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Posts with tag election2008

Twitter Helps Out With Election Irregularities

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 5th 2008 at 5:06PM

Twitter Helps Voting Problems Get Solved
Twitter has proven its usefulness before, expanding the classroom, reporting on earthquakes and protests in China, and helping one journalism student get out of a Egyptian jail.

According to the Silicon Alley Insider, Twitter yesterday continued to prove that it's good for more than just sharing your random thoughts when at least one voter managed to get help at the polls from the Election Protection group. Twitter user @wellstoneaction tweeted that a polling place in Minnesota was difficult to find due to road closures and a lack of signs. @wellstoneaction tagged his message with a #votereport (hash tags allow users to track specific topics) so that his complaint would be picked up by Twitter Vote Report, a site for Twitter users to register voting issues and warn of long lines.

Within minutes of his message, he was apparently contacted by a member of Election Protection in Minnesota, who somehow solved the issue. @wellstone updated just a few moments later "wow, great work Election Protection folks. I got a call in minutes in response to my tweet reporting a problem. #EPMN #mnvotes."

Twitter turned out to be an invaluable tool for Election Protection, which fielded numerous complaints, and kicked off 20 investigations due to reports that came in from the service. So for those who charge that Twitter just adds to the noise on the Internet without contributing anything of worth, we say "Ha!" [From: Silicon Alley Insider]

Is Electronic Voting Going to Screw Up This Year's Election, Too?

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 22nd 2008 at 5:25PM

eVoting in America It's actually a 'Simpsons' joke -- Homer selects Barack Obama repeatedly, yet the electronic voting machine disregards his choice and racks up votes for John McCain. The joke would be pretty damn funny too, if it weren't actually happening in West Virginia and Ohio right now.

In the last few election cycles, the big names in bungled elections were Ohio and Diebold (which has been renamed Premier Election Solutions -- if you see that moniker on your voting machine, run for the hills). Ohio even had issues in 2007 and 2008 when vote tallies were swapped in a local race for township trustee. Another Ohio incident involved a withdrawn Democrat showing up on some e-voting machines, but not on others.

Of course, Ohio and Diebold (Premier Election Solutions) are not alone. The last few weeks have seen a number of reports out of West Virginia regarding issues with early voting on systems from Election Systems & Software. This past weekend, a flood of reports out of at least three different counties in West Virginia detailed machines that were refusing to register votes for Obama and other Democrats. Voters in Jackson County, Putnam County, and the city of Wheeling in Ohio County claim that machines are taking votes for Obama and switching them to McCain before their very eyes. Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright defended the touchscreen systems to the Charleston Gazette saying, "people make mistakes more than machines." Clearly, he's never used Windows Vista.

Continue reading Is Electronic Voting Going to Screw Up This Year's Election, Too?

Unlike McCain, Most Senior Citizens Surf The Web

by Peter Mychalcewycz, posted Jul 24th 2008 at 1:10PM

http://www.topnews.in/usa/files/John_mccain_returns_to_NH.jpg

When asked by the New York times about his proficiency in surfing the Web, presidential candidate John McCain admitted to being Web 'illiterate,' and relying on his wife for 'any assistance he can get.'

The interesting part about this story isn't the fact that a 71-year-old-man is unable or unwilling to use the Internet. Only 35% of senior citizens (people over 65) are online. However McCain is in the minority when it comes to 'white, college-educated men over the age of 65.' Approximately 75% of that demographic is hip to the Web.

Still, the thing that strikes us most is the immediate responses from the McCain camp after the story broke. Brooke Buchanan, McCain spokesperson, made it clear that the senator was 'fully capable of browsing the Internet and checking Web sites.' She added 'He has a Mac and uses it several times a week. He's working on becoming more familiar with the Internet.' (Maybe McCain's newfound enthusiasm for his Apple computer is a result of getting flack for previously admitting, this past spring, that that he doesn't know how to use a computer, much less the Web.)

Brooke, listen, if he hasn't studied up before now, it ain't gonna happen. He is who he is. He was never running as the tech-friendly candidate anyway, unless you count his 'pro printing-press' agenda(sorry).

The man is a career politician who has seen and achieved more than most ever will. Drop the 'I'm hip and with it' routine. It makes everybody involved look ridiculous. And, might we add, needlessly so. [Source: CNN]

Voting Machine Maker Threatens Legal Action Against Auditors

by Peter Mychalcewycz, posted Mar 21st 2008 at 10:49AM

faulty voting machines

Sequoia Voting Systems, one of the largest producers of digital voting machines in the world, has sent a letter legally threatening Edward Felten, a well known Princeton Law Professor. The letter threatens legal action if Felten and his colleagues publish any security audit of the Sequoia voting systems. The possibility of litigation has forced Union County (New Jersey) to forgo any plans of a potential investigation into errors involving the machines that occurred during the state's Presidential Primary. Felten has led past security audits involving voting machines.

The specific interest in Sequoia Voting Systems is a result of no less than seven districts in New Jersey reporting problems with the machines during the most recent presidential primaries. These problems resulted in errors regarding the number of ballots cast and a delay in the final vote tally.

Sequoia Systems insists the problems were caused by human error, not faulty hardware.The two-page letter argues that the voting machine software is a Sequoia trade secret and cannot be handed over to any third party.

Here is a small news flash for Sequoia Voting Systems. The American voting public does not care in the least why those ballots were tainted. The sanctity of the voting process is one of the few things left that reaffirms the belief that we may still have some influence on our collective future as a nation. Whether it is your complex machinery or a technically challenged poll worker that screws up the vote tally, the end result is precisely same: a tainted election. There is no doubt that Sequoia needs to take security measures to ensure its voting machines are not corrupted or rigged to produce unfair results. However, such measures cannot be used as a blanket defense for what could be construed as a simple fear of commercial failure.

The fate of our nation cannot be placed in the secretive arms of any corporation without complete, balanced oversight. Ever.


From NJ.com and Engadget


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Pennsylvania Pulls Plug On Voter Site After Personal Data Leak

by Peter Mychalcewycz, posted Mar 20th 2008 at 4:03PM

Pennsylvania was forced to pull the plug on a voter registration Web site after it was found to be leaking private information about voters in the state. The security breach occurred with the presidential primary for that state a mere month away.

The shut down resulted from an improperly designed online voter registration form that was initially intended to simplify the process of registering to vote. Potential voters were allowed to input their information onto the Web site, after which they would have a printable receipt that they could mail to state election officials. Unfortunately, a design error allowed anyone to view the forms online. The forms contained personal information such as name, address, political party affiliation and driver's license number.

After learning about the security holes, Pennsylvania's Department of State immediately shut down the Web site.

Department of State spokeswoman Leslie Amoros assured the public with the following e-mail statement:

"The Department is reviewing the facts to determine how this information became available." she said. "We are also taking all necessary steps to correct the situation and are implementing processes aimed to prevent future occurrences."

This situation has done little to boost confidence in the security of online registration, with many already choosing not to relinquish personal information of any kind for precisely this reason.

From InfoWorld


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