guv Demands Paperless Diebold Touch-Screen Voting Machines Be Sent Back to Fed Authorities for More Testing

New Letter from Governor to State Board of Election Repeats Call for Paper Ballots, Expresses Additional Concerns About Security of E-Voting in Diebold's 'Showcase State' of Maryland
Says Machines May Be Vulnerable to 'Hursti-like Attack' Even if California's Recommended Security Measures are Implemented

Maryland's Republican Governor Ehrlich continues to face the music about the Diebold voting machines that his state bought into hook, line and sinker (emphasis on sinker). He's been had by Diebold's use of the state as a "showcase", but at least he now seems brave enough to admit it, even while the Diebold dead-enders (like State Elections Board Chairman Gilles W. Burger and Democratic Election Administrator Linda H. Lamone who brokered the deal) are trying to hang on to the very last.

Ehrlich has sent a new letter to Burger today, demanding that Maryland's paperless touch-screen Diebold voting machines be sent back to federal authorities for further testing in light of recent discoveries of the vulnerability of the machines to hacking and tampering. Ehrlich writes, "We are spending too much time protecting the status quo instead of evaluating Maryland’s current election system from an objective and unbiased perspective."

-- The complete new letter from Ehrlich to Berger is now available in full right here [PDF].
http://www.bradblog.com/Docs/MD_Ehrlich ... 030606.pdf

Much more at Brad Blog.
http://bradblog.com/

[daboodaddy]

About time, eh?:)