Computer Veteran Writes: 'The potential abuse in electronic voting systems in enormous'
Says 'Voters must have confidence in outcome of elections'
By Brad Friedman on 6/17/2006, 2:05pm PT  

From today's Indianapolis Star...

Electronic voting systems have enormous potential for abuse

I've been building computers since 1977. The potential abuse in electronic vote systems is enormous. You have to be able to trust the voting systems or voter trust will evaporate.

It has come to my attention that the Busby-Bilbray special election in CA-50 on June 6 was conducted on Diebold voting machines, many if not all of which were left unsecured in the homes, cars and offices of poll workers in the weeks prior to the election. Diebold touch screen and optical scan machines have been proven by California's secretary of state to be unreliable in the field and vulnerable to hacking in unsecure environments. Because improper procedures were used in this election, no one has proof that these machines were not subject to memory card switches or other easy tampering techniques such as manipulating the counters.

I am hereby demanding that all of the paper ballots from the Diebold optical scan machines and the paper trails from the DRE machines and any other absentee and early voting ballots be hand counted and audited, with proper oversight, as soon as possible. I ask that the results of the election not be certified until this hand recount is completed.

Voters must have confidence in the outcome of elections or else the security of our elections and our democracy will be undermined. This election belongs to the voters in CA-50, and people all across the nation have an interest in its outcome. Neither candidate has the right to concede this election when Diebold vote machines were used in a manner that fails to comply with normal security procedures.

Dana Kincaid
Indianapolis

(Hat tip, John Gideon. Kudos, Dana Kincaid!)

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Article Categories: Busby/Bilbray, Diebold/Premier, California