I have been looking at the issue of computerized voting machine security for several years, and want to write about it today.
Many people have pointed out that there are a number of problems with the new touch-screen voting machines. They fear that these machines can be used to rig an election. Others feel more confident about the machines because they are "hi-tech" and computerized and make voting easier.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen is taking it to unscrupulous voting machine vendors, after having completed her investigation into the illegal sale of thousands of machines that were not certified for use in California. ES&S would be on the hook for millions if this suit is successful. Chron:
"ES&S ignored the law over and over and over again, and it got caught," Bowen said in a statement after filing suit against the company. "I am not going to stand on the sidelines and watch a voting system vendor come into the state, ignore the laws and make millions of dollars from California's taxpayers in the process."
Bowen's decision could be a windfall for the affected counties. In the suit, the secretary of state is seeking a $10,000 penalty for each of the uncertified machines sold in the state, with half that fine intended to go to the counties that bought them.
ES&S also would have to reimburse the counties for the full cost of the machines, but the counties would be able to keep the AutoMARKs, which are now slated to receive full state certification in early December.
The reimbursement rule was added to the state election code in 2004 in an effort to boost the penalties against companies that ignore the state's certification rules, Bowen said.
Bowen is simply enforcing existing laws. I am sure the counties would not mind a few extra million dollars.
(now available in orange) Brian has the press release, but WIRED brings us a few more intriguing details about the machines ES&S sold a group of counties before they were certified. First of all, there were 1,000 machines sold to San Francisco, Marin, Solano, Merced and Marin. The law allows the state to fine the company up to $10,000 per uncertified system ($9.72m) and refund the counties all or part of the purchase price, which would amount to about $5 million. Plus, the state could ban ES&S from doing any business with the state. That could effect up to 14 more counties, including LA County.
It turns out that ES&S may have been faking certification stickers on the back of the machines, the image is from the WIRED article.
The AutoMark A100 was certified for use in California in August 2005. However, in 2006, ES&S, by its own admission, sold 1,000 units of its subsequent AutoMark model -- the A200 version -- to five CA counties months before the system passed federal qualification testing in August 2006. Voting machines generally undergo two stages of testing and certification, first by independent testing labs overseen by the federal government and then by the states themselves. But according to secretary of state spokeswoman Nicole Winger ES&S still has not submitted the A200 system to the state to examine and certify.
Winger also says that the A200 machines had stickers on them (see photo below) that identified them as having passed federal qualification testing, when they hadn't yet passed that testing. Winger says that the qualification stickers that were placed on the A200 machines were the stickers that are supposed to apply only to A100 machines. Winger says it's possible that the stickers were applied in error. But if ES&S deliberately placed the stickers on the machines it could suggest a deliberate attempt on the part of the company to deceive California election officials.
States had several years after the Help America Vote Act passed to purchase new technology for voting. It was at that time good government organizations started raising the warning flag about the security of many of the voting machines that companies like Diebold were marketing to county registrars. Nobody really knew how secure they were, but the mere fact that they were operating on a Microsoft Operating System raised a lot of red flags. Registrars were cautioned at the time to slow down and really examine what they were purchasing. After all, the machines were not cheap. Quite frankly, I believe it was a major flaw in the bill that it did not require the states to be in charge of the purchasing rather than the local registrars. The patchwork system is coming back to bite us in the rear.
By and large they did not heed that call. Now, several years down the road somebody actually did a real security test on the machines and low and behold they are not secure at all. Secretary of State Debra Bowen did what she pledged to do in the campaign and the results of the top to bottom study left her with little chance but to decertify many of our voting machines, at least temporarily.
That is all a long way of saying that I am not exactly sympathetic to the whining coming out of the registrars about the costs of Bowen's move. She moved with all deliberate speed and the complaints that this is a last minute move ring hollow. The registrars should have known this was coming and planned for this occurrence when Bowen took office. We are still six months out from the election and machines still have the opportunity to be re-certified.
Debra Bowen is doing what we elected her to do. After her top-to-bottom review of the voting systems in California revealed serious flaws, she acted:
In a dramatic late-night press conference, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen decertified, and then recertified with conditions, all but one voting system used in the state. Her decisions, following her unprecedented, independent "Top-to-Bottom Review" of all certified electronic voting systems, came just under the wire to meet state requirements for changes in voting system certification.
Bowen announced that she will be disallowing the use of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting systems made by the Diebold and Sequoia companies on Election Day, but for one DRE machine per polling place which may be used for disabled voters. The paper trails from votes cast on DREs manufactured by those two companies must be 100% manually counted after Election Day. DREs made by Hart-Intercivic are used in only one California county and will be allowed for use pending security upgrades.
The InkaVote Plus system, distributed by ES&S and used only in Los Angeles County has been decertified and not recertified for use after the company failed to submit the system source code in a timely manner to Bowen's office. LA County is larger than many states, and questions remain at this time as to what voting system they will use in the next election.
Read the whole thing. Bowen is going up against some really powerful forces and needs out support. The registrars are going to scream holy hell about this, and we'll hear that we don't have the money to up and change everything now. That dog shouldn't hunt. I think everyone in this state, or at least a vast majority, is willing to pay for the security of our democracy.
To be honest, I am not feeling particularly inspired to write something today. There is not too much new to report on, plus I have been busy working on this site. So here are few random thoughts and links.
Arnold is spending his birthday working on the budget, which he wouldn't have had to do if he had engaged earlier on the issue.
Debra Bowen held the big hearing on the voting machines today. Meyers is probably right about where this is heading. I don't think there is enough time to totally pull the machines before the election and have a reasonable replacement. Now that we know where the vulnerabilities lie, we need to find ways to protect the machines for the near future, while we figure out a long term solution.
CMR has a response post by Mike Heald of the Western Law and Poverty Center up to an erranous Flash Report piece on Cal-WORKS.
One of the issues Secretary of State Debra Bowen campaigned on was voting security. She promised to conduct a top to bottom review of our voting machines to determine if they were secure against hackers. Bowen commissioned a report by UC researchers that gave them the opportunity to hack into the state's voting machines to find vulnerabilities. The initial report from the researchers was just released minutes ago.
Surprising no one, the researchers found serious vulnerabilities in all the of the machines. I am just starting to read through the report myself, and I am sure BradBlog is going to be a great resource. However, comb through the reports and let's dig into them before the media gets to them. It's in PDF form and broken down into an overview and each of the individual companies.
The Blog Roundup is on the flip. LOTS of stuff about Health Care and the Environment. Also a couple less-noticed stories about voting machines, the sanitation workers in the East Bay, and unionization at the LA Times.
It's been a while, but there's a California Blog Roundup on the flip. Lots of health care coverage, some land use, water worries and environmental coverage, and a fair bit about the atmosphere in the legislature.
If I missed a blog post that should have been here (and it's a liberal or lefty post), feel free to promote in the comments.
With Democrats controlling Congress, Rep. Rush Holt says he's optimistic about achieving his longstanding legislative priority this year -- requiring electronic voting machines to have paper backups so election results can be verified.
Yes folks, that's right.
A total of 222 House Democrats and Republicans co-sponsored a similar bill Holt introduced in the previous Congress, when Republicans were in the majority, but it went nowhere. The legislation is widely expected to become law, with Democratic leaders tending to favor requiring a paper trail, analysts say.
A dirty little secret of the last congress it that Holt's bill had enough support to pass, but Hastert would never let it onto the floor for an uppadown vote. We have a real chance to end these voting machine problems ONCE AND FOR all...
(Maybe the truth will set Bruce McPherson free... to spend more time with his family. Debra Bowen is a star -- she's already got my vote, and she should have everyone's. - promoted by jsw)
Sen. Debra Bowen is starting to get some attention on her excellent web ad, which demonstrates just how easy it is to break into Diebold voting machines. The fact of the matter is that even though that particular model is not being used in California the ones that are have their own problems.
This is a must see video! I am posting it here because California voting districts use this machine "Diebold TX". One such district is "Cal-50th" hmmmm? Edit by Brian: Here's the link to the video.
Debra Bowen, candidate for California Secretary of State, is in a tight battle for the Democratic nomination on Tuesday.
During her tenure in the State Senate, Debra Bowen has been working tirelessly for reliable voting systems and improving the public's access to the government. She was overwhelmingly endorsed by the California Democratic Party and by groups and newspapers up and down the Golden State.
You can help Debra Bowen by donating to a grassroots-sponsored radio campaign! Latinos for America has produced pro-bono Spanish-language radio ads for the Los Angeles market that will run in Spanish talk and religious radio on Monday and Tuesday of next week. We need your help to get them on the air.
Valley Grassroots for Democracy has teamed up with Latinos for America to collect contributions for the ads. Please go to https:/secure.actblue.com... and make a contribution and end the contribution with $.06 so we know that the contribution is for the radio ads. For example, give $25.06 or $50.06 or however much you can give.
Brian has the press release, but