By John Gideon on 8/2/2007, 5:45pm PT  

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Officials in Mississippi are the first to speak out and tell their voters that even though the voters are forced to use the same Diebold Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines that recently failed security testing in California and Florida, there are no problems in Mississippi. It probably has to do with an upcoming primary election next Tuesday. What a tangled web we weave...

Matt Blaze, the leader of the California Source Code Team that looked at Sequoia code, had this to say about the results from inspection of all three vendors' code:

Unfortunately, while finding many of the vulnerabilities may have been straightforward enough, fixing them won't be. The root problems are architectural. All three reviewed products are, in effect, large-scale distributed systems that have many of their security-critical functions performed by equipment sent out into the field. In particular, the integrity of the vote tallies depends not only on the central computers at the county elections offices, but also on the voting machines (and software) at the polling places, removable media that pass through multiple hands, and complex human processes whose security implications may not be clear to the people who perform them. In other words, the designs of these systems expose generously wide "attack surfaces" to anyone who seeks to compromise them. And the defenses are dangerously fragile --- almost any bug, anywhere, has potential security implications.

Those stories, and boatloads of more voting news today, as the avalanche of e-voting failures continue, are all linked below...

  • NAtional: Why VVPAT 'Paper Trials' are Not Enough LINK
  • NAtional: Viewpoint: The Devil Is In the Details LINK
  • NAtional: Viewpoint: Slow Down, You're Moving Too Fast LINK
  • NAtional: Report: post-election audits needed to ensure election integrity LINK
  • NAtional: Democrats Plan to Assess Voting State by State LINK
  • NAtional: Paper-trail perspective LINK
  • NAtional: NYTimes: The 'Revolving Door' of Partisan Election Officials and the Voting Machine Industry LINK
  • CA: California voting systems code review now released
    Almost as eagerly anticipated as the new Harry Potter book. LINK
  • CA: Shame on Them! CA. Election Officials Attack Their Chief LINK
  • CA: Thank you, California Secretary of State Bowen! LINK
  • CA: Researchers recommend tougher post-election audits LINK
  • CA: Computer voting machines on trial
    County officials are confident of security, but tests show otherwise LINK
  • CA: Why all California's electronic voting systems should be decertified LINK
  • CA: Columnist - Daniel Weintraub: Bowen weighs future of 'black box' voting in state LINK
  • CA: Secretary Bowen's review of voting systems LINK
  • CA: Why Many Californians Don’t Trust the Vendors of Electronic Voting Systems and Election Officials Who Defend Them LINK
  • CA: Editorial - Voting fraud six months removed? LINK
  • CA: Butte County - County clerk challenges voting machine test LINK
  • CA: Riverside County - E-voting questioned LINK
  • CT: Long-Due Voting Change LINK
  • FL: Diebold E-Voting Flaws Could Compromise Elections
    Florida isn't crazy about optical scan voting devices slated to be used in the state's presidential primary elections next year. LINK
  • FL: Test Finds Florida Faces E-Voting Problems LINK
  • FL: Opinion - Yet another voting headache
    At least this time, the flaws were found before the election LINK
  • FL: The Plot Thickens for Electronic Voting LINK
  • FL: More voting machine problems: Florida, again LINK
  • FL: Volusia County - Voting machines to stay put
    Volusia responds to reported security worries about taking equipment home. LINK
  • GA: Voter group criticizes paper ballot trial LINK
  • GA: VoterGA Gives One Year Update on E-Voting Lawsuit LINK
  • GA: Handel rehashes voter ID ploy LINK
  • MS: Be wary of those who offer voter ID as a fix-all for elections LINK
  • MS: State agency insists Miss. voting machines OK LINK
  • NJ: Activists cast vote for scanners to replace electronic balloting LINK
  • NJ: Judge won't order voting machines testing LINK
  • NJ: Sussex County - Voter backup system questioned LINK
  • NY: Our Worst Nightmare Is Our Reality LINK
  • OH: Ohio 2004 Presidential Election Ballots Illegally Destroyed, Missing in At Least 56 of 88 Counties... LINK
  • OH: The criminal cover-up of Ohio's stolen 2004 election sinks to the fraudulent, the absurd, the pathetic LINK
  • TN: Election Commission Hopes To Make Voting Quicker LINK

    • **"Daily Voting News" is meant as a comprehensive listing of reports each day concerning issues related to election and voting news around the country regardless of quality or political slant. Therefore, items listed in "Daily Voting News" may not reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or BradBlog.Com**

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