Re: Ca rejects voting machines, 8/5/7 NYTimes

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

From: Robert J. Berger [mailto:rberger () ibd com] 
Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 2:13 PM
To: David Farber; Dewayne Hendricks
Subject: Fwd: [election] Re: Ca rejects voting machines, 8/5/7 NYTimes

 

 

 

Begin forwarded message:





From: "Kathy Dopp" <kathy.dopp () gmail com>

Date: August 4, 2007 7:46:21 PM PDT

Subject: [election] Re: Ca rejects voting machines, 8/5/7 NYTimes

 

CA is the first state in the nation that has required all the

necessary conditions for publicly verifiably accurate election

results.

 

The NY Times points out that only Hart Intercivic digital recording

electronic (DRE) voting machines (but not Diebold or Sequoia DREs)

will be allowed to be utilized for all California voters on Election

Day.

 

All counties currently using Diebold or Sequoia DRE voting machines

must instead use pre-printed paper ballots for able-bodied voters

instead.

 

I recommend to anyone to read the wonderful conditions set forth for

conducting elections in California in the "withdrawal of approval"

documents for Diebold, Sequoia, or Hart.

 

http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vsr.htm

 

Secretary Bowen's new requirements include public access to and

release of election records, public oversight of some security

procedures, and public "confidence-level" election audits.  This is a

significant achievement by election integrity advocates in California.

 

 

August 5, 2007, NYTimes

California Restricts Voting Machines

By CHRISTOPHER DREW

 

California's top election official on Friday decertified three voting

systems widely used in the state but said she would let counties use the

machines in February's presidential primary if extra security precautions

were taken.

 

The official, Debra Bowen, the secretary of state, said she made the

decision in response to studies showing that the machines could be hacked.

 

In a sense Ms. Bowen's decision amounts to barring the machines, then

reapproving their use under strict new conditions.

 

The decision comes amid growing concerns nationally about the security and

reliability of electronic voting machines. It affects systems made by three

of the four largest voting machine companies.

 

Ms. Bowen took her toughest action against touch-screen machines, in which

a voter's ballot is generated by a computer. She said the machines made by

Diebold Election Systems and Sequoia Voting Systems could be used only in

early voting and to meet voting-access requirements for the disabled.

 

Another touch-screen model, made by Hart InterCivic, can be used more

broadly, she said. But all three of the systems can be used only under

rigorous security procedures, including audits of the election results.

 

Ms. Bowen said optical-scanning systems, in which voters mark their choices

on paper ballots that are then counted by computers, also were barred but

re-certified under the new security procedures.

 

Many critics of the voting machines favor the optical scanners. And in

announcing her decisions late Friday night, Ms. Bowen said she also thought

that those systems made it "easier for voters to see and understand" how

their ballots were being tallied.

 

Voting-industry executives have been critical of how Ms. Bowen's office has

handled a six-month review of the machines, and Sequoia issued a statement

early Saturday morning expressing disappointment and insisting that its

machines were safe.

 

Computer scientists from California universities, working at Ms. Bowen's

request, recently released reports saying that they had hacked into

machines made by all three of the vendors and found several ways in which

vote totals could be altered.

 

But industry executives complained that the tests had not taken account of

security precautions, including surveillance cameras and log-in sheets,

that limit access to the machines in most counties and could prevent

hacking during an election.

 

 

 

 

 

 

-- 

Kathy Dopp

 

The material expressed herein is the informed  product of the author

Kathy Dopp's fact-finding and investigative efforts. Dopp is a

Mathematician, Expert in election audit mathematics and procedures; in

exit poll discrepancy analysis; and can be reached at

 

P.O. Box 680192

Park City, UT 84068

phone 435-658-4657

 

http://utahcountvotes.org

http://kathydopp.com

http://electionmathematics.org

http://electionarchive.org

 

Election Audit Mathematics Bibliography

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/paper-audits/KathyDoppAuditMathBib
liography.pdf

 

Support Clean Elections in 2008

http://electionarchive.org/ucvAnalysis/US/SupportCleanElectionsIn2008.pdf

 

Important Facts About The Voter Confidence & Increased Accessibility Act
(HR811)

http://electionarchive.org/ucvInfo/US/FactsAboutHR811.pdf

 

"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body

and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day," wrote

Thomas Jefferson in 1816

 

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