Guest Blogged by John Gideon, VotersUnite.Org

On July 27, the Florida State University Security and Assurance in Information Technology Laboratory (SAIT) issued a report on the results of a review of the source code for the Diebold voting system that was in the state of Florida certification process. This report was commissioned by the Secretary of State, Kurt Browning.

On July 31, Browning sent a letter to Diebold to tell them that the system would not be certified as it was presented to the state and that the company had until August 17 to fix the problems or the certification process would be stopped. Included in that letter were three pages of required software repairs.

On August 10, Browning sent a congratulatory letter to Diebold to let them know all of the code fixes were successfully inspected by the SAIT Lab. and the state and that the Diebold optical-scan system and AutoMark were to be certified for use by the state.

That's less than two weeks from report of numerous problems to repairs to the source code to reinspection to issuance of certification.

How did this happen so fast?

UPDATE August 12 It appears that the changes that were made to the code had already been made in a newer version of the code that is in the federal testing process. The Independent Test Authority sent that code to Florida State and that is what was inspected and passed. I am being told that the report by the SAIT will be published early in the week.

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Diebold seems to have convinced the Florida Sec. of State that they have fixed security problems found on their optical-scan systems during a review by Florida State University. It’s amazing how they did that in just a couple weeks. Or maybe not. The Attorney General of New Jersey has denied certification for use of any voter verified paper audit trail printer on the state’s voting machines. State law requires these printers be used by January 2008 but testing of the printers has shown they do not work as advertised. No printers; no DREs. There is still much more news coming from California....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

In an interview by Mary Ann Gould on “Voice of the Voters” last night Congressman Dennis Kucinich said, “There is a question of validity of an election. People have to know their vote counts and is counted. People cannot be guaranteed that with the present DRE system.” Meanwhile another overall election failure has been reported by the Mississippi media. The Kentucky Attorney General has told the Secretary of State that doing nothing is not an option as he sends letters to Hart Intercivic and Diebold and demands they do the same for his state as they are required to do for California. And, of course, the rhetoric is building in California.

All of those stories, and today's other notable voting news articles, linked below...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon, VotersUnite.Org

Last night Congressman Dennis Kucinich was one of two guests on the Election Integrity radio program, "Voice of the Voters," which airs weekly at 8PM Eastern on WNJC Radio 1360AM and streams live.

The subject was voting machines, the vendors, and the voters, and Kucinich raised the possibility that the recent studies done on such systems in California might be the basis of a lawsuit to throw out "that technology." He said felt that legal action, in this instance, may be a faster route than waiting on Congress to act.

He also discussed his concerns about the use of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting machines in general, and expressed his feeling that they do not allow for confidence by the electorate. "There is a question of validity of an election. People have to know their vote counts and is counted," he told host Mary Ann Gould, "People cannot be guaranteed that with the present DRE system."

Here is the audio of Kucinich's the interview with Mary Ann Gould on yesterday's "Voice of the Voters" (about 20 mins):

(Hat tip to Alan Breslauer for preparing the audio.)

Guest Blogged by John Gideon, VotersUnite.Org

The impact of California SoS Debra Bowen's "Top-to-Bottom Review" is beginning to be felt, tangibly, in other states across the country.

One such state is Kentucky, where this morning a press release was issued by the state's Attorney General Gregory D. Stumbo demanding that electronic voting machine manufacturers immediately correct security flaws identified in the independent reviews by experts in California.

In terse letters sent to voting machine companies Diebold and Hart Intercivic (letters posted in full below), Stumbo demanded that the companies "immediately implement in Kentucky all modifications and security upgrades necessary to correct the vulnerabilities identified by California."

Stumbo had this to say during in his news release this morning:

Meanwhile Kentucky's "do-nothing" Secretary of State, Trey Grayson publicly criticized Attorney General Stumbo's statements to which Stumbo retorted:

The two one-page letters [PDF] from KY AG Stumbo to Hart InterCivic and Diebold demanding the same immediate corrective action as required by the state of California are posted in full below...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

California is still the big news. Counties are beginning to realize that they have some decisions to make and some planning to do. While most counties take on the challenges one or two Registrars have decided that rather than do any planning they would rather whine and threaten. These will probably be the counties who are not ready in February. Meanwhile there is more news from Kentucky where the Secretary of State is traveling around the state talking with local officials about the California reports and what they mean to Kentucky’s voting machines. Tuesday was primary day in Mississippi and the media is talking about the many failures, both with voting machines and administratively, in their election....

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Today we have much more from California including the first talk about counties filing a lawsuit to stop Bowen from forcing them to meet new requirements. The Houston Chronicle has editorialized about the CA decisions and the fact that officials in Harris Co Texas should look into using some of the security measures newly mandated in California. The Kentucky AG has requested that the SoS re-examine voting machines used in that state. A New York newspaper is gloating because the state has yet to decide what system they are going to use for elections and they will save millions by not going down the same path as other states. Meanwhile the Miami Herald points out that the vendors are making money by putting out garbage, forcing jurisdictions to change systems. In Mississippi elections are happening today. The vvpat printers on the state’s Diebold DREs are jamming and at least one county is blaming the humid weather. A call to a paper products wholesaler proved what I thought was true; thermal paper as is used in vvpat printers is NOT affected by humidity.

Links to all of those stories, and the other notable voting news, all below...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

“With gratitude, VotersUnite! applauds Secretary of State Bowen's decision to decertify voting systems in California and recertify them for limited use with extensive conditions and safeguards intended to mitigate their shocking vulnerabilities and inadequacies.

We appreciate that she has her priorities in order and is protecting the voices of voters, rather than deferring to the complaints of those election administrators who prefer convenience over accuracy, or bowing to the protestations of vendors who have misrepresented their products.”

And, as ever, the huge list of notable voting news stories today are all linked below...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Of course today’s news is overwhelmingly about the “California Decisions”. After this weekend we will probably hear a lot more from the county officials and the vendors. Diebold appears to have had a press release ready to roll out upon the decision from Secretary of State Bowen. They seem to have decided that terminology changes needed to be made so they are now calling their DREs “touch-screen voting solutions”. I’m not sure what they are trying to solve by the use of their machines. We now know it’s not security problems or accessibility. ...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

My apologies for the lateness of DVN this evening. I, as many in the Election Integrity community, waited to provide the news of the actions of California Secretary of State Bowen with respect to the voting systems used in California. In a clear victory for the EI community and the voters in the state Secretary of State Bowen has announced the following actions: ES&S InkaVotePlus used only in Los Angeles County has been decertified. Hart Intercivic version 6.1 was withdrawn from use in the state by the company. The other systems by Diebold, Sequoia and Hart all had approval for use withdrawn with conditional reapproval for use in the state primary election on 5 February 2008. The conditions for reapproval are tough and thorough with Diebold and Sequoia limited to one DRE per polling place for use by voters with disabilities on election day....

Blogged by John Gideon, VotersUnite.Org

"The problems we found in the code were far more pervasive, and much more easily exploitable, than I had ever imagined they would be." Matt Blaze 02 August

Today the California Source Code Review Reports were released by Secretary of State Bowen's office. Reports were released on the Diebold, Sequoia, and Hart Intercivic voting systems.

The lead researcher for the Sequoia source code team was Matt Blaze. In his blog, Exhaustive Search, Blaze discusses the results of all of the inspections.

Blaze then concludes with what may be a hint of decisions to come:

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:

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

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Today has been another busy day in the news. Building on top of the California reports from Friday and Monday and the Florida report on Tuesday we now have an important report from the Brennan Center just released today. This new report discusses audits and why they are needed and points out that states are not doing enough to ensure their vote count is accurate. On top of all of this one county in Utah has decided to buck the trend in that state and they are returning to hand-marked paper ballots and optical scan machines this November. Also in a town election in one small South Carolina town, 149 voters voted on the town’s provided ES&S iVotronic machines. The election was to select a person to sit on the city council. The machine broke down once during the day and 15 voters had to use paper ballots. The 149 votes could not be retrieved from the machine until the next day due to a problem with passwords. It is not good to use a DRE for any election but for an election with only one race and a small expected turnout it is insane. What are these people thinking?...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon, VotersUnite.Org

In a recently released report, New York Attorney Andrea Novick, Esq., tells members of New York state government and now the world that the vendors of the voting machines that most of us use are NOT responsible citizens and why. This report was written for, and addressed to, Governor Spitzer, the State Board of Elections and the State Legislature.

In her report Novick explains that New York state has laws that should bar any of the vendors from doing business in the state.

New York State Law states the following about corporate integrity...

Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.org

Sen. Diane Feinstein has announced a hearing in the Senate Rules Committee to be held in September. In her press release she says:

If she really feels states and counties should consider a move to optical scan then why not say so in her legislation instead of doing all she can to protect Direct Recording Electronic machines? It’s time to step up and match the rhetoric with action, Senator.

Today is a big news day with big stories breaking nationally. King Co. Washington’s county commission decided to take the voters advice and not use tax-payers money to purchase an untested, uncertified high-speed optical scan system from Diebold. Florida State University has released a new study that discusses problems with the Diebold optical-scans used in the state. We are still trying to get that report. Plus the heat is being turned-up in congress.

All of those stories and many more today, all exhaustively linked below...