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Diebold to Pay $2.6M Due to Insecure Voting Machines
sunilk writes "In a short period, Diebold has been at the center of several problems. Now it seeks to settle the lawsuit filed against it by the State of California by paying $2.6 million. Settlement comes because of flaws in the Diebold systems that could compromise election results."
When the San Diego Registrar of Voters implemented the Diebold system, they went ahead and got rid of thousands of these little plastic voting booths we used to use. Also, the stylus voting equipment is gone -- all replaced by shiny new touchscreen voting equipment.
Come election day, half of the machines booted into Windows CE Explorer instead of the voting software... whoops
So now, the hardware is being re-certified, the old voting equipment is gone, and San Diego is using (Diebold Manufactured) optical scanners for voting on a temporary basis.
If these issues (and expenses) have been present in other counties of California, I fail to see how 2.6mil is a decent settlement. Sorry.
How about this, why don't you Californians put together an initiative for the 2006 ballot making the use of Diebold voting machines in CA elections illegal? ...just a thought.
I want a new world. I think this one is broken.
Attempting to overthrow the government is treason btw.
Something to the effect of the vendors machines being overhauled at the expense of the vendor or removed permanently in the state seems a bit more fitting for this degree of failure.
That would only amount to a mere refund.
After a vender sold you a defective product and caused you irreperable harm you would be entitled to damages as well.
And if recklessness or negligence were proved, you would be entitled to punitive damages.
What value does your vote have? Perhaps all the taxes you paid in 4 years?
Who knows?
No one has a right to their *own* opinion. They have a right to the TRUTH.
...this is what I want:
I want an amendment to the state constitution requiring all methods of voting to have a verifiable audit trail.
I want this proposed settlement to cover the cost of implementing a verifiable audit trail in the counties that Diebold shafted. Including replacing defective machines. They broke our democracy, they're gonna pay to fix it.
That's what I want the pointy end of this lawsuit to do: patch the electronic voter fraud exploit. This is a non-partisan goal. America depends on election integrity.
The price of this election now includes perhaps $2.6M in Diebold settlement, and the price of installing Gov. Schwarzenegger (in another rigged election), to OK it. With Bush raising well over $200M to win, and in control of something like $10T in debt over the next 10 years, the election is cheap. California can just take that $2.6M instead of the $8B that Schwarzenegger won't be suing to get from Enron in CA overcharges.
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make install -not war
I'm thinking it should go one step further. "... and shall do no business with any company with offices in California for four years."
I mean it's not like they do any improtant business with anyone like Bank of America, or Wells Fargo. Is it? Or American Express, E-Trade, or any other financial institution that uses ATM machines...
That I think would hurt them. I put the restriction of four years as I think that is a reasonable period considering the offense related to elections. Some might suggest 6 years (term for a Senate seat.)
A probation review might be made available two years in, to show that they have remediated their faults. I think a demonstration of perhaps a change of the govenore, perhaps in Florida, might be a good indication that they are getting things fixed. Others might want them to submit a proof of the correctness of the code. (To be reviewed by the academic community.) Considering that a proof for all functions of a program does not provide a proof of the program as a whole, I am not sure that they can do it.
Then again, it's just some ideas.
-Rusty
You never know...
The biggest and best democracy in the universe has no idea if their last election is valid. Hmmm.
1. The United Nations offer a service that may be useful. There a many satisfied clients. Get the UN election observers in.
2. Swallow some of that arrogant pride and ask some of the other democacies how they do it. Most of them manage to poll their entire country (compulsory voting) with little confusion or uncertainty and even do it within the hours of 9 to 5.
Idea !
Subcontract your elections out to experts. Any of the European Union countries, Australia, New Zealand.. They can do it for you.
The real fun begins when Disney sues to have some of it's people put in place as president instead of mickey mouse, who was unavailable at the time.
SAILING MISHAP
treason: a crime that undermines the offender's government
negligence: the trait of neglecting responsibilities and lacking concern
Sorry, but my definition doesn't really define gross negligence. Had they merely neglected to fix known security issues, it would be negligence. However, they made changes AFTER government certification. That's a little beyond negligence, that hints at malicious intent. After all, why would one make changes to a system after being certified - if not to compromise it in some way - then why? They obviously didnt make changes to improve or fix security - so where did their intentions lie?
nice try, but no. glad you're not my defense attorney.
I keep seeing everyone talk about wanting to use electronic voting machines to vote with. Why do we not use a scan tron that has each person running for the desired position on a line, and we fill in the bubble next to their name? It really does not get any easier then that. This also has a paper trail so a recount is possible.
How does an electronic voting machine help improve the situation? I honestly do not know. Perhaps another brillant idea by someone who thinks adding a computer to a situation that does not need changing? Oh well.
Brendan
Who would you put in jail? The entire Diebold company?
Sounds good to me. Send the marshalls to padlock the doors and block their bank accounts, and hold it that way for the duration of the sentance. Even if it's just a slap on the wrist, say, six months. They might end up defaulting on other contractual obligations, and some innocent bystanders might lose some money, but that happens all the time when criminals go to the slammer. They can always sue.
Of course, there might be some individuals who're due to do some time also.
US Presidential Election's "Ohio Vote Apparently Hacked" http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121704Z.shtml
Isn't that less than one cent for every U.S. citizen they screwed?
Off topic rants always sway opinions.....
Offtopic how? Yes, maybe rant like but very much on topic. You said that a democracy had been bought and made a comment about a theocracy that was very much an insinuation. You opened the door.
Nowhere did I say the "moral majority" were "stupid" by any standard. Nor did I call any of them bigots. Maybe you want to reply to a thread a little more in tune with your inferiority complex?
No, I never said you called anyone else a bigot nor did I ever call anyone else a bigot, I was just relating a skit I saw on SNL that I thought was very poinant.
My tongue-in-cheek comment... was poking fun at how the seperation of church and state has blurred considerably under this administration.
I love people who think that the seperation of church and state means that those with religious beliefs may not participate. Go back and reread my original comment because you obviously did not get the point. And let me add this, seperation of church and state mean that the state may not establish a religion.
We're seeing more public schools teaching religion as science, funds being cut to programs that are not in total agreement with some religious standards, and...
So, I take it your talking about the evolution vs. creation debate. Well both of them are THEORIES as far as science is concerned as niether can be proved and both have large amounts of support. I think both should be taught to give a more balanced education and teach students to do research and descide for themselves instead of assuming whatever their teacher says is automatically truth. As for the cutting funding for certain "programs"(meaning embyronic stem cell research) maybe instead of eating whatever the media feeds you, you could go out and do some research and findout for yourself that ebryonic stem cell research is far more dangerous and less promising than adult and umbilical cord stem cells and much of the drive for embryonic stem cell research is from big corporations looking to find some way to make more money from it than they could from the other two more promising types. Also you should consider that some believe this is killing one human to save another and also tantamount to the Nazi research on humans durring WWII. You obviously want to discount the beliefs of others just because they are based upon some religion. As for the judge, it depends on the municipality and if the judges are allowed to wear what they want of if there is a dress code or uniform.
I just want to say that you have proven me right, your entire post smacks of arogance and thinking I'm a member of the religious right and saying I have some kind of "inferiority complex." Oh, and maybe I was being to subtle about knowing your comment was tounge and cheek by mentioning the truth of satire in my comment? Why don't you get off of yourself and actually be open minded instead of being so intolerant yourself? Let me just finish with two words. "Plank Eye"
"We Don't Need No Truthless Heros!" - Project 86
Personally, I say we get rid of the voting machines altogether. They are simply an easy way for people to commit fraud. In an excerpt from this article:
This method sounds pretty simple and effective to me. I'm all about advancing technology, but maybe in some cases it doesn't work so well....
-zTolerance does not tolerate intolerance, or hypocrisy.