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Black Box Voting (.ORG) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501c(3) organization. We are the official consumer protection group for elections, funded by citizen donations. Contact info: 425-793-1030; cell 206-335-7747 or 206-354-5723; Mailing address: 330 SW 43rd St. Suite K, Box 547, Renton WA 98055. E-mail

5-11-06: Three-level security flaws found in Diebold touch-screens
Due to the nature of this report it is distributed in two different versions. Details of the attack are only in the restricted distribution version considered to be confidential. Fewer than 50 words have been redacted in the version below.

Overview

Click "more" for link to full report

Note: Please refrain from speculation or public discussion of inappropriate technical details.

This document describes several security issues with the Diebold electronic voting terminals TSx and TS6. These touch-pad terminals are widely used in US and Canadian elections and are among the most widely used touch pad voting systems in North America. Several vulnerabilities are described in this report.

One of them, however, seems to enable a malicious person to compromise the equipment even years... More

5-10-06: Update on TSx report
UPDATE 5-11-06: Public release of Emery County TSx study estimated time of arrival 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time

More

5-10-06: As the Emery County findings evolve: Diebold's and Georgia's response
Before even seeing the Hursti Report regarding the critical security defects built into the TSx and TS6, here is the state of Georgia's response:

quote:"We are confident the robust and vigorous program of physical and operational security procedures we currently have in place in Georgia- including multiple audits and reviews to assure compliance- erects a strong barrier to prevent outsiders from accessing our voting equipment without our knowledge or without being detected."

"Our county election superintendents (who - unlike officials in other states -- have utilized this system over the last 4 years in hundreds of elections throughout the state) are required to maintain a strict chain of custody on all voting equipment including memory cards."

"At the time they are placed into el... More

5-9-06: The Ohio Election Backwash
Who Is Legally Responsible?

That's what’s being asked around Ohio in the wake of the state’s May 2nd election. No one seems to be able to agree on where the buck stops in the Buckeye State. However, everyone agrees that problems peppered Ohio.

The greatest number of machine, poll worker and technical problems were reported in Cuyahoga, the state's most populous county. Cleveland area citizens are outraged and won't tolerate any more free passes. Many believe the responsibility lies directly with Diebold Election Systems and Cuyahoga Elections Director Michael Vu. Responsibility is also being attributed to Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.

Senator Teresa Fedor, one of the state legislature's leading advocates for election reform, was critical of Blackwell and his role i... More

5-4-06: Touch-screens fail security tests, Diebold retaliates
This week, the state of Pennsylvania sequestered all Diebold touch-screens to implement an emergency security measure. Several more states are expected to follow Pennsylvania.

The state of Utah has known that a critical security risk exists in its Diebold TSx touch-screens, but chose to punish the courageous public official responsible for identifying the defect instead of taking any efforts to learn what the problem is and correct it.

Below is a link to the security alert faxed to the Utah Lt. Governor, state elections director, Emery County attorney and Emery County commissioners on March 24.

Diebold TSx warning
An Open Letter To The Administrators Of The Emery County Government.doc (35.3 k)

Shoot the messenger

Utah officials ignored the warning entirely, and instead flew ... More

5-4-06: Your chance to get evidence: WV, NE, KY, OR, PA
West Virginia, Nebraska: Next Tuesday, May 9
Kentucky, Oregon, Pennsylvania: Tuesday May 16
(Oregon is mail-in, only some of this applies)

Telling stories about problems you saw is no longer good enough. It doesn't produce much change. Real election reform requires real citizen oversight, and oversight means taking easy steps so you can capture real evidence if an election problem occurs.

Real evidence = audio or video recording, public records, photos

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
- Voter disenfranchisement (obstruction of voting)
- Voting machine problems (malfunctioning machines and security problems)

Much more detail on the kinds of problems you might see is below. This article concerns the VOTING -- a later article will describe how to oversee the COUNTING. Feel free to distribute... More

5-2-06: Is the 2006 election train still on its tracks?
Casualties to date:

Summit County, Ohio: Last minute memory card replacements. 10 memory cards on machines were replaced first thing in the morning before or just as voting began, said Summit County Board of Elections Director Bryan Williams. (Citizens: documentation for all replacement memory cards can be found on the poll tape and the "memory card status report" audit log, available via public records requests.)

Ft. Wayne, Indiana - Microvote machines missing Tinker; the MicroVote machines were missing Vincent L. Tinker's name. Officials said that didn't affect the results, because there were 22 openings and 22 candidates. Tinker’s name appeared on ballots for the older machines, they said. (Citizens: Capture this kind of thing on cell phone photo so you will have proof. Next time ... More

4-24-06: Diebold whistleblower Stephen Heller compared to Daniel Ellsberg
According to Cleveland Plain Dealer, linked further down:

"Michael Kohn, general counsel for the National Whistleblower Center, sees Heller as a "quintessential whistleblower" in the vein of Daniel Ellsberg, who released the classified Pentagon Papers to The New York Times in 1971. The Times' publication of lengthy excerpts shed damaging light on the U.S. military's execution of the Vietnam War.

"This is a very rare instance," Kohn said of the Heller case, "in fact the only one of which I'm aware, in which a whistleblower has been charged with a felony. I find it outrageous."

The documents allegedly leaked by Heller show Diebold lawyers budgeting for Diebold's criminal defense, after they advise their client that engaging in certain acts might invoke criminal prosecution. Followin... More

4-13-06: Last transcript - Calif. ITA hearings.
(A link to a more formal transcript for the entire hearing is included at the bottom of this portion of the transcript.)

Systest (Brian Phillips): Well if the testing organization should have found it yes, we're responsible, we should have found that. I mean, that's the case in all of the work that my company does, whether it's IV&V work or commercial testing or this.

What is the impact if that happens? If this were the commercial world, we would be working with the customer for them to fix it, because it's still a defect they have to fix. And we would then go into regression test mode and then maybe reissue new reports to them and various other things. In this case here I would have expected the product to be -- that particular memory card device and software to be brought back to, ... More

4-8-06: Why the Rush Holt bill (H.B. 550) is dangerous
There is a major push right now to pass H.B. 550, a bill put forth by Rep. Rush Holt to mandate a paper trail (along with a flimsy audit that no accountant would agree is adequate).

Election reform groups are split on whether they support H.B. 550. Black Box Voting normally does not weigh in on legislation, this time we will.
Like an antibiotic that's too weak, we belive that H.B. 550 will create a more resistant strain of election infection.

Like a placebo, people may think the election system is getting well when in fact, the medicine is only a sugar pill that makes everyone think it's better. For a minute.

Paul Lehto, an attorney who is a leader in the election reform movement and the plaintiff in a groundbreaking lawsuit related to electronic voting, has a unique clarity in p... More

4-6-06: Utah Lt. Governor's office admits: some Diebold serial numbers changed
(Outstanding work by Utah citizen Joycelynn Straight)
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2006

Dear Ms. Straight,

Mr. Cragun asked me to respond to your questions...

6. Is your office aware of the existence of any voting machine or voting equipment, including memory cards, purchased by the State of Utah that has had it's external serial number switched and/or the serial number on the machine's/card's internal memory changed?

[Utah's answer] "Yes, the acceptance testing process identified some units on which the serial number recorded in the memory was incorrectly entered and thus did not match the serial number affixed to the unit housing. In those cases technicians adjusted the number recorded in the memory to match the number affixed to the unit.

[NOTE from BBV: Perhaps the serial number w... More

4-5-06: Transcript: Wyle Labs thinks Hursti Hack means 'the system works'
If this transcript doesn't get you hot under the collar, read the background on it first.

To understand the context, though, of this transcript, you need to know what transpired first, outside of the hearing. Then decide for yourself what's really going on.

In this transcript, you'll read about the Black Box Voting "Hursti Hack" project, which took place in Leon County, Florida. That project revealed the existence of interpreted code, of memory card security vulnerabilities, and demonstrated the hacking of one of the most widely used U.S. election systems, one that counted 25 million votes in the 2004 general election.

Let's review exactly how the Hursti Hack came about, along what transpired immediately afterward. Compare what really happened with the testimony of the voting mach... More



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