Big announcement tomorrow: More Problems with Electronic Voting
Bev Harris and Andy Stephenson (running for SoS of Washington) have called a press release for tomorrow as they plan to reveal that "A new security concern has surfaced which may eclipse the software holes in the Diebold voting system found by Johns Hopkins and Rice University scientists in July."
Read the full press conference announcment below (gives a location for the event if you happen to be in Seattle tomorrow). A few quotes especially stand out:
These security breaches affect both the optical scan systems (fill-in-the-dot or draw-the-line) and touch screen voting systems, and may also indicate significant security problems with absentee voting procedures.
Read: this is a problem with Diebold's GEMS voting database (If you'd like to play with one of these files, see this blog entry of mine).
[...] Whereas electronic voting concerns have focused on complex issues like cryptographic security and computer source code, the new security flaws uncovered by Harris and Stephenson are more serious and also easier to explain.
I'm not sure what this is really. Any speculation out there? (Feel free to comment below). It could be the password to all Diebold GEMS database files, or a networking problem...
...either way, this sounds good for the verified-voting cause. Why? because that's been consistently the hardest part about getting people to care about this problem. As is so true with much in the digital age, it's a pain in the ass to explain the heights of nerd- and geekdom to regular people like my friend joe six-pack... even in the voting context, which should be the easiest to get people to care about.
"What we have are two intertwined security breaches which deserve immediate attention from the U.S. Congress," says Stephenson. "We need to address procedural safeguards as soon as possible to put a halt to these problems and prevent them from ever happening again."
A 20-page dossier will provide the specific U.S. locations affected, as well as the details on multiple security breaches which may have compromised the integrity of at least two dozen elections.
Hmmm... this seems to be related to cryptography or networking or both. I wonder... you gotta love the suspense.
Full text of press conference announcement:
______ [FWD- original message ] ________ Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 08:59:31 -0800 (PST) From: Andy Stephenson Subject: NEWS CONFERENCE - BREAKING To:
Contact:
Bev Harris
Bevharriscontact@aol.comOr
Andy Stephenson
stephenson_for_sos@yahoo.comNEWS CONFERENCE - BREAKING - Voting Systems Security Concerns Rise to
New LevelPress Conference in Seattle at 2 p.m. Tuesday December 16
16 DEC 2003, Seattle WA -- This is of national interest. A new
security concern has surfaced which may eclipse the software holes in
the Diebold voting system found by Johns Hopkins and Rice University
scientists in July. Bev Harris, author of "Black Box Voting" and Andy
Stephenson, democratic candidate for Washington secretary of state,
have uncovered new holes in the electoral system in King County and in
as many as 14 additional states.These security breaches affect both the optical scan systems
(fill-in-the-dot or draw-the-line) and touch screen voting systems,
and may also indicate significant security problems with absentee
voting procedures.At the Tuesday press conference, Harris and Stephenson will distribute
a packet of documents to support their allegations. Whereas electronic
voting concerns have focused on complex issues like cryptographic
security and computer source code, the new security flaws uncovered by
Harris and Stephenson are more serious and also easier to explain.
Because the subject matter is sensitive, reporters will want copies of
the original documents to substantiate the allegations, and these will
be released at the news conference.The news conference will be held in Seattle at 2 p.m. in a location to
be disclosed Monday morning on the front page of this web site:
www.BlackBoxVoting.org [It's actually listed below. -jlh]"This information is significant enough to merit a trip to Seattle for
members of the press who don^Yt live here," says Harris. It affects
four counties in Washington State and locations in Florida, Georgia,
Kansas, Kentucky, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas,
Maryland and Virginia."What we have are two intertwined security breaches which deserve
immediate attention from the U.S. Congress," says Stephenson. "We need
to address procedural safeguards as soon as possible to put a halt to
these problems and prevent them from ever happening again."A 20-page dossier will provide the specific U.S. locations affected,
as well as the details on multiple security breaches which may have
compromised the integrity of at least two dozen elections.Press conference location:
Seattle Labor Temple
1800 First Ave.
Seattle, WA 98181
206-441-7582
Posted by joebeone at Diciembre 15, 2003 03:01 PM