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Virginia Ditches 'America's Worst Voting Machines'
Geoffrey.landis writes: Computerized voting machines are bad news in general, but the WINVote machines used in Virginia might just have earned their reputation as the most insecure voting machine in America. They feature Wi-Fi that can't be turned off (protected, however, with a WEP password of "abcde"), an unencrypted database, and administrative access with a hardcoded password of "admin." According to security researcher Jeremy Epstein, if the machines weren't hacked in past elections, "it was because nobody tried." But with no paper trail, we'll never know.
Well, after ignoring the well-documented problems for over a decade, Virginia finally decided to decommission the machines... after the governor had problems with the machines last election and demanded an investigation. Quoting: "In total, the vulnerabilities investigators found were so severe and so trivial to exploit, Epstein noted that 'anyone with even a modicum of training could have succeeded' in hacking them. An attacker wouldn't have needed to be inside a polling place either to subvert an election... someone 'within a half mile with a rudimentary antenna built using a Pringles can could also have attacked them.'"
Well, after ignoring the well-documented problems for over a decade, Virginia finally decided to decommission the machines... after the governor had problems with the machines last election and demanded an investigation. Quoting: "In total, the vulnerabilities investigators found were so severe and so trivial to exploit, Epstein noted that 'anyone with even a modicum of training could have succeeded' in hacking them. An attacker wouldn't have needed to be inside a polling place either to subvert an election... someone 'within a half mile with a rudimentary antenna built using a Pringles can could also have attacked them.'"
Where was Captain Obvious ten years ago? Why is there no outrage over "trivial to hack" and "we can never know"? Little else is as sacrosanct to our system of law and government as the integrity of the electoral process. That those who knew better were unable to get attention focused on this problem until now is deeply troubling.
electronics, and to a lesser extent voting machines, just exponentially increase the amount of attack vectors
of course you can still fake votes with paper voting, but then you are talking about a crazy conspiracy involving delivery trucks and teams of people. it's a lot harder to hide
rather than one well placed hacker
the poorest democracy and the most advanced democracy should all vote the same way
the overriding point is legitimacy: people have to trust their vote counted. replacing paper and pencil with a black box of gears or electronics does not engender trust
this is far, far more important than getting results a couple hour earlier
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Because most of them don't think voting should be as easy as any other day to day task and believe that the possibility of fraud is something worth working hard against... instead here, asking to see a photo ID is somehow racist.
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
Massachusetts for example has a wonderful photo ID law - if you don't have one, then you vote provisionally and can prove your Identity later to have your vote counted if their is a run-off.
But the 'voter id laws' of states like Texas a) don't let you vote at all, b) make it illegal to use state funded college ID or an out-of-state Driver License to prove your identity even if you happen to be a College Student living in Texas for 9 months of a year - and therefore have the legal right to vote, c) make it very difficult to prove your ID and COSTLY in both time and energy.
It's not the concept of a voter ID law that sucks, it is the intentional attempt to create a system designed to stop liberals from voting. Using a false claim that you are just trying to stop non-existent fraud does not explain why they pull crap like this.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
The reason the Rs want voter ID has nothing to do with racism. They want to make it harder for people that don't readily have ID to vote. Why? Because those who don't tend to vote Democrat.
I can live with requiring ID so long as it doesn't turn into a poll tax.
Ok... can you please tell us where today there is a place with a "no blacks" sign with regards to getting photo IDs?
It is entirely within the realm of possibility for a policy to not have racist intent and still have a racist result. (Though in this particular case, there is certainly the appearance of intent.)
Or is there a place where there are certain requirements which all must meet, but somehow blacks are just too stupid/poor/lazy/etc to be able to meet them?
Let's assume that only one of the qualities you list can present an impediment. If blacks are on average more poor than non-blacks, is it possible that this is a result of racism? (Hint:yes).
The whole voter fraud problem is itself a fraud.
Ideology: A tool used primarily to avoid the bother of thinking.
can you please tell us where today there is a place with a "no blacks" sign with regards to getting photo IDs?
You can get a photo ID from your local DMV! Of course, your "local" DMV is 40 miles away. Oh, and the bus to take you there requires 3 transfers and will take 4 hours--not counting the time spent waiting at the DMV. And the hours of operation for the DMV are M-F from 9 AM to 5 PM.
So if you've actually got a job during those hours, you're SOL.
Funny how these things seem to happen around black neighborhoods. White neighborhoods, conversely, have 3 DMV offices in a 20 mile radius that are open on weekends. But, unfortunately, the state just doesn't have the budget to offer weekend service at all DMV offices.
And where is this place?
And only blacks ride the bus? Racist!
There are plenty of offices that have limited schedules. One govt office near me is only open for applications during a 4 hour period on alternating Tuesdays and will only see you with an appointment... yet no one is screaming "racist" because it has nothing to do with voting. Odd that?
So only blacks have 9-5 jobs and/or unable to get away for a short time one day? Racist!
That's a pretty nice generalization you've got there... care to support it?
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
They want to make it harder for people that don't readily have ID to vote. Why?
Because voting is a right reserved for citizens of the US and the political subdivision holding the election. Stopping people who aren't citizens from voting is a good thing for all of us.
There are continuous claims that voting is ineffective because "my vote doesn't count" when it is because someone is voting for a losing candidate, why should we dilute the vote even further by letting everyone who walks into the polling place vote? Why SHOULDN'T voting be reserved for citizens?
The issue isn't the $10. You don't simply fork over $10 and get an ID; you need some proof of identity, like a _certified_ birth certificate. Don't have one? They're not free either. Moreover, you often need a government issued ID to get a certified birth certificate. That's a bit of a catch-22, right? The solution varies by state. Sometimes you can use a combination of utility bills, W-2s, car registration, bank account, etc. The first requires a permanent residence. The second requires a real job. The latter two probably required a photo ID in the first place. Almost all states allow an attorney to request a certified birth certificate, but attorneys aren't free either. The situation of not having a real job, permanent residence, and certified birth certificate is probably totally foreign to /. users, but there are a non-trivial number of (usually poor) American citizens in that situation, but they still deserve the right to vote.
Now, some states try to avoid this mess. E.g. in WI the non-driver IDs are free if you need one to vote. Also, if you don't have the documentation you need, you can fill out a form and the DMV will take care of everything -- at least in principle. I don't know how well it works; the WI DMV is already stretched kind of thin.
I have mixed feelings about all this. Voter fraud is simply not a problem in the US. (Yes, some idiots filled out fake voter _registration_ forms last election because they were paid to fill out lots of registration forms. That's not voter fraud since no fraudulent votes were cast.) Voter ID laws are there to make life difficult for poor people who tend to vote for Democrats. End of story. What's the upside? Because of the political angle, voter ID laws have lead to organizations assisting poor people to get ID cards. I don't know how effective the organizations have been, but the people who get an ID probably benefit.
They want to make it harder for people that don't readily have ID to vote. Why?
Because voting is a right reserved for citizens of the US and the political subdivision holding the election. Stopping people who aren't citizens from voting is a good thing for all of us.
There are continuous claims that voting is ineffective because "my vote doesn't count" when it is because someone is voting for a losing candidate, why should we dilute the vote even further by letting everyone who walks into the polling place vote? Why SHOULDN'T voting be reserved for citizens?
Oh please! Show me a case of where in person voter fraud is more than an occasional occurrence. The GW Bush administration made it a point of emphasis with the US Attorneys and they found basically nothing. Voter ID is a solution looking for a problem. I thought the R's were against more regulations and bureaucracy.
You do realize that even the most rigorous ID check in the world wouldn't have stopped an election from being subverted if these machines were used, right?
I'm tired of hearing biased party hacks and online wingnuts rant about "voter fraud" and what must to be done to stop it. The fact is, it's very hard to swing an election using ID-related fraud, and there's no evidence to indicate it has ever been a real problem or might have swung an election - and don't bother with that rabid reply with links to an example, it might possibly have happened once or twice in some insignificant local race somewhere, but that's completely irrelevant when at the same time WE HAVE STEAMING PILES OF SHIT LIKE THIS MACHINE BEING WIDELY USED MAKING IT TRIVIAL FOR SOMEONE TO ALTER EVERY SINGLE VOTE CAST IN ANY MANNER THEY WANT!!! So spare me the crap about ID laws being essential to combat fraud, those shouting that the loudest somehow managed to say nothing about the glaringly obvious potential for major fraud with electronic voting machines, despite those vulnerabilities being fully pointed out at the time by various security experts. Those detailed reports were completely ignored by the same folks claiming to be so concerned now.
The real agenda behind voter ID laws is insultingly obvious.