  |
|
 |
|
| Action Alert: Say No To Prohibited Software in Voting Machines! |
|
|
|
| By Joan Krawitz, Executive Director, VoteTrustUSA | |
| December 29, 2005 | |
|
VoteTrustUSA has launched a campaign to hold the Election Assistance
Commission (EAC) accountable for ensuring that all Diebold software is
re-inspected and decertified until it can be shown that all prohibited
code has been removed. We also urge the EAC to initiate the
re-inspection of the election software of other vendors, which may also
include software that is expressly forbidden in the FEC Voting System
Standards. Please go to our action page and send an email to the EAC voicing your concern about the use of prohibited software on voting machines. In December, newspapers across the country reported that computer experts in Florida had conclusively proven that the “electronic ballot box” in Diebold optical scan vote counting systems could undetectably alter the results of an election. Within days, California’s Secretary of State reported that the use of banned software affects Diebold’s touch-screen voting system as well, a fact which Diebold has acknowledged. This breach of security exploits an inherently insecure feature of the Diebold optical scanners and touch screens known as interpreted code, which the Federal Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) of 1990 and 2002 specifically prohibit. For further details about how Diebold uses interpreted code and why it is banned from use in voting software, please click here. Because this prohibited code exists on Diebold touchscreen machines as well as their optical scanners, the Secretary of State of California has demanded that the Diebold Touchscreen (TSX) software be re-examined by the Independent Testing Authority (ITA), who originally certified that the systems were in compliance with the 2002 Federal Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG). How did the ITA overlook such an obvious violation of federal standards in the first place? And just as importantly, do the voting systems produced by Diebold’s competitors contain similarly prohibited code? It is time to put the EAC on notice that violations of federal standards by the ITA, which is now under their jurisdiction, will not be tolerated by voters. Please send an email to the EAC and say No to prohibited software in voting machines! _________________________________ More Information Open Letter to the Election Assistance Commision What’s All the Fuss About Diebold in Florida and California? Interpreted Code, Diebold, and California: a Primer Previously Certified Diebold Machines Approved Erroneously The Dirty Little Secrets of Voting System Testing Labs SourceWatch History of the Independant Testing Authority Comment on This Article
You must login to leave comments...
Other Visitors Comments
There are no comments currently....
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
| |