Emegency Paper-Trail Mandate Fails in House

[AtomicKitten]

Experts warn Congress of e-voting woes; paper-trail mandate fails
They're concerned about problem-plagued voting in November
by Marc Songini


September 28, 2006 (Computerworld) -- With hotly contested nationwide elections just weeks away, several computer experts today questioned the reliability and security of e-voting systems during a congressional committee hearing.

Access doors of thousands of Diebold AccuVote-TS touch-screen systems can all be opened with the same key -- a type commonly used for office furniture, jukeboxes and hotel minibars, Princeton University computer science professor Edward Felten told the committee. That door protects the removable memory card that stores votes.

"Though some claim that election procedures will prevent the kinds of problems we identified, the rigid procedures described in vendor manuals are often ignored in practice," said Felten, co-author of a study that was highly critical of Diebold Election Systems Inc.'s AccuVote TS.

Also today, the Committee on House Administration took no action on legislation proposed by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) aimed at remedying e-voting vulnerabilities. The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550), introduced last February, now has more than 200 bipartisan co-sponsors.

Among its various provisions, HR 550 would mandate that each machine produce a paper receipt that could be used in a recount. The bill also calls for e-voting vendors to offer greater transparency to their software. By not sending the bill to the floor for a vote, the committee missed any chance of ensuring that November's elections would produce auditable results, Holt said.

more at http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=privacy&articleId=9003721&taxonomyId=84

[Wilms]

1. Not following your subject line.

The article states:

snip

Earlier this week, Holt submitted an amendment to HAVA to reimburse any voting jurisdictions that print out paper ballots for voters who prefer not to cast their votes on touch-screen voting gear this November. Similar legislation was filed by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in the Senate. The bill calls for up to 75 cents to be spent per paper ballot.

snip

Holt declined to predict when or if the emergency amendment would pass. Like all House members, Holt is up for re-election this year, and his district uses e-voting gear. "Certainly, any voting system that is not verifiable and auditable is of concern," he said.

snip

:shrug:

[AtomicKitten]

3. ***

"Committee on House Administration took no action on legislation proposed by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) aimed at remedying e-voting vulnerabilities."

The "fails" is from the title of the article.

More specifically no action taken and time has now expired before the Nov election for action to be taken, ergo failed.

Rush Holt's HR-2239 also never saw the light of day, just as the bastards planned.

* a Buzzflash interview with Rush Holt: http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/04/02/int04009.html

[Wilms]

5. Thanks.

I should have been thinking and not just reading the article. :D

[AtomicKitten]

8. it's not required

but sometimes it helps :)

[Ready4Change]

2. It's a One, Two blow to Democracy.

First, pass bills supporting torture, and now refuse to protect and preserve the very acct of voting.

We are watching our Republic being dismantled, right before our eyes.

[Peace Patriot]

4. What do you expect from the Diebold Congress? They DON'T WANT

transparent elections!

Guess why.

[Peace Patriot]

6. See my posts today on the Absentee Ballot protest. It's up to us, folks.

Nobody in power is going to restore our right to vote voluntarily. We have to FORCE them to do it. Massive AB voting can can work, because it pressures officials in state/local jurisdictions, where ordinary people still have some influence. We may have only a short window of opportunity to turn this around. The time is NOW.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2851762&mesg_id=2851762
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2854648

[AtomicKitten]

7. thanks for this

I'm clinging to the last bit of hope I can muster.

[AtomicKitten]

9. kick - the House has failed to even look at emergency paper ballot measure