The Google e-mail hack continues to make waves: today a New York Times feature quotes security experts as saying “the ideal approach [to Internet vulnerabilities] is to carefully identify a corporation’s most valuable intellectual property and data, and place it on a separate computer network not linked to the Internet, leaving a so-called air gap.”
All this and more in today’s voting news below…
KS: Secretary of State Releases Report on the Future of Elections in Kansas http://www.morningsun.net/blogs/politics/x532579080/POLITICS-BLOG-Secretary-of-State-releases-report-on-future-of-elections-in-Kansas
View the full Secretary of State’s Report:
http://media.morningsun.net/news/Election%20Future%20report.pdf
KY: County Switching to New Voting Machines
http://www.wlky.com/news/22234655/detail.html
January 14, 2010 – A northeastern Kentucky county is casting its lot with optical scan voting machines and doing away with paper ballots.
The Ashland Daily Independent reports that Greenup County has ordered 32 eScan machines at a cost of $120,680. The machines should allow the county to place one in each precinct.
MA: Election Watchdog Groups Fearful of Electronic Voting Fraud in Massachusetts Senate Election
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017553930?Election%20Watchdog%20Groups%20Fearful%20Of%20Electronic%20Voting%20Fraud%20In%20Massachusetts%20Senate%20Election
MD: Maryland Needs Secure, Verifiable Voting System
http://www.gazette.net/stories/01152010/policol151412_32553.php
January 15, 2010 – The state of Maryland will be making a foolish choice if it decides to renege on its promise to replace our risky paperless touchscreen voting machines with a paper ballot, optical-scan voting system.
NE: County sticks with voting machine vendor
http://www.post-trib.com/news/porter/1993916,pcelex0116.article
January 16, 2010 – A Nebraska vendor will continue to service electronic voting machines for elections in Porter County.
NY: Concerns About NY”s New Voting Machines
http://reformny.blogspot.com/2010/01/concerns-about-new-yorks-new-voting.html
January 15, 2010 – …”At least one of the two [new] systems, the ES&S DS200 (to be used in New York City, among other jurisdictions) has an unusual feature: unlike most optical scan systems, if a voter makes a mistake (voting for two candidates when she was only entitled to vote for one, for instance), the machine doesn’t “spit” the ballot out and direct the voter to correct her mistake.”…“Paul Malischke, a voting rights advocate in Wisconsin, tells me that his state conditioned its purchase of the DS200 on a promise from ES&S that the machine be reconfigured to immediately return a ballot to the voter if it detects an overvote.“…
TX: Upshur County discusses primaries
http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/2010/01/16/01162010_upshur_county.html January 16, 2010 — Upshur County will make its voting machines available to the Democratic and Republican parties for their primaries, if both parties agree to use the entire system and contract with Fort Worth- based Hart for the machines’ programming and tabulating.
VA: DOJ cites county for 242 ADA violations [pollworker training discussed]
http://www.swvatoday.com/news/article/doj_cites_county_for_242_ada_violations/6666/
January 15, 2010 – Already facing mandated courthouse renovations and possible construction of an administrative building and a school, Smyth County is ordered to start bringing buildings into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act at a yet unknown cost.
National: Companies Fight Endless War Against Computer Attacks
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/technology/internet/18defend.html?pagewanted=2
January 18, 2010 – …”Security experts say the ideal approach is to carefully identify a corporation’s most valuable intellectual property and data, and place it on a separate computer network not linked to the Internet, leaving a so-called air gap.”…
