RSSDiebold Source Code Disks Mailed to Maryland Democrat
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published October 23, 2006, 12:03 PM
The Baltimore Sun is reporting that a former delegate in Maryland's state legislature, who is also both a well-known local philanthropist and critic of the state's election system, received an anonymously mailed package appearing to contain original source code diskettes used by Diebold Election Systems for machines used in that state's election in 2004.
The version of the election software on those diskettes, as well as its markings, appear to indicate that they do not contain programs used in this year's statewide elections, but instead a version used during a testing session by an independent firm in November 2003, according to the Sun.
However, if the FBI or other officials can verify their authenticity, it could raise even more questions regarding the integrity of elections tabulated using Diebold equipment, which were already in some doubt.
An anonymous letter addressed to Cheryl C. Kagan, accompanying the diskettes, stated that they were acquired from the State Board of Elections. It went on to say, "You have the software because you are a credible person who can save the state from itself. You must alert the media and save democracy."
Kagan reportedly alerted the state attorney-general's office, which broke the news in a public statement.
The revelation prompted calls by the state's Republican governor, Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., to renew his call for scrapping the Diebold equipment altogether, joining Kagan's calls for a return to a paper ballot, or at least some type of voting mechanism where votes are physically recorded.
During last September's primary, a plethora of mishaps across the state involving Diebold voting equipment called the results of some tabulations into question, some of which could not be independently verified for weeks afterward. Johns Hopkins University professor Aviel Rubin volunteered as an election worker on that day, and chronicled many of the problems first hand for his blog.
As Prof. Rubin recalls, fifteen minutes after polling began, a person entered his precinct station claiming he was an election official from a nearby precinct and that he had received too few smartcards to operate his machines, and asked if he could borrow some of theirs.
"We had 60 smartcards, and the chief judge suggested that we give them 20 so that they could at least get their election started," Rubin wrote. "As she was handing them over, I suggested that we had to somehow verify his claim. After all, anyone could walk in off the street and claim this guy's story, and we would give them 20 access cards. The chief judge agreed with me. The guy pulled out his driver's license to prove who he was, but I told him that we were not doubting who he was, we just wanted to verify that we should give him the cards."
As it turned out, the gentleman's request was legitimate, as a great number of precincts ended up actually receiving too few smartcards to operate their equipment.
The debate over the veracity of Maryland elections literally became a televised event last month, as an argument between Gov. Ehrlich and the state's elections administrator, Linda Lamone -- whom Ehrlich cannot fire directly -- was captured by news cameras in the lobby of the State House. A Democrat appointee from the previous administration, Lamone was one of the original advocates for a move to Diebold voting systems, after the disastrous 2000 presidential elections made a mockery of punch-card voting.
Kagan, a former a two-term Democrat delegate serving Montgomery County, made her opinion known late last month, with her description of Lamone for the Washington Post: "She can never admit an error, and she doesn't show a willingness to be open-minded, to change for any reason, despite all evidence pointing to the need for changes and improvements."
Kagan's comments were probably partly responsible for her elevation to the role of most likely recipient of the possibly stolen Diebold source code disks.
The US Senate seat in Maryland is currently up for grabs, with the pending retirement of long-time veteran Democrat Paul Sarbanes. In the race for his open seat, recent polls show ten-term Democrat congressman Ben Cardin leading one-term Republican congressman Michael Steele by as much as 15 points. Democrats are polling ahead of Republicans in six of the eight congressional seats in contention, while Gov. Ehrlich, in his re-election bid, is 12 points behind former Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley in a recent Gallup poll.
Last weekend, the Washington Post contacted Prof. Rubin, who reviewed the software mailed to Kagan's office, and who stated afterwards he believes it to be authentic. Rubin participated in a Johns Hopkins study three years ago which concluded that Maryland's original installation of Diebold systems for its 2004 elections was rushed, and as a result, "the integrity and privacy of these elections may still be in jeopardy."
The Johns Hopkins study was recently joined by one from Princeton, which demonstrated how a recent model Diebold system could be sabotaged using everyday tools and ingenuity.
Paper ballots work, so if you don't trust the voting machine, vote early with an absentee ballot (or is it too late for that). Also, if you don't like who is in charge of the government, it certainly will not change if you don't get out and vote.
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http://www.slate.com/id/2107388/
ours is cheap and better :)
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As Bill Clinton once said, when confronted with some upsetting news for the Democrats, 'Well, we'll just have to win, won't we!', meaning he and his pals would resort to any and all tactics in order to prevail.
There's something very wrong in this country with the vicious anything-goes behavior of the 'political' classes. IT STINKS.
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I agree, morality and politics have gone different directions.
I don't think thats what Bill meant when he said that (I think he meant "If we loose we're royally screwed, but if we win, it won't matter") but it all depends on context I suppose.
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If Diebold cannot provide a paper verificatioln of the votes the machines should not be used.
You can buy a calculator for lesst than 20 dollars that will give you a paper print out.
Diebold or anyone else making computer type voting must be made to have a paper trail and make sure it matches the vote.
It should be designed so when a person punches the name it will verify it on a paper roll in and can be verified in a little window on the machine and then roll out of site by pushing a button that verifies the vote was for the person intended.
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Total appathy. We all have it for good reason. Thanks GOD for the second ammendment.
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How about when it comes down to the last two candidates they duke it out? Man to Man, or Man to Hilary. ;-)
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I would love to see Hilary take a round-house kick to the face.
Was that a little too harsh?
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Is that the new "do unto others as you would them do unto you?"
Please explain how Hillary Rodman Clinton has hurt this nation or any person.
The Clinton president was the best the country has ever seen. We went from a dow jones of some 2000 plus to over 11500 during his presidency. He balanced the budget, had a surplus in revenues, jobless rate of 4 percent.
The nasdaq was above 5000, the russel 2000, the standard and poor 500 were also up and nasdaq, standard and poor 500, and the russel 2000 has not got close to where it was under Clinton.
He made a mistake, I guess you have never made a mistake, that is good, but most of us have.
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Just like Al Gore didnt invent the internet, Clinton and his buddies didnt make the Dow go up. It was the fact that there was an explosive economy, personal computers and the internet was a big boom to economic growth. All that Clinton did was look good because of it. That same economy made jobs, Clinton didnt make jobs. That same economy made tax surplus, Clinton didnt balance the budget. Clinton did however open trade with China though, everyone is sure raving about the jobs that created. Clinton did nothing to slow the economy so that it didnt burst, and everyone sure loved that when it happened. See, the truth is, one presedent comes in to clean up after the previous one. The current one that is in office never really reaps what is sown while they are in office. Bill Clinton rode the wave, Bush is/has been cleaning up the beach.
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Dude chill. I just don't like her. It was *obviously* a joke.
And at your inferences about Bill... what the hell? How does that have anything to do with what I said?
Like I said: chill.
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Electronic voting will be manipulated, period. As a pessimist, I'm sorry, but I tried optimism once and knew I was doomed to fail from the start :-)
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Here Here... Well said
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Yeah. An optimist is just an uninformed pessimist anyway. =p
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In Nevada our electronic voting machine prints out your vote like a receipt. The machine asks you to double check the receipt to make sure it is correct then it rolls it up into the machine and on you go. So if there is a problem with the software they can use the paper. Is this not the case everywhere?
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I think the question is more in how often is the software's results verified, and can the internal receipt printer be trusted to contain the same information as was printed on the external receipts, and how would someone check the computer records to verify they match their receipt...
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According to lvthunder, the machine "prints out your vote like a receipt." Let's call it a "journal," or "hard copy." Sounds like there's only one printer and one copy. You review it, and if it's ok, the machine KEEPS it. Sounds pretty secure to me. The "journal" could be tabulated by hand at any time and compared with the electronic results. Simple and effective accountability.
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That is the way all should be and if not they should be banned.
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If software is to be used to tabulate the vote. I would like to see it as an open source file that anyone can track. But with the voting in the last 200 years being suspect at all levels. I think that a paper trail of the record of voting is required. All electronic voting may be in the future. But I don't think it will be cheep when it happens.
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www.blackboxvoting.org reveals all the BS with electronic voting systems.
personally I believe it time for the cartridge box to fix this country and it's political problems.. Most everyone in congress and those that make up the current administration are traitors and need to be dealt with as how our founding fathers dealt with traitors.. hung or better yet hung and shot...
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I think that if we use software to handle voting, it should be open sourced so that the integrity of the system can be monitored. The government should sponsor the open source project, develop it, and maintain it. I don't think we can trust a company and it's closed source with the freedom of our country.
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Hmmm, but isn't it the government who stand to gain?
--->The government should sponsor the open source project, develop it, and maintain it
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Good thing they didn't include a copy of a DVD in that package.. then it would be a BIG deal!!
But really.. If there was really wide spread voter fraud back in 2000/2004 would that have been people put in jail???? If there was no investigation then everyone in the systems failed. Congress, FBI, DOJ, Press, and everyone
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We're doomed. Can't depend on paper ballots and hanging chads. Can't depend on software either. I suppose we'll have to spin the bottle.
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Or flip a coin?
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Now, now, just because a Democrat files a frivolous lawsuit in an attempt to overturn an election, that doesn't mean paper ballots don't work.
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Gladatorial combat?
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How about a game of Soggy Biscuit?
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