can we really trust a centralized, federally controlled electronic voting system? i'm sorry, but i'll wait a couple weeks while hand counted paper ballots are counted. i don't have to know in 2 seconds which bought and paid for controlled fake left or fake right establishment 'candidate' 'wins' the s'election'...

"It doesn't matter who votes, what matters is who counts the votes."
--Joseph Stalin

Two state elections heads resign in Florida
Black Box Voting | November 05, 2005

The most high-profile resignation is Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, who announced Nov. 2 that she is resigning, effective Nov. 21. Hood says she is leaving to spend more time with her family.

The most important resignation is Florida State Elections Division Voting Systems head Paul Craft, who has been a kingpin on the national certifications committee, the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) Voting Systems Panel. His resignation becomes effective Nov. 30.

Craft's resignation creates some real questions. He says he is leaving to start Paul Craft, Inc., his own consulting firm.

If Craft's consulting firm evaluates voting systems, it will represent an interesting use of talent -- in his capacity as voting systems advisor he missed or withheld information on security defects the size of Carnival cruise ships.

Missing in action -- Craft's comments on:

1) The Diebold optical scan design flaw allowing manipulation through removable, credit-card-sized "memory cards," which appears to violate the 1990 FEC standards to which he certified the system. This flaw has been characterized as "the mother of all security holes."
Hursti's report

2) The GEMS defect, which has now been acknowledged by Diebold, allows anyone with access to manipulate both ballot design and votes in the central tabulator. Black Box Voting has recently learned that this defect puts mail-in ballots at especially high risk.

This defect is considered so serious that Diebold has taken steps recently to locate third party software to reduce the risk. The GEMS defect is easy to spot, simple to confirm, and was exposed publicly on July 8, 2003.
More on the GEMS defect

Did Craft not know of these defects, or did he just choose not to say anything?

On Oct. 6 and 7, Craft met with Harri Hursti, the author of the memory card study. Hursti's study was also cited in the Oct. 21 GAO report.

But Craft knew how grave the memory card vulnerability was much earlier: On July 28, Craft received correspondence from M.I.T. security expert Ronald Rivest, characterizing the Hursti-identified defects as "stunning" and "startling." Rivest wrote that he had forwarded the report to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), recommending replication. If the findings turn out to be true, Rivest indicated, the system should never have been certified, as it would indeed violate even 1990 FEC standards.

Paul Craft was, of course, one of the individuals who certified the system.
Rivest letter

Thirty of Florida's 66 counties use the Diebold optical scan system containing the memory card problem, along with the defective GEMS tabulator.

In Washington D.C., at the time of the National Institute of Standards & Technology NIST) "Threats to Voting Systems" conference, Craft indicated that the state of Florida would soon set up an independent testing entity for its voting machines.

The next question is:

Will the state of Florida contract with Paul Craft, Inc., to test its voting machines, and if so, how can that be justified?

These security and accuracy problems were exposed by others (see the Aug. 18, 2004 independent report by CompuWare). This report confirms the GEMS defect, but for some reason was withheld from the public by Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell until 2005. Blackwell failed to implement its recommendations to mitigate the GEMS defect risks rated as "high, high, high" by CompuWare. Black Box Voting has submitted public records and Freedom of Information requests to find out whether Blackwell passed the information along to the EAC, as fiduciary duty would require.

We find no evidence that either Blackwell or Craft told any elections supervisors about the defects, nor have we seen any evidence that either distributed information on steps to mitigate these known risks.

Sinking ship, meet rats

Thus begins the most massive butt-covering operation in elections history, as the truth about computerized voting systems becomes undeniable.

Many eyes are now fixed on R. Doug Lewis, the enigmatic director of The Election Center.

"I feel like hanging myself," said Lewis at the Oct. 7 NIST "Threats to voting systems" conference. Lewis helped choose, and continues to run interference for, the Independent Testing Labs (ITAs), primarily Wyle Labs (Jim Dearman) and Ciber, Inc. (Shawn Southworth).

These ITAs are being paid by the vendors to evaluate their defective voting systems. Time after time, ordinary citizens uncover staggering defects, and machines choke during elections. Time after time, the ITAs issue clean bills of health.

What we are seeing now is an effort to let everyone bow out gracefully, without (yet) really acknowledging the gravity of what these bogus certifiers, complicit secretaries of state, timid congressional investigators, and corrupt vendors have wrought upon this country.

The overseers of elections for the most powerful nation in the world are lining up to receive their free passes. Perhaps now is a good time for someone to ask:

Is anyone going to be held accountable?
pisshead Reviewed by pisshead on . Two state elections heads resign in Florida can we really trust a centralized, federally controlled electronic voting system? i'm sorry, but i'll wait a couple weeks while hand counted paper ballots are counted. i don't have to know in 2 seconds which bought and paid for controlled fake left or fake right establishment 'candidate' 'wins' the s'election'... "It doesn't matter who votes, what matters is who counts the votes." --Joseph Stalin Two state elections heads resign in Florida Black Box Voting | November 05, 2005 Rating: 5