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Company to Pay for Election Problems
technoid_ writes to tell us the Indiana Star reports that Election Systems & Software has agreed to pay the Indiana State Government $245,000 in addition to extra hand-on and technical support in response to problems during the May primary. From the article: "The company, which has faced similar complaints in other states, reached a settlement with Arkansas officials Monday. In that deal, ES&S pledged services, training materials and technical support but offered no payment. Jackson, the Johnson County clerk, said the company "has done a 360" since the primary. ES&S officials have been more assertive in preparing for the fall elections. The instructional materials, she said, also will help."
What's with the misunderstood metaphors? Here's a helpful chart:
Doing a 180 = taking an opposing position to that previously taken.
Doing a 360 = doing donuts in a parking lot.
Doing a 720 = you're drunk and the room is spinning many, many times.
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
I didn't realize the publisher of the The Indianapolis Star had changed the name of the newspaper.
This is the same ES&S who's chairman got into trouble with the Senate Ethics Committee because he failed to disclose his involvement with the company when he, as virtual an unknown in his first bid for public office, ran for and won a Senate seat against two well known and popular opponents in what was widely called "a surprise upset" -- in an election which was counted exclusively on machines manufactured by ES&S. Subsequently, the law in his state was changed to prohibit election workers from looking at the ballots, and outlaw hand recounts. The only recounts permitted by law are on machines manufactured by ES&S.
In case that helps put this in perspective.
--MarkusQ
LOL!
But if I had mod points, I would also give you some +insightful/informative mods to apply to karma here, 'cause it's not only funny, but true!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Not as red as you might think. But we do observe Daylight Saving Time (finally).
This is the first time there's been a Republican Indiana governor in a very long time.
Lest anyone think this is a one-time thing for ES&S or Diebold, do some research. Googling ES&S will bring back enough hits it reminds me of a practice on the farm used to happen: back up the manure spreader and fill it up. Unfortunately, the only way to get it from one farm to the other was on the streets. Flashing lights and red triangles in a rural area still wasn't good enough for people and decided to show everyone their horn worked. For a long period of time. Oops! I hit the wrong lever. "Sorry, sir. I didn't mean for a layer of sh%t to cover your windshield and related areas. No, I didn't do it because it was a nice day out and your windows were open."
One of the things ES&S is notorious for is sneaking untested software onto the machines and by the time TPTB (The Powers That Be), it's too late to change the election. ES&S did that in '02 (for certain and practically any election which has been checked after the fact) and someone blew the whistle. She was fired on the spot for disclosing the company's trade secrets. She was elected by the city or state by lunch the next day as a watchdog.
Disclosing The Fact Untested Software Was Installed Without Telling Anyone" is a trade secret (not to mention illegal)?
There have been any number of discussions in Congress regarding methods of elections: OSS vs. proprietary, etc. The argument is OSS might make it possible for someone to study it and find exploits which could be used to maninulate election results.
What I have done through research is whilst the the penalties are paid to the upper echelons, what machines are used is at the precinct level. That means just under two years to find a way to make one precinct or one or two voting booths in a particular precinct work, then branch out.
We won't talk about the BMV. I was lucky to have received a new registration sticker after 7-10 days. Everyone else has been told 2-3 weeks minimum