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Maryland Scraps Diebold Voting System
beadfulthings writes "After eight years and some $65 million, the state of Maryland is taking its first steps to return to an accountable, paper-ballot based voting system. Governor Martin O'Malley has announced an initial outlay of $6.5 million towards the $20 million cost of an optical system which will scan and tally the votes while the paper ballots are retained as a backup. The new (or old) system is expected to be in place by 2010 — or four years before the state finishes paying off the bill for the touch-screen system."
I'm sure many of us are aware... but let us not forget who Premier Election Solutions, really are. They are Diebold.
Changing the name was a sneaky move.
All this made me start to wonder about voting machine requirements and this turned up - http://www.verifiedvoting.org/
Thought others might find it interesting.
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
Here is question... Before touchscreen voting, our area in Maryland had an optical paper system, which resembled some sort of Star Wars fan video version of R2D2. Why didn't they hold onto these machines, just in case the touchscreen voting devices didn't work out?
I don't know if this is common knowledge to informed Americans (I only know of it because it is part of my family lore), but in the 1970s there was another voting machine company, named after its founder, Shoup. They made the voting booths with the pulldown lever, and though I doubt they're still around today, some of you older /.ers may remember them. Anyhow, this company was plagued by scandal. One of the Shoup family, Ransom Shoup was actually convicted of conspiracy to throw an election. The company was also involved in bribing florida politicians. And this was in the era of paper ballots, too. Fast-forward to today: nobody knows if Diebold is up to no good, but that's kind of the point. Without a paper trail, it will be hard to convict anyone of anything, and I think Diebold knows this.
Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
Africus aut Europaeus?
From the web page:
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The EAC provides a list of registered equipment manufacturers. It includes the more well known vendors such as Premier Election Solutions, Inc. (formerly Diebold), a name according to them "synonymous with security."
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Strike four, dude.
Here's a little of Shoup's history.
It's a big, hairball of a mess and none of the right people are in jail.
-FL
I always enjoyed my previous county's voting system.
Here's your paper, here's your marker. Fill in the dot next to who you're voting for. If you make a mistake, please see one of the attendants for a new ballot and we will destroy the old one, and record the action and confirm it with your signature. If you would like to vote and are unable to properly use the marker, please see one of our attendants for assistance. Once you are done, please slip your ballot into the secured box at either end of the room. The "I voted" sticker is optional and will not be forced on you.
I voted in that county for 7 years, and not once did anyone ever question the authenticity of the outcomes, even when outcomes were close.
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
cryptographic voting protocols have gotten much better. All that's left to do is write a nice specification, and implement it. this is hard, but my guess is that it'll be easier than the crypography was.
it's sad, but i i think that diebold (and all other current electronic voting machines) may have soured the public opinion of electronic voting so badly that it will be impossible to convince people that cryptographic voting is any good, and cryptovoting was already hard to sell because it's tough to explain how it works.
we need to get the word out on cryptovoting though. it could raise the level of control people have over elections to an unprecedented height. let your less geeky friends know that you think it's good.
that is, if you DO think it's good. may i offer this pdf as a good place to start. also this video is very nice, and seemingly a little more up to date.
It's got to be either Minority Leader or Majority Whip, with 1 and 2 being President Pro-Tem and Majority Leader, respectively.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
This isn't an obvious question, so I too am surprised that that many people got it right. From This Chart, it would appear that the 3rd ranking member is the Majority Leader, behind the Vice President (1st), and the President Pro Tempore (2nd).