Citizen Press Revolution: A Thorough, Disturbing Follow-Up on Electronic Voting

By Stewart N. Thorpe of Citizen Press Revolution

http://www.myspace.com/citizenpressrevolution

While electronic voting is seen as the cure for inconclusive chads, many concerns have been raised against the supposed fix, electronic voting machines. After the 2000 election debacle, The Help America Vote Act was passed on October 29, 2002. The most drastic impact of HAVA was that punch card voting machines be replaced to squelch any future problems with chads. After many states have adopted electronic voting machines, multiple reports of computer glitches and malfunctions have surfaced. Another pressing issue raised is possible fraud and someone literally hacking an election's results.

Problems already have been experienced with electronic voting machines in the current primaries of several states in these November mid-term elections. Malfunction of the voting machines have resulted in some voters leaving out of frustration in the resulting long waits. Both Texas and Arkansas have instructed counties to have emergency paper ballots in case of computer malfunctions.

When a machine malfunctioned in 2004 in Cartaret County, NC, 4532 votes were permanently lost. Since the voter data is stored without physical records, 4532 people's votes simply disappeared without a trace. There was no paper trail back up.

Even for the electronic voting machines with paper receipts, malfunction problems have also emerged. Keith Cunningham, former head of the Ohio Association of County Elections Officials, pointed to a recount for Cuyahoga County that was plagued by significant printout failures. 10% of the paper receipt rolls were either missing, blank or outright unreadable.

On Sept. 28, Edward Felten, professor of computer science and public affairs at Princeton University, showed elected representatives how easy it was to break into a Diebold electronic voting machine and infect it with a virus in the space of just a minute.

"Tampering with an old fashioned ballot box can affect a few hundred votes at most. But injecting a virus into a single computerized voting machine can potentially affect an entire election," said Felten.

Diebold has brushed off Felten's demonstration stating that his machine was an older model.

Diebold has also come under scrutiny for its political ties with the Republican Party. Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold, actively supported the re-election campaign of President Bush. And in an Aug. 14, 2003 letter, stated in a fundraiser letter to Republicans that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." Electronic voting malfunctioning in Lucas County, Ohio, a typically heavy Democratic county, was one among many irregularities examined by Rep. John Conyers in a status report entitled "Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio".

The threat of votes being hacked has spooked candidates and elected officials on both sides.

Republican Gov. Bob Ehrlich of Maryland has urged voters to cast their vote by absentee ballots instead of using the Diebold electronic voting machines. Ehrlich's campaign spokesperson, Shareese DeLeaver, questioned the integrity of electronic voting and encouraged voters to use absentee voting instead. “Whatever costs or more time is involved to ensure accurate results are well worth it," she said.

Utah is just one among many states in the midst of the electronic voting machine controversy and has taken some measures in response. Last year, Douglas Jones, a University of Iowa computer science professor, found problems in the Diebold TSX machine in Utah. To ensure accuracy, Utah County's Diebold voting machines will be checked by a paper hand recount against 1 percent of electronic ballots. One other major concern against electronic voting machines is that it depends on the technical competency of volunteers. Sherrie Swensen, Salt Lake County Clerk, stated that they now need to have five poll workers at every polling location instead of the normal three poll workers. Partly a result of this, Salt Lake County stated on Oct 18. that they still need 130 more volunteers and 50 alternates.

However, Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer science professor, says that the states at most risk for electronic voting fraud are swing elections that can possibly go one way or another.

Rep. Rush Holt, has proposed new standards for electronic voting machines, but Congress adjourned on Sept. 29 before voting and aren't expected to return to Washington D.C. until Nov. 13, after the mid-term November elections have ended. Holt is expected to resume his efforts. Patrick Eddington, Holt's communication director, stated that Holt is confident that there are going to be enough problems in the Nov. 7 elections that “it will require action by Congress that should already have taken place.”