More than a hundred computer chips containing voting machine software were lost or stolen during transit in California this week.The article ends with this stunner:Two cardboard shipping tubes containing 174 EPROMs loaded with voting machine software were sent via Federal Express on December 13th from the secretary of state's office in Sacramento to election officials in San Diego County for use in optical-scan machines made by Diebold Election Systems. But on Monday, the two shipping tubes arrived empty.
One of the empty tubes arrived with no lid on the end of it to close the tube; the second tube had a lid, but it was loosely taped shut.
Nicole Winger, spokeswoman for the secretary of state's office, says that the California highway patrol and the Sacramento County sheriff's department are investigating whether the chips fell out of the tubes or were stolen.
The chips contained firmware to run the optical-scan equipment that San Diego uses in its central counting office.
According to Winger, chips with the new firmware were sent out to nineteen California counties that use the Diebold optical-scan voting machines. Only San Diego County reported not receiving the chips. The new firmware was being shipped to the counties because previous software had been changed following a top-to-bottom review of voting machine software and hardware that the state had recently completed.
Diebold, which recently changed its name to Premier Election Solutions, asked the secretary of state's office to observe the preparation, packaging and shipping of the chips. Winger says this was all done from the secretary of state's office, with both state staff and Diebold staff present. Winger says Federal Express is Diebold's preferred shipping method for delivering its product to counties. She said the state is currently working out plans to deliver new chips to San Diego and that preparations for the presidential primary election on February 5th will not be delayed by the mailing mishap.
I should note that San Diego filed suit against California Secretary of State Debra Bowen this week for a new requirement she has instituted that compels counties using voting machines to conduct hand recounts of 10 percent of randomly selected precincts in races in which the margin of victory is less than half of 1 percent. State law requires electronic voting machines to produce a paper trail, and California law already requires counties to conduct a hand count of 1 percent of randomly selected precincts after an election -- a move that, in the case of ballots cast on electronic voting machines, can help catch discrepancies between the digital votes and the paper records.
San Diego County's registrar of voters, Deborah Seiler, says the extra 10 percent requirement would cause more work for election staff and delay election results. She says Bowen overstepped her legislative authority in demanding the hand count and wants a court to exclude San Diego from the requirement.
Seiler is a former sales representative for Diebold Election Systems.Gee... do you think the heist of the computer chips will prevent the electronic voting machines from being used? No?
How very curious....
(crossposted at SteveAudio)
15 comments:
They fell out? Awwww, gimme a break! How likely is that?
I've used FexEx for decades and never had a mishap. Indeed, the camera I sent to Canon for repairs came back via FedEx... intact and on time. Given the incentive to steal those chips, I suppose the bad guys substituted a driver, had the truck followed and somehow emptied the tubes while the driver made a delivery, or... I doubt this... successfully bribed a driver with a very large sum to "disappear" the chips.
It is certainly possible to steal an election conducted with paper ballots. But it is almost impossible to steal the means of counting those ballots. Diebold... I'm sorry, the name "Premier" can go hang... needs to be removed from the election process, with prejudice, as judges say.
I lived in San Diego county, home of Duke Cunningham, for ten years. I wrote a piece of software, pro bono, to help candidates comply with the reporting requirements for donations. Very few candidates would use it, and I was even approached to make "changes".
Having problems in San Diego county elections is "dog bites man". You don't think Duncan Hunter gets elected in a normal county, do you?
I did like my voting location. The lady who owned the carport baked great lemon snaps for election day.
Steve, maybe we should hire Jimmy Carter to come out to California and verify the fairness of our elections...
And does Diebold think that changing its name to Premier Election Solutions helps it? Or is Diebold trying to disassociate itself from the election fraud that will be inevitably in court and on the front pages?
You're right, Bryan, about Duncan Hunter. Don't forget Rep. Darrell Issa, one enabler of the CA recall of our governor, came out of the San Diego area, too.
I'm so proud of our state.... *siiiiggghhhh*
I like the Bay Area, however. Berkeley's pretty strange, but it approximates a free country here.
Yes, the Bay area may be the last vestige of a free country left in the US in a bit....
Do they still have that law in Berkeley that requires a coffee shop on every corner? :)
I thought that was Seattle....
I'm pretty sure they've expanded it to two or more coffee shops per block in some areas, along with a juice bar.
Ah. So there are a lot of public restrooms as well?...
I think the general rule is customers are allowed to use the facilities, I don't know of a lot of public restrooms other than that, but there are plenty of other places people could go for a more sanitary encounter. There are a number of places which seem to offer hot tubs and saunas for those looking to relax.
Hunter appeals to the common sense of most factions.
Interesting Fact
In his district, he consistently gets over 60% of the Hispanic vote and nearly 70% of the Democratic vote.
http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/search?q=fact+votes+hunter
Let's see, now, 60% of five is three, and 70% of zero is zero...
Lol, Steve! Thanks for the math! I was all set to be impressed.... with Duncan HUNTER???
I hope, thetowncrier, you are being paid by the hour and in cash....
rereading my last comment is amusing.
truly, imagine had Larry Craig said that.
Oh Lord, NO!
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