Diebold Quietly Patches Security Flaw in Vote Counting Software. Ballot dispute: The Aspen Colorado City Council refuses to release ballots for an independent review while the Aspen Times supports it. Texas elections databases and other parts of the SOS computer system have been down since last week. The GA SoS asks again for the U.S. Justice Department to approve a law that requires strict matching for voter registration. In Tenn, a county seeks state Atty General’s opinion on voting machine law. The NEW voting machine hack cost less than $100K. Kenya may vote without paper in 2012. Officials there believe that “It eliminates rigging claims, manual tallying and delay of results,”
CO. City sticks to position not to release ballots
August 12, 2009
…Aspen for the first time used an instant runoff voting system in the May election, which required complex software to count the ballots. Branscomb said he is interested in a full analysis of the election that could be shared with other communities who might be interested in some of Aspen’s tactics.
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/136054
CO. What’s the secret behind ballots?
The city should err on the side of openness and disclosure. An honest review of the IRV process is in everyone’s best interest, regardless of political affiliation, and refusing to release the ballots makes it look like the city is either stonewalling a political opponent or trying to hide something.
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090812/DAILYCOMMENT/908119977/1019/NONE&parentprofile=1061
GA. State of Georgia Submits Voter Verification Process to U.S. Department of Justice for Reconsideration (wants “no match no vote” requirement)
Atlanta (August 12, 2009) – Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel today announced that the State of Georgia has asked the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to reconsider its May 2009 objection of preclearance for two critical voter verification processes utilized in the November 2008 General Election.
http://www.theweekly.com/news/2009/August/12/Voter_Verification.html
NC. Elections Board OKs Kurtz’s mayoral candidacy
Hendersonville. During the quasi-judicial hearing this morning, Kurtz presented evidence and witnesses to prove that his primary residence is 202 N. Main Street
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20090812/NEWS/908129985?Title=Elections-Board-OKs-Kurtz-s-mayoral-candidacy–
TN. Sullivan County Election Officials Misinterpret New Election Law
August 12, 2009 …as a state, we can use any paper ballot counting machines we want to use. It’s our choice…kind of a states’ rights thing. Booher can use the machines he purchased in 2006 and Tre Hargett can allow the other county Election Administrators to purchase machines like the ones that have been working without incident in Hamilton, Pickett and, apparently, Sullivan counties.
http://www.liberadio.com/2009/08/12/sullivan-county-election-officials-misinterpret-new-election-law/
TN.Sullivan Officials Won’t Push For Voter Act Delay
August 12, 2009 …Dessauer further suggested the commission contact state Attorney General Robert Cooper to get a formal opinion because it is technically his job to answer such questions and give legal advice to local governments.
http://www2.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/sullivan_officials_wont_push_for_voter_act_delay/30423/
TN. Sullivan to seek attorney general’s opinion on voting machine deadline
August 11th, 2009 BLOUNTVILLE — Sullivan County election officials want a state attorney general’s opinion on whether or not local election commissions across the state can be held liable if they fail to meet a deadline next year for optical scan voting
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9015956
TX. Computer problems tie up secretary of state’s business records
Public has been unable to obtain online documents from office since Thursday.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Dillard said that the secretary of state’s elections databases were also affected but came back online Tuesday. During the outage, county elections officials were unable to update the statewide voter registration rolls, he said. “We are confident that voter registration data was not compromised,” Dillard said.
http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/2009/08/12/0812sos.html
TX. As seen on Texas SOS website August 12, 2009
Notice: Progress is being made to restore SOS services that have been disrupted by a hardware problem preventing access to many of our databases…
https://direct.sos.state.tx.us/home/home-sitedown.asp
Screen shot
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i129/ncvoter/TX_SOS_DOS_Aug_12_09– 1.jpg
WI. Wisconsin is one step closer to studying Internet voting
Aug 11. Wisconsin is one step closer to studying Internet voting, and other ways to make it easier for people to cast ballots. …The Government Accountability Board endorsed a five-year plan Monday…
http://www.hudsonstarobserver.com/event/article/id/35360/
US. Diebold Quietly Patches Security Flaw in Vote Counting Software
Wired News. August 12, 2009 Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold, has patched a serious security weakness in its election tabulation software used in the majority of states, according to a lab that tested the new version and a federal commission that certified it.
The flaw in the tabulation software was discovered by Wired.com earlier this year, and involved the program’s auditing logs. The logs failed to record significant events occurring on a computer running the software, including the act of someone deleting votes during or after an election. The logs also failed to record who performed an action on the system, and listed some events with the wrong date and timestamps.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/08/diebold-audit-logs/#comments
US. EVT/WOTE ‘09 UPDATE
..some of the papers presented at the workshop
http://electionupdates.caltech.edu/?p=2795
US. Aug 12 EVT/WOTE 2009, Day 2
Day 2 of EVT/WOTE 2009 was on the highly mathematical side. The cryptographic papers and auditing papers were presented on Day 2.
http://josephhall.org/nqb2/index.php/2009/08/12/evtwotesd
US. Paper beats computer: scientists hack voting machine
August 12th, 2009 …“return-oriented programming” exploit was successfully able to steal votes from a Sequoia AVC Advantage electronic voting machine…So how should governments react to this turn of events? Schacham recommends that the voting process should be as computer-free as possible.
http://technabob.com/blog/2009/08/12/scientists-hack-voting-machine/
US. Voting machine hack costs less than $100,000
August 12, 2009 Why spend millions of dollars campaigning when you can hack an election for less than 100 grand?
http://www.itworld.com/government/74447/voting-machine-hack-costs-less-100000
Kenya. You may vote without ballot papers in 2012, if IIEC agrees
Kenya may adopt an electronic voting system by 2012 should stakeholders and the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) agree…
“It eliminates rigging claims, manual tallying and delay of results,” Mutula said.
http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1144021426&cid=4