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Evoting in India, Maryland
Anonymous Coward writes "EVMs are back in the news again. The BBC is reporting on the use of over a million Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in India for Parliamentary elections in April. With a billion people and an electorate of 668 million, it is by far the largest democratic election exercise in the world. A picture of an EVM is provided." And Kierthos writes "An article on Yahoo! News mentions that Maryland's voting terminals will be wrapped in tamper proof tape, which 'just protects that malicious code physically', according to computer scientist Avi Rubin. Also mentioned are California's ongoing system of e-voting, as well as a point on whether Diebold should be banned in California after using uncertified software in last October's election."
Going a few links into that site, we find a list of how each person voted on roll call votes at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/index.asp
(ironically enough, the list is as tallied by the electronic voting machine)
Twenties Retirement
Unfortunately, the sources cited by Behrooz fail to back his assertions....
The first site is purporting to be repeating a newspaper story (long after the election) complaining that Florida's attempts to minimize illegal voting by convicted felons was overbroad.
The second cite (to the Guardian, only slightly more reliable a source than the National Inquirer)is a bad URL.
Note that the original assertions in this thread were not relfected in news at the time, and not supported by any of the multiple media studies of the Florida election outcome.
Perhaps it's tinfoil hat time.....
The Campaign for Verified Voting in Maryland has a website at www.truevotemd.org. If you're a Maryland voter or just want to show your support, go there and sign up. If you're going to vote on Tuesday in Maryland's primary, we're organizing a protest to demand paper ballots.
The problem in Maryland is that the officials at the State Board of Elections are in Diebold's pocket. Realize that San Diego and other California counties are getting voter-verified paper trail equipment from Diebold for free, despite paying only 60% as much for the machines as Maryland. Maryland also bought a much larger order. However, since the SBE officials won't go to bat Diebold is trying to charge big bucks for the VVPT. Diebold is also spending heavily in lobbying and contributing to the Maryland Delegates and State Senators who could pass legislation that would force a VVPT.
Some other good sites if you're interested in this topic:
www.verifiedvoting.org
www.blackboxvoting.org
--Paul
The second cite (to the Guardian, only slightly more reliable a source than the National Inquirer)is a bad URL.
Remove the space that slashdot places in long text-strings, you dolt. BTW, the Guardian is a well-regarded newspaper, with real essay-style journalism--you get more content and analysis from a single Guardian issue than a week's worth of USA Today.
The linked article is actually quite short, and summarizes a Washington Post article on the report of the US Civil Rights commission investigation of Florida voting disenfanchisement. Given that the event occurred 3 years ago, the poster had to use a news source that keeps their articles up for years.