Guest Blogged by John Gideon of VotersUnite.Org
States and counties are being forced to purchase used, refurbished voting machines. In this segment Kitty talks to an election official and a voter about this practice. As Kitty points out, “the chain of custody for these machines is the real issue. Experts say the machines can be tampered with, and malicious codes inserted, as these machines pass from one jurisdiction to another.”
The text-transcript of Wednesday’s segment on Lou Dobbs Tonight follows in full…
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM (voice-over): The worries over electronic voting are compounded by the fact that several states are having to install used machines that were refurbished for this election.
Election officials in Tennessee are struggling to get the electronic voting equipment they need. The chairman of Davidson County Election Commission says they ordered 619 machines from ES&S, but later needed 100 more.
He says ES&S could not provide 100 new machines right away. But the company said they could send refurbished used machines from Pennsylvania for the early voting in coming weeks.
EDDIE BRYAN, CHAIRMAN, DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, ELECTION COMMISSION: In the first, we were going to get all refurbished machines. And we complained so much that they ended up sending us the 619 which are new machines, and the other 100 are from Pennsylvania.
PILGRIM: ES&S says the machines are fine: “We provided 619 new iVotronics, in keeping with our contractual agreement with Davidson County. In addition, we provided the county with another 100 touch- screen machines, all of which have been thoroughly tested and meet rigorous standards for accuracy.”
But Tennessee isn’t the only state using hand-me-downs. Overhauled e-voting machines were also used in recent Pennsylvania election in Bucks County and Allegheny County and several others.
COLLIN LYNCH, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY: We, as voters, really don’t know what’s going on inside those machines at any time, whether they came direct from the factory or from some other state. We don’t know. And the companies are not really permitting anyone to check.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now, the chain of custody for these machines is the real issue. Experts say the machines can be tampered with, and malicious codes inserted, as these machines pass from one jurisdiction to another.
What a debacle your voting system is and it just seems to get worse with every day. Refurbished machines indeed…..HA, what a joke..!!! Refurbished with what……..more hacking..?? However, hang in there patriots..!!! The momentum is growing by leaps and bounds against this corrupt system with the help of Brad, Lou and yourselves, plus the eagerly anticipated “Hacking Democracy” documentary coming soon to HBO.
Damn…..wish I could get HBO..!!!
ITMFA
Lou Dobbs was on the Daily Show last night…
Big Dan #2-
Yeah, he was promoting his new book. Unfortunately, not a mention of e-voting concerns.
As a systems programmer…
I cant believe all this is happening.
If the “The Help America Vote Act of 2002″‘s legislative process had the correct code for checks and balances [representives], the law would have never been signed.
RED FLAG: “The Help America Vote Act of 2002″ is being signed into law BY an unelected Administration. – ABORT PROGRAM”
County Government: Whoever controls the Contracts and the Vendor controls the Technology and the data. New or used
It will ultimately come down to the County Boards, Election Clerks, Administrators, MIS Departments – Vote out all of the corrupt ones.
Thanks Brad for all your hard work.
Peace to all..
Lou was on Montel Williams, and they actually gave a proper slant on the Chavez UN speech, asking why is the US down there trying to overthrow a legitimately elected president
A lot more was said about how we are perceived in the world today, shockingly good stuff
Need video for it though
Waking the sheeple, one crusty TV show at a time
So I think the dems are going to win this November, and so do you…but what do we do when the repugs pick up new seats? What can we do? They’re the ones in power, and they have demonstrated that they will use any method to keep it, and the smarmier the better. Does anyone really think we are going to win this thing?
And you know what…we have the gov’t. we deserve…