The Buck Must Stop with Linda Lamone OR Connecting Maryland's Election Debacle Dots

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By Joyce McCloy (about the author) Page 3 of 6 page(s)

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Maryland's Elections Administrator , Linda Lamone (Democrat) is a staunch defender of Diebold, President of the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED), and the most vociferous advocate for paperless voting in the United States.

With Democrats a majority in the state legislature, and with Maryland's Elections Adminstrator also a Democrat, there is no one left to blame.

No Accountability in Election Management = No Accountability in Elections
2002 Lawmakers give Lamone a job for life: it is virtually impossible to remove
this administrator no matter what she does.

"From time immemorial, state law allowed governors to appoint the state elections administrator ? the person who oversees state elections. ...

Then, in 1998, when Democratic lawmakers feared Ellen Sauerbrey might defeat Parris Glendening, they shifted the appointment power to the elections board, controlled by Democrats. When Ehrlich became governor in 2002, the Democratic legislature changed the rules even further ? now Linda Lamone can only be removed by an 80 percent supermajority of the full elections board and even when removed she keeps her job until her successor is approved (if ever) by the state Senate, controlled by Democrats!
The Gazette

Digging the hole deeper:

Maryland's Director of Elections, Linda Lamone further protected Diebold's stake in MD by investing more money in Diebold Electronic Poll Books instead of reliable and auditable paper ballot optical scan machines:

...the State Board of Elections quietly tried to sneak a $13 million sweetheart deal with Diebold Election Systems, Inc., through the Board of Public Works to buy electronic pollbooks.. True Vote MD

Protecting Diebold -
Maryland Hires a Sympathetic Consultant and Ignore Computer Scientists:

March 2006 -Maryland's elections department hired a consultant, Glenn Newkirk,
President of Info Sentry to report on the state's voting machine security. Newkirk's report was used to support Linda Lamone's desire to keep the Diebold machines and not buy new paper ballot optical scanners.

World renowned e-voting expert Dr. David L. Dill rebutted Newkirk's report calling it "propaganda"- stating that it as "useless as a basis for policymaking on that question".

"I have recently obtained this report. The report it is not a security
evaluation of the voting machines, nor a "study," nor even an opinion
piece. It is propaganda, with the obvious intent of persuading
Maryland to keep it's Diebold AccuVote-TS touch-screen machines.
The only data or facts cited are from well-known publications -- and those
quotations are chosen selectively in many cases to distort the truth...

In summary, Newkirk's essay is not a serious discussion of the
technical or policy aspects of voting machine security, and is useless
as a basis for policymaking on that question."

Dr. Dill, says the Diebold TS and TSX have major security flaws, and with additional
studies, "even more security flaws are found."

Others question Newkirk's credentials and qualifications:

According to his C.V. Mr. Newkirk has an impressive record of consulting work on
elections and other projects with a variety of state and local governments, and with private business, but no academic degree in computer science. What is most interesting about Newkirk's resume is that all his academic work was in poli sci or International Relations -- not computer science. And according to his resume, he didn't finish his phD
Many publications are listed, but, as far as I can tell, none that were peer reviewed...
More at NC Voter's blog

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