Verified Voting Blog: Hacking the D.C. Internet Voting Pilot

The District of Columbia is conducting a pilot project to allow overseas and military voters to download and return absentee ballots over the Internet. Before opening the system to real voters, D.C. has been holding a test period in which they've invited the public to evaluate the system's security and usability. This is exactly the kind of open, public testing that many of us in the e-voting security community — including me — have been encouraging vendors and municipalities to conduct. So I was glad to participate, even though the test was launched with only three days' notice. I assembled a team from the University of Michigan, including my PhD students, Eric Wustrow and Scott Wolchok, and Dawn Isabel, a member of the University of Michigan technical staff. Within 36 hours of the system going live, our team had found and exploited a vulnerability that gave us almost total control of the server software, including the ability to change votes and reveal voters’ secret ballots. In this post, I’ll describe what we did, how we did it, and what it means for Internet voting.

The Voting News Daily: N Carolina Touchscreens flip votes. Will internet voting cause election debacle?

Chicago’s voting machines mis-spelled Green Pty candidate’s name as ‘Rich Whitey’. The election board is reprogramming 4,200 machines…Stunned voters watched touchscreens flip their votes in New Hanover CO NC..Vote PA needs your help in fight for paper ballots….”Overseas and military voters have unprecedented options for requesting, receiving and casting their ballots in 2010.” says Pres of Overseas Vote Foundation…Is it possible commit election fraud even without being in a voting booth? (Yes)…Will Online Voting Turn Into an Election Day Debacle?…

All this and more in today’s voting news below…

CA: “Am I registered to vote?” Find out from your county. Oct. 18 is the voter registration deadline! http://kimalex.blogspot.com/2010/10/am-i-registered-to-vote-find-out-from.html

CA: Fraudulent voter registration switches rise in Sacramento*
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/15/3105831/fraudulent-voter-registration.html
Throughout the county, voters who signed petitions on the street – pledging their support to some cause – have had their party affiliation switched with fraudulent voter registration filings.

CA: Ranked Choice Voting: How does it work? (Alameda County)
http://www.oaklandseen.com/2010/10/14/ranked-choice-voting-how-does-it-work/

CA: Lick Those Stamps, Alameda County Voters
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/Lick-Those-Stamps-Alameda-Co-Voters–104899984.html An estimated 78 cents in postage is needed to return the multiple ballot cards from local, state and federal races and measures, according to the county’s registrar of voters.

CA: Election Day help is a click away
http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_16340135
Election officials remind voters that Monday is the final day to register to vote in the general election. Download a registration form online at www.sos.ca.gov/nvrc/fedform , print and sign it. Voters may also contact their county election offices.
Voters who are not enrolled in the permanent vote-by-mail program have until Oct. 26 to request a vote-by-mail ballot. Obtain a form at your county election office or go to www.sos.ca.gov/elections/vote-by-mail/pdf/fill-in-vote-by-mail-app-instruct.pdf

CT: Connecticut follows MOVE Act, avoids flaws – Others follow the money
http://www.ctvoterscount.org/connecticut-follows-move-act-avoids-flaws-others-follow-the-money/ . But there is big money and momentum behind efforts in other states to exploit flaws in the act.

Hopefully, Internet Voting Will be banned before it costs an election. The recent Washington D.C. public test clearly demonstrated that the years of warnings by computer scientists, security experts, and advocates were fully justified

CT: Connecticut Election Commission Finds ‘Insufficient Evidence’ in Ann Coulter Voter Fraud Case But Ignored Key Evidence, Erred in Investigation
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8124 State Elections Enforcement Commission determines it ‘cannot make full and fair determination’, but failed to look at documented facts and even Coulter’s own admissions…

FL: Absentee ballots had wrong addresses* (Seminole County)
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/seminole_news/101410absentee-ballots-had-wrong-addresses In a batch of 300 or so, Ertel found six with wrong addresses, due to a computer glitch in Tallahassee.

“To make sure those six didn’t go out to the wrong locations, we stopped the entire process, so we could make sure all the ballots would go to the right address,” says Ertel. “What we have found is that all the supervisors of elections throughout the state have done pretty much the same thing.”

FL: Computer glitch in Tallahassee could delay distribution of some
absentee ballots
*
http://www.theorbitgroup.com/12749/computer-glitch-in-tallahassee-could-delay-distribution-of-some-absentee-ballots/ TALLAHASSEE — If you changed your mailing address recently and just requested an absentee ballot, there’s a small chance you might not get it quickly because of a glitch in the state’s voter database.