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March 16, 2008 at 19:10:16

Promoted to column top on 3/16/08:
Hackable Voting Machines Hacked in Ohio

by Rady Ananda     Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner revealed to the Columbus Dispatch that an investigation into electronic voting machines (ES&S iVotronic), used in Franklin County last fall, found that the machines were tampered with to remove a candidate name from the ballot.  Forensic investigators also found that the County failed to test the machines before use, as required by law, and that:

"a function that tracked changes to the machines was purposely turned off." 

That function is significant in a post-election audit or recount, as we found during our investigation in 2006.  At page 3 of this Recount Report, the "Real Time Audit Log" (RTAL) reported a "password override," indicating that the machine had been entered during the election.

These same machines failed minimum security standards when tested in the landmark study, Project EVEREST, the latest in a long line of studies  condemning computerized voting systems.

These same machines were used in Ohio's hotly disputed 2004 election, where questionable results from several precincts failed to result in criminal prosecutions. 

One precinct reported negative 25 million votes for John Kerry.  I personally believe that a patriotic hacker sent up a red flag by programming such a ridiculous outcome, in the hope that someone would investigate.  Apparently not. 

Other questionable results, like the Gahanna precinct that awarded Bush 3800 votes where only 600-some voters are registered, appear to have been hacked with the intent of throwing the election. No official investigating the 04 election found any wrongdoing.   

We have scientific evidence that the machines CAN be hacked; we have dubious outcomes; and we have motive.  This isn't rocket science; it's basic forensic investigation. 

Undeterred by science, politicians of all stripes move forward with plans to use wholly non-securable voting equipment which counts the vote in secret.  System guards, de facto leaders of the Left, urge us to continue in this charade called democratic elections. 

So ya thought ya  might like to go to the vote
to feel the warm thrill of confusion
that space cadet glow
I've got some bad news for you, Sunshine
The machines are all rigged, back in their crib
They sent in a throng to make sure you play along
We're gonna find out where the patriots stand...

            ~ Adapted from In the Flesh by Pink Floyd

It matters not to Government (a modern day euphemism for organized crime) that since 2000, the will of the People has been thwarted. 

New York attorney Andi Novick advises that prior to passage of the Orwellian-named Help America Vote Act, for the past 150 years, legislators have understood that election integrity must be protected from insiders.   

Even tho computerized voting systems are the easiest to corrupt, are outrageously expensive, and – most importantly to some – count the vote in secret, election officials across the nation insist on using them, including Secretary of State Brunner. 

I have a better idea.  Let's dump the machines, and have 8-10 people per precinct show up at the polls on Election Night, ready to hand count the ballots.  I recommend the sort-and-stack method, using a Reconciliation Audit Slip.

 

In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews. All material offered here is the property of Rady Ananda, copyright 2006, 2007, 2008. Permission is granted to repost, with proper attribution including the original link. In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. Tell the truth anyway. Sign this petition: http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/ny_levers_petition

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In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Rady AnandaIn 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Deeper Insights

Jo Anne K. of Ohio first brought the Dispatch article to my attention.  After reading my article, she writes:

If you read the ridiculous denial in the linked news article from Franklin County Director Denny White (ostensibly a Democrat but also often called a DINO) who claimed that Brunner was the only one who saw the gray bar and the words "candidate withdrawn", that's an additional story.

I didn't include it in my summary to cut short the quotes, but the more I think about it, the more it burns me up.

Jo Anne

And Karen R. of VoteRescueRadio (www.wtprn.com), reacts just as angrily:

So, I get it...the problems with the machines are only treated seriously - as a justifiable criminal offense - when a SoS actually experiences an "anomaly".

  Gee, I wonder what the odds are that we'll see another SoS experience an "anomaly" in our lifetime?



At this rate, it'll be 2899 before we finally get rid of these machines through criminal investigations.  Meanwhile, what we, the little people, experience when using the machines is always going to be our fault.

Karen

Now how do we reach the youth of this nation, with the import of news such as this?


 

by Rady Ananda (109 articles, 262 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 875 comments) on Sunday, March 16, 2008 at 10:09:23 PM
 


I am an educated person who has been into politics - in Europe- since I was 18.
Naturely i have been following American politics since I came here. I am very disillusioned as are many. The one party system serving the corporations that finance their campaigns has not served this country well.
True progressives like D Kucinich have no chance to be elcted cause democratic fair and free elections are not allowed in the US. Big (consolidated) media creates the candidates as well as our ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

crispyI am an educated person who has been into politics - in Europe- since I was 18.
Naturely i have been following American politics since I came here. I am very disillusioned as are many. The one party system serving the corporations that finance their campaigns has not served this country well.
True progressives like D Kucinich have no chance to be elcted cause democratic fair and free elections are not allowed in the US. Big (consolidated) media creates the candidates as well as our ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

2004 elections were not rigged...

So said a major contributor in Mother Jones magazine (in 05 or06) in  a long article I don't have the reference but someone else may.

See even on the progressive side (no-one argues where MJ stands) such propaganda can be found explained at lenght, in a well documented piece debunking "Conspiracy theories"

King George was elected - twice I guess. What are U worried about.

Don't listen to crazy Alex Jones or Geg Pallast or...

This is a true DEMOCRACY, not a BANANA republic.

by crispy (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 20 comments) on Sunday, March 16, 2008 at 10:30:26 PM
 


In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Rady AnandaIn 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Why didn't EVEREST note this?

Jason Parry of Columbus, Ohio notes:

November 6, 2007 Secretary Brunner noticed a "glitch" when she went to vote on one of Franklin County's iVotronic touchscreen voting machines. Went she went to vote, "she was surprised to see a gray bar and the words 'candidate withdrawn' where Democrat Jay Perez's name ought to have been." Perez's name appear on other machines in the same precinct. This "glitch" was reported by other voters across the county.   The machines have been turned over to investigators now (four months later).

While I applaud Secretary Brunner for investigating obvious programming irregularities, I'm a little concerned why this wasn't more widely reported or even mentioned in any of her EVEREST public meetings.  I'm also very concerned that OEJC members met with the AG's office to discuss a plan for voters to address this exact issue back in December.  The AG's office clearly knew these were valid concerns as they must have been informed by Brunner at that time of her own witness to such machine "irregularities".  The OEJC posed the concern and question to the AG's office about what voters should do in a situation where they witness a machine behaving illegally.

I'm also horrified by Director Denny White's public comments on the matter.  The person now in charge of conducting elections and overseeing thousands of electronic voting machines cannot understand how machines could be fraudulently programmed.  To Denny White, the act of uploading the wrong ballot image file to an electronic voting machine somehow involves a fairy tale conspiracy theory involving Albert Einstein and Al Capone.

This story is currently getting wide viewing on more technical websites like Ars Technica and digg.

-Jason

 He mentions this campaign which was initiated last December:

The Ohio Election Justice Campaign Announces Quarantine That Machine!
http://www.progress ohio.org/ page/community/ post/OEJC/ C3JJ
In Ohio on December 17th, Michael W. Deemer, Chief Deputy Attorney General for Government Affairs of the Ohio Attorney General's office, and two other legal staff members were informed of the Quarantine The Machine program.

by Rady Ananda (109 articles, 262 quicklinks, 28 diaries, 875 comments) on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 9:50:03 AM
 

 

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