BBV- Touchscreen voting machine found abandoned in city

[harmonyguy]

ANNAPOLIS -- Members of the State Board of Elections were surprised to hear reports today that Diebold touchscreen voting machines similar to those used in Maryland were found abandoned recently on a street and in a bar in Baltimore. Joseph Torre, voting systems and procurement director for the agency, confirmed that one machine was found, but assured board members it did not belong to Maryland.
(snip)
Torre said he was aware of only one machine being found, although election officials from Baltimore said they got a second call from someone saying he had found two machines on the sidewalk. Torre said the machine that was turned in did not have a state identification number on it and the serial number did not match the number of any of the machines purchased by the state.
(snip)
He said Diebold Election Systems had been asked to check the serial number to try to determine where the machine might have come from.

(link requires registration)
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-machine0928,1,2574187.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Gee - y'think someone's got some more 'splainin' to do? Luc-eeeeeee?

HG

[Boredtodeath]

1. Maybe Georgia's missing machines?

The observers went to KSU today to visit the Election Center there, and at our request, asked them about voting machines (14-19) which were stolen in a burglary in June 2002. Our worst fears were confirmed that these machines have been in the wild since then, GEMS servers, Touchscreens and Optical Scanners. They were stolen from a Ramada Inn in Macon, Georgia after the system was set up for poll manager training.

KSU's response was that "they were probably kids who threw the machines in the river when they found out what they were."

Sadly, our officials never made an attempt to LOCATE the machines and make no effort to determine if they are being used in a basement somewhere to subvert our elections. I didn't get the impression they dragged the river, either.

http://www.blackboxvoting.com

[harmonyguy]

2. Somewhere is the USA, a village....

....or town or county is missing its black boxes.
Maybe we need a new TV commercial.....

Attention Election Directors.
It's now 10pm. Do YOU know where your black boxes are, and what they're doing?
Are you practicing safe voting, or do you let your machines out to wander the streets or hang out in some bar?

If your machines hang out in bars, or wander they streets, is it any wonder they can't count? If they're on the loose, how can you possibly respect them on election morning?

HG

[harmonyguy]

3. So, here's an idea....

....if these are 'older' touchscreens, with the older certified software on them, maybe the good folks in Maryland can send them off to the good folks in Washington state, to replace some of the machines in the counties that are using uncertified software.

Yeah, I know - it's not such a great idea - paper and pen would be much better, but I didn't want to be too blatant about kicking my own thread.

HG

[RedEagle]

4. So much for the "Security" of machines

Geeeez, I suppose they'll claim some other fuzzy reason why security isn't compromised even though anyone could have had access to these machines and figured out how to get into the system.

Software upgrades won't make a big difference, watch them "spin" that rationale.

Hey, if they can't trace those serial numbers anywhere, is it possible that machines could be switched in transit to the polls?

However, the real issue is that the whole box of goodies has been out there for anyone to get a peak at.

[annabanana]

5. This is SO bad................

I wonder if there will be anymore information on them that WE will here about?

[flobee1kenobi]

6. These machines should ALL be pulled now that security has been comprimised

as a *cough*hacker*cough* I know that it is now unsecure to vote on these things now
all they need is 1 day alone with a machine-done!
its like posting your vote on a wall and expecting it to be counted