Diebold Attempts to Evade Election Transparency Laws

[Judi Lynn]

Diebold Attempts to Evade Election Transparency Laws

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
11/18/2005 11:31:30 AM


Raleigh, North Carolina - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is going to court in North Carolina to prevent Diebold Election Systems, Inc. from evading North Carolina law.

In a last-minute filing, e-voting equipment maker Diebold asked a North Carolina court to exempt it from tough new election requirements designed to ensure transparency in the state’s elections. Diebold obtained an extraordinarily broad order, allowing it to avoid placing its source code in escrow with the state and identifying programmers who contributed to the code.

On behalf of North Carolina voter and election integrity advocate Joyce McCloy, EFF asked the court to force Diebold and every other North Carolina equipment vendor to comply with the law’s requirements. A hearing on EFF’s motion is set for Monday, November 28.

"The new law was passed for a reason: to ensure that the voters of North Carolina have confidence in the integrity and accuracy of their elections," said EFF Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "In stark contrast to every other equipment vendor that placed a bid with the state, Diebold went to court complaining that it simply couldn’t comply with the law. Diebold should spend its efforts developing a system that voters can trust, not asking a court to let it bypass legal requirements aimed at ensuring voting integrity."
(snip/...)

http://webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?SESSIONID=&aId=5891

[The Roux Comes First]

1. Incredible! How many gazillions are at stake in this

to convince Diebold to continue to make such a conspicuous spectacle of themselves??

Kudos to NC for enacting demanding requirements. If only all states would get on with this.

[ninkasi]

2. Welcome to DU!

Very good post. They don't want to be held accountable, and it looks very bad for them to try to exempt themselves from a law designed to ensure that votes will be counted correctly. They don't want anything to prevent them from stealing elections, do they?

Again, welcome....
:hi: :hi: :hi: :hi:

[Rodger Dodger]

9. For starters laws should be amended not set aside by a Judge

Apparently De Bold is attempting to seek out an activist judge, not one that will uphold the law. A judge who will be willing to circumvent the law legitimate legislators passed and the Governor singed into law.

Apparently De Bold couldn't find a loophole in the law. And doesn't have the expertise to write the necessary program to comply with the current law on the books.

The Judge should dismiss the suite as frivolous. And the state should hold them to their contract and seek a monetary judgment if they fail to comply.

If De Bold doesn't have the programmers they should be required to hire some one who can and suffer the cost themselves.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

23. the legal counse for our State Board of Elections did NOTHING

while citizens are fighting to defend the VVPB law and requirements for all source code, our State Board of Elections, and the Information Technology Office did nothing to fend off Diebold.

I believe that this was planned from the beginning.

Diebold waited until 15 minutes before the deadline to turn in bids
before getting this court order signed by a republican judge.

Our State Board of Elections has a less than good reputation with the citizens of the state, and the SBOE has opposed VVPB from the beginning. They made this clear to our state legislature too.

The big question is -- how much of Diebold's voting system is third party, and how much of it it their own?

If we allow an exclusion for one part, then what is to stop Diebold for asking for exclusions for other parts?

What if Diebold sells part of it's components to a third party so that they can be excempted from turning it over?

There is $50- $140 Million at stake here.

[Realityhack]

3. ^ -- Throws up hands in exaustion.

WTF is wrong with people???

[AndyTiedye]

5. Nothing. That's Why They Need Diebold.

They realize that even North Carolina may not really be a red state anymore
if the people really got to vote on it.

[hunter]

4. Link to discussion in G.D.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5392032&mesg_id=5392032

[lovuian]

6. Good for them!!! Whoo Hoo NC!!!

:bounce:

[Gregorian]

7. This is the new Revolutionary War.

It feels like we're fighting a war within our own country. Us versus the traitors. The traitors being a group of Republicans (if not all of them) leading the stupid. Instead of guns, it's television versus the internet. They have the power, but we have the brains and tenacity.

And on that note, I go to bed only to wake up tomorrow with the hope that the headlines are better than today's, and yesterdays.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

24. IN North Carolina, the democratic state board of elections is the enemy

Just wanted to make it clear that it was our majority democratic
State Board of Elections who has opposed us every step of the way,
trying to prevent us from getting our VVPB law passed.

They want Diebold in our state so much that they hired a former
Diebold employee to oversee the RFP process.

Keith Long directed the implementation of 22,000 Diebold machines in Ga, and about 5,000 in Maryland.

So we have Diebold on the front end and the back end.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

8. How complicated could...

...this election software be? What's the big proprietary secret? It's basically an algorithm that adds one to a running total. Any ninth grader should be able to write this code after the second week of "Introduction to Programming."

[nebula]

11. The big 'secret' is...

the portion of the code which flips a certain number of votes to the other side.

SHHH, remember its a secret!

[Hekate]

16. This topic has been alive at DU for several years, and at first I thought

it was tinfoil hat stuff.

But the posters here really know their stuff, and finally I forwarded an extensive DU thread to some of the computer programming professionals in my family to ask if this could be a real problem.

The answer, of course, is a resounding yes, as others are pointing out in this thread. It's particularly easy to "fix" a close election. Google for Black Box Voting or Electronic Frontier Foundation, and you will get an eyeful.

In a presidential administration known for creating an unprecedented climate of corruption, the corruption of our voting system gets a special prize.

Hekate

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

17. It was several years ago...

... my dad told me he thought the machines represented the opportunity for stealing elections without being detected. I think I told him to quit reading all those conspiracy theories because they were clouding his judgement. I've since had to apologize and eat some crow on that one.

[leQ]

20. the very fact that diebold is fighting openness, speaks volumes

and i'll say it for the umpteenth time: our elections will never be fair until the boxes are open source.

[texpatriot2004]

10. Live Free or Diebold nm

[TechBear_Seattle]

12. Could someone find a reference to the law?

I would be most interested in seeing the actual text. I'm in the mood to propose laws to my state legislators....

[Mr. Peanut]

13. Diebold v NC Motion

Here's a copy of the brief filed in the case:

http://www.eff.org/Activism/E-voting/20051117_Diebold_v_NC_Motion.pdf

[W stands for Wacko]

15. Read Kafka: the exact law is top secret and you aren't allowed to know!

"The Trial." http://www.kafka.org/

Just trust the NeoCons.

It is all on the up-and-up!

[W stands for Wacko]

14. PLEASE! Someone invent a LieBold Detector or digital truth serum!

[Bonescrat]

18. So I assumed when I read the article...

that Diebold would have at least presented a reason. Some ostensible reason why they could not comply.

Apparently their answer is "We just can't comply".

Hmm..

The refusal without reason seems to be a tacit admission of guilt.

[TrogL]

19. Any other company who can't comply

...with something gets dropped from the contract at best or gets sued for misrepresentation.

Why is Diebold different?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

21. Nov 19 article on this in News & Observer

Published: Nov 19, 2005 -Voting machine company sued
Group says judge's ruling defeats law
Lynn Bonner, Staff Writer

Voting machine companies should have to abide by a new law requiring they turn over information on how their systems work, a Winston-Salem woman says in a court filing.
Joyce McCloy, founder of the N.C. Coalition for Verified Voting, wants a Wake County Superior Court judge to limit or remove an order that relieves companies from having to meet all the law's disclosure requirements. Acceding to a request from Diebold Election Systems, Judge Howard E. Manning Jr. decided this month that companies competing to supply the state with voting machines won't be held liable if they don't provide all information about the machines' software and its creators, as spelled out in the law.

Diebold machines use software the company did not create, said Doug Hanna, a Raleigh lawyer representing the company. "The statute says all software and all programmers," he said. "There was a concern by the client that we wouldn't be able to comply 100 percent with the statute." The company is still working to see if it is able to meet all disclosure requirements, he said.
According to the company Web site, Diebold has an election system that uses Microsoft Windows.

McCloy said the law was written to protect voters from machine malfunctions and botched elections. "The law is to protect us," she said, "not this big corporation." A lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Matt Zimmerman, is flying in from California to represent McCloy at a Nov. 28 court hearing.
The state passed a ground-breaking law that should be supported rather than skirted, Zimmerman said. The Diebold case is a front in the battle to "introduce and enforce election integrity," he said.
Staff writer Lynn Bonner can be reached at 829-4821 or [e-mail].

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/368895.html

[daleo]

22. Computer voting should be completely transparent

Although it would be best to stick to paper ballots anyway. The idea that democracy can be a trade secret is an insult to the thousands who died gaining and preserving the rights of people to elect their leadership.

[babsbunny]

25. Please Email this to everyone, anyone, and especially

Democrats who will be running in future elections! I sent it off to Mayor Coleman who wants to be Governor and is running against Ken Blackhole!