Slashdot Mirror
Voting Machine Used in Half of US Is Vulnerable to Attack, Report Finds (wsj.com)
Election machines used in more than half of U.S. states carry a flaw disclosed more than a decade ago that makes them vulnerable to a cyberattack, WSJ reported, citing a report which will be made public Thursday on Capitol Hill. From the report: The issue was found in the widely used Model 650 high-speed ballot-counting machine made by Election Systems & Software LLC, the nation's leading manufacturer of election equipment. It is one of about seven security problems in several models of voting equipment described in the report, which is based on research conducted last month at the Def Con hacker conference. The flaw in the ES&S machine stood out because it was detailed in a security report commissioned by Ohio's secretary of state in 2007, said Harri Hursti, an election-security researcher who co-wrote both the Ohio and Def Con reports. "There has been more than plenty of time to fix it," he said.
While the Model 650 is still being sold on the ES&S website, a company spokeswoman said it stopped manufacturing the systems in 2008. The machine doesn't have the advanced security features of more-modern systems, but ES&S believes "the security protections on the M650 are strong enough to make it extraordinarily difficult to hack in a real world environment," the spokeswoman said via email. The machines process paper ballots and can therefore be reliably audited, she said. The Def Con report is the latest warning from researchers, academics and government officials who say election systems in the U.S. are at risk to tampering.
While the Model 650 is still being sold on the ES&S website, a company spokeswoman said it stopped manufacturing the systems in 2008. The machine doesn't have the advanced security features of more-modern systems, but ES&S believes "the security protections on the M650 are strong enough to make it extraordinarily difficult to hack in a real world environment," the spokeswoman said via email. The machines process paper ballots and can therefore be reliably audited, she said. The Def Con report is the latest warning from researchers, academics and government officials who say election systems in the U.S. are at risk to tampering.
The way things are going, American needs the UN to come in and observe the election. It won't be long until the general public no longer trusts the results.
Far from being "great again", the country is turning into a third world shit hole.
(1) The paper can be quickly scanned by machine, for a same-day tally.
(2) However the stacks of paper ballots will provide a verifiable audit trail, which can be hand-counted if the machines' integrity is doubted.
The main flaw with today's system is NO audit trail exists (which is probably what the political bosses want).
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Look, we all know how to deal with the continual Russian hacking, the EU has demonstrated the only thing that works are paper ballots and non-networked vote counting machines with an audit trail.
And, yes, it's Russia.
Luckily for those of us on the West Coast, Oregon, California, and Washington State all vote by mail using paper ballots.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
> As far as Trump and his supporters are concerned, this isn't a bug, it's a feature.
I wish I could blame Trump, but in my home state the DEMOCRATS are in control (75% majority). It was the Democrats that pushed to phase-out paper ballots (which worked perfectly) and replace them with computers (which can be hacked/miscounted).
It was also the Democrats that turned my home state into the most gerrymandered state in the country: https://www.washingtonpost.com...
HONESTLY:
I think both parties suck ass. I wouldn't trust any GOP or DNC politician with the key to my house.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
In good ole UK we use following system
* Every year little form through post to register folk in household for election register ( can state if entry not public info )
* Get card through post about next election
* On day of election go to polling station.
* If you have polling card fine if not any proof of id or even just name and address
* You get ticked off on paper list
* Given your bit of paper go into little booth
* Make X next to candidate ( for EU and local elections may be more than 1 )
* Fold up
* Put in box
* Someone outside will ask you who you vote for. I always decline ( exit poll I think it called )
Then those boxes are taped up and sent to counting station. Lots of paid folk count them out.
They announce vote about 8-12 hours later
Simples
This is what you should be reading: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/0... There are so many problems with our voting system, it can't be attributed to mere greed and stupidity...
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
are much, much bigger problems than this. If we really care about democracy then we should make voting mandatory (doing so would end voter suppression), require all states to have vote by mail and apply open-source algorithms that are legally required to divide the population equitably (I don't know the algorithms off hand, but there are several that are considered fair and effective). Finally voting rights should be restored when you're done serving your prison sentence. The only reason to take voting rights away from ex-cons is to suppress their (left wing) votes.
But, well, I don't think we really care. There's a significant number of Americans who think it's a bad idea to let the "wrong" people vote. It's funny to see the double think involved when they somehow reconcile this thought with their love of democracy...
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/