Update on How to Steal An Election

By: Teddy
Published On: 9/15/2006 2:25:06 PM

First we have the shameful incompetence of Montgomery County election officials in "forgetting" to insert the voter card into the electronic voting machines. This delayed voting, denied early voters an opportunity to vote (if they were unable to return later finally to vote). 

And, now we have scientific evidence from Princeton that those voter cards themselves may have been hacked--- or, I should say, could have been hacked if they were Diebold machines, and NO ONE would be the wiser. Here is a link to the relevant video: http://itpolicy.prin...

Comments



Incompetence vs Bad Luck (Teddy - 9/15/2006 2:28:47 PM)
I wish to remind folks that General Patton, not known for gentleness, once observed that "I am unable to distinguish between incompetence and bad luck." He was referring to the low efficiency rating he gave to an excuse-spouting junior officer.  I would add that I am unable to distinguish among incompetence, bad luck, and deliberate criminal intent--- at least when it comes to something as important as counting the vote in a democracy.


Look at who is involved with voting machines (Rebecca - 9/15/2006 11:11:30 PM)
Well let me see.

The guy who wrote the Diebold code is Jeffrey Dean, convicted felon, 23 counts of using a computer to commit fraud. Folks, you can get a job with Diebold after you get out of prison.

The guy who wrote the HAVA (Help America Vote Republican Act) is Bob Ney, recently indicted.

The guy who lobbied for the voting machines was Jack Abramoff. He also helped make sure there were no paper trails.

There does seem to be a common thread here. There is more but I need to get some sleep.



Stealing an election (libra - 9/16/2006 1:28:13 AM)
"And, now we have scientific evidence from Princeton that those voter cards themselves may have been hacked--- or, I should say, could have been hacked" -- Teddy

Yes, Teddy, you should have said "could have been hacked", and skipped the first part entirely; that was very Repub of you:)

The scholarly evidence that those Liebold machines are easy to hack has been pouring in from several universities over the past year or more. Additionally, there's some evidence that, in some areas, the (potential) hackstery was made easier because the software was taken home by biased officials (various scholars try to attack the system long distance, simply knowing how it's supposed to work), allowing lots of time to tamper with it. Some of those cases are currently in court, though I doubt they'll do us a blind bit of good, seeing that the challenges refer to the '04 elections and we have less than 2 months to go to the next ones. No time to pass new laws -- either on the federal or state level - and definitely no time to get new machines.

The only time, ever, I voted absentee was when I was out of the country during an election but I'm beginning to debate that idea now.

General "left-side blog" wisdom seems to be that the only chance we have of winning despite the Liebold is to make the win *decisive*, and make it early enough so that it's reflected in the polls ahead of time. IE, poll results which show a 2-3point difference can be stolen easily. Poll results which show a 10-15 point difference would be more likely to be suspect and investigated.

Which means, me dahlin's, we really need to get our butts in gear,'cause today's polls show Webb 7 points behind Allen. That's not acceptable. It's not acceptable, because it's our future and that of our parents and that of our children that's at stake on Nov 7...