General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Did Anonymous really Save-the-Vote in Ohio? .... REALLY??? [View all]JohnnyRingo
(18,636 posts)We certainly don't log them on when we set them up, and the only plug we use is a power outlet. Each unit appears independent
What if the machine flips every 3rd or 4th vote to a republican in hope that a voter isn't watching the live printout of his vote? That seems like a long shot of a gamble, but there still would have been hundreds of voters claiming the printout displayed didn't match their vote. That didn't happen in 2012, and would have ended Diebold's contract, leading to probable bankruptcy.
What if Diebold programmed the machines to print the right vote, but record a different vote on the log? That could easily get caught in a recount or an audit and means serious time in a federal pen for whoever was responsible. On top of that, Diebold would lose a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide. Would they risk that to get Williard Mitt Romney or Joe the Plumber in office? Again, if Diebold 's machines can be so easily rigged, their reputation for security would be dead on arrival.
What if the machines were hacked by a third party to flip votes in a similar fashion? Now we're talking about less than a handful of people who have access to every machine in every county of the state. I doubt those state employees would sleep well for the next couple years while those paper records are sitting in county election boards across the state like a ticking time bomb.
Once again, if someone wants to challenge the election and wins the right to do so in court, the election winner can be determined by counting each vote on the paper rolls and comparing the numbers to our log books. The books don't tell how people voted, but they do tell how many voted, so padding the count is a bad idea. Besides, we knew before we returned the machines that the vote count matched what was in our books.
Even if Ohio went to all paper ballots, who can we trust to hand count them, John Kasich's Secretary of State? If someone is cynical enough, there's no such thing as a fair election when millions of ballots are concerned. If we each voter put a marble in the box of the candidate we choose, we'd end up with twice as many marbles as when we started. I believe the electronic voting machines we have with a paper trail is the best technology we have.