New Jersey E-Voting Problems Worse Than Originally Suspected 118
TechDirt is reporting that the New Jersey e-voting troubles are even worse than originally thought. Apparently the "minor bug" which was supposed to be fixed is still not corrected, suggesting that Sequoia still doesn't know what is going on. "Ed Felten has received a bunch of 'summary tapes' from the last election in New Jersey, and while many of them do have the vote totals matching up correctly at the end at least two of the summary tapes simply don't add up, meaning that Sequoia's explanation of what went wrong is incorrect. Given how often the company has denied or hidden errors in its machines, despite a ton of evidence, we shouldn't be surprised that it was inaccurate in explaining away this latest problem as well. However, we should be outraged that the company refuses to allow third party researchers to investigate these machines. It's a travesty that any government would use them when they've been shown to have so many problems and the company is unwilling to allow an independent investigation."
Same story, different day. (Score:4, Insightful)
This is New Jersey (Score:1, Insightful)
So what the hell do you expect? This is New Jersey, whose various governments have a reputation for corruption that makes the chicago machine green with envy. Someone is benefiting from the use of these voting machines, payment for them, support of them, transport of them, incumbent protection by them... oh hell, its New Jersey; all of the above!
Re:Here's the link that should have been in summar (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the scary part is that the small error is definitive proof that the voting machines are wrong, but that there is no mention of a method in NJ for the poll workers to go back and check out that there really were X number of votes for each candidate.
The thing that is important for the integrity of the election is that there is a verified paper "receipt" that the voter has checked and dropped into a box that can't be tampered with.
Sure, the summary print outs are "nice" for instant access to the results, but there isn't really a good reason not to have a bi-partisan check of the paper records at the end of the day.
After 5 or 6 election cycles are validated with this computer/receipt method, then we could start to put more trust in the machines... but Diebold and their ilk have proven time-and-time again that they cannot design voting machines that stand up to scrutiny of even the simplest checks (like Felten's comparison between total votes and reported number of total voters).
Why is anybody surprised? (Score:2, Insightful)
You have a "Perfect Storm" of apathetic voters, an administration that has displayed its contempt for democracy at every turn and aggressively appointed people who place ideology above honour and country to positions affecting all levels of government, a company that has exhibited at every opportunity a predilection for cover-ups, a House and Senate that have abrogated their role in the checks and balances equation, and a judiciary that has similarly abandoned its responsibility to remain independent of politics.
What the hell did you expect?
Re:where are the whistleblowers? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:where are the whistleblowers? (Score:3, Insightful)
Can there REALLY be any question that something shady is going on?
((lol at confimation image of "booths"))
How hard can this be?? (Score:2, Insightful)
But getting the numbers to add up?? Come on - that should be trivial. If they're FBARing that, I have absolutely no faith in the rest of it.
Is it just me.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's New Jersey... (Score:3, Insightful)
If the state government maintains strict controls on slot machines and has access to the source code of slot machines....why the hell doesn't it have a better grasp on voting machines?!
Gambling Machines! (Score:5, Insightful)
Nope. (Score:3, Insightful)
The difference between the two devices is one is gaming HUGE income generator for Government. In order to keep the poor schmucks at the poker machines, they contribute to the scheme by certifying the devices. Voting infrastructure is all costs and the only people that benefit are the contractor and the representatives the contractor is paying.
You seem to have forgotten that government is supposed to be run more like a business.
Bullsh!t (Score:5, Insightful)
And there's your excuse for you and the ~4 moderators let sleeping dogs lie.
It's partially your fault for not participating. Own up and get involved in the voting process.
Or, maybe you'll have another excuse for doing nothing.
Re:What bothers me (Score:3, Insightful)
the end user, if they see a print out other than what they chose, can take it straight to the voting officials, tear off a special the code at the bottom, and they can hand them a paper ballot, and they type the code in on their workstation, invalidating that entry in the electronic tally.
Re:What bothers me (Score:3, Insightful)
They're printed on 2-ply paper. Both receipts get impact-printed at the same time. There is no way they can differ.
if they see a print out other than what they chose,
They would get a chance to review their choices before printing, and a chance to view the receipt before it feeds out of the machine. If it is incorrect, they hit 'cancel, and a special 'cancel this vote' barcode is printed. If they hit 'okay', then a 'this vote confirmed' barcode is printed and the 'upper' copy emerges from the machine.