CALIFORNIA SEC. OF STATE REFUSES TO RE-CERTIFY DIEBOLD VOTING MACHINES! (F

[MelissaB]

CALIFORNIA SEC. OF STATE REFUSES TO RE-CERTIFY DIEBOLD VOTING MACHINES! (For Now...)

SoS: 'Unresolved significant security concerns', 'Source Code Never Ever Reviewed'
State 'Punts' Issue Back to Feds for Further Testing, State Senator Objects -- Complete Letter from SoS, Senator Bowen's Full Statement...

Late this afternoon, Sec. of State Bruce McPherson's office sent a letter to Diebold Election Systems, Inc. Vice President David Bryd, informing him that the state is declining -- for the time being -- to re-certify Diebold AccuVote touch-screen machines in the state of California pending further testing and certification by Federal authorities.

In the letter, on McPherson's letterhead (complete letter at bottom of this article), Caren Daniels-Meade, chief of the Elections Division writes that "Unresolved significant security concerns exist with respect to the memory card used to program and configure" the Accu-Vote operating system and touch-screen equipment.

In a statement reported by AP, SoS spokeswoman Jennifer Kerns announced problems "discovered during routine testing...by state employees and independent consultants":

She said each system approved for use in California must meet 10 security requirements, and the Diebold machines did not meet one of those standards.

"This is a unique case in which we discovered that the source code had never, ever been reviewed," said Kerns. "There were potential security risks with it."

Some of those "potential security risks" may have been revealed in a test last week using similar Diebold equipment in Leon County, FL, where the results of a test election were reversed by a hacked program inserted onto one of the AccuVote memory cards. The hacked election was completed without a trace of the manipulation left behind.


More: http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002183.htm

[kster]

1. Off to the greatest......nt

[Wilms]

2. I posted a few more stories about it on this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x406070

[datadiva]

3. Woo Hoo!

I guess I am not the only one who wrote letters and sent emails and faxes. :applause: :applause: :applause:

[kster]

4. Uh Oh he is going to get "Kevin Shelleyed "

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=405083&mesg_id=405083

[nicknameless]

6. No he won't.

I don't trust this announcement.

[kster]

8. Right, But Jeb and McPherson saying it

will have a few more people from the other side looking at the possibility that the vote counting machines can (and as we know) are rigged. I look at it as free advertising for our side. Yes we still have to keep their feet to the fire, thats a fact.

[nicknameless]

5. Don't trust ANYTHING McPherson says. He's a master of saying one thing

and then doing another. Don't be lulled into looking the other way while he pulls another fast one on us.

Stay vigilant and keep up the fight against these vote-stealers (machines and rethugs alike).

The "For Now" qualifier is EXTREMELY important.

[kster]

7. Yes, I want to test for the machines and a test for a MOCK RECOUNT

just in case.

[Spiffarino]

9. Then right before the election, he declares them perfect

I don't trust them. My take on this is that they'll refuse to certify, Diebold will make some "important changes" and they'll get certified just in time for the next big election.

Four more years of Der Gropenfuhrer. Surprising gains by Republicans. More "anomalies" in exit poll data.

This is what they're preparing to do. Count on it.

[caligirl]

10. Now I feel so much better about all those calls I made to his offices.

[nicknameless]

11. This is terrible news for CA!!!

McPherson's office, rather than simply decertifying Diebold once and for all in California, has today decided instead to pass the buck back to the so-called Federal "Independent Testing Authority" (ITA). The ITA is a group of several companies chosen and paid for by the voting machine companies such as Diebold themselves, to test their equipment and software on behalf of the Federal Government. Those ITA labs then either certify the software and/or hardware or send it back to the company with the results of the failed tests kept confidential.

State Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach) has been an outspoken critic of McPherson's process for considering recertification of Diebold and has otherwise been a watchdog on issues related to the quickly changing Electoral landscape in the Golden State. She released a statement to The BRAD BLOG late this evening (complete statement posted at end of this article). Bowen is critical of McPherson's plan to "punt" the issue back to the Feds and says in her statement:

“The Secretary of State shouldn’t punt the decision about whether Diebold machines should be used to count ballots in California to the federal government and an 'independent' testing authority that’s financed by the voting machine vendors. That decision needs to be made in the open, right here in California.”

Here's an article about the crooked "testing labs" that McPherson wants to leave CA certification up to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/avi-rubin/the-dirty-little-secrets-_b_12354.html

The ITAs are hired by and paid by -- the vendors. That is, when a vendor has a voting machine that they want certified, they find an ITA who is willing to certify the voting machine. Any memos about flaws that are discovered remain confidential. There is no requirement to disclose any problems that are found with the machines. In fact, the entire ITA report is considered proprietary information of the voting machine vendor. After all, they paid for it. This provides an incentive for ITAs to certify machines, to satisfy their clients.

Avi Rubin, the writer of this article, commends McPherson "for the dialogue that he opened up" about the ITAs.
He must not know our POS SoS very well. Well Mr. Rubin, here is his consistent pattern: say one thing, but do another.
Attend a meeting wherein the unscrupulous practices of these ITAs are exposed, then turn around and hire them.

[kster]

12. This should have its own personalized thread...nt

[nicknameless]

13. Here it is:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5655602

[nicknameless]

14. Correction: Here it is:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5664741&mesg_id=5664741

(The first one was accidentally deleted)