Activists Show Electronic Voting Machine Flaws
by Erica Werner

WASHINGTON - Activists and computer programmers Wednesday demonstrated what they said were flaws with electronic voting machines that could allow hackers to change vote outcomes Nov. 2. They recommended new procedures for states and counties to put in place before Election Day.

Voting machine manufacturers, however, denied their machines could be tampered with and dismissed the demonstration as scare tactics. The head of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission said at least some of the proposed changes were unrealistic.

Bev Harris, an outspoken critic of electronic voting and author of "Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century," led the National Press Club demonstration that included a film of a chimpanzee hacking an election.

Using a laptop computer, she demonstrated what she said were easy hacks to software by Ohio-based Diebold Inc., which is used in central tabulators that will count votes Nov. 2 in some 1,000 counties. Harris contended that hackers could easily change vote totals by entering the database through a backdoor method. She also claimed hackers could enter the standard way after obtaining passwords, then manipulate vote totals and cover their tracks.

" It's astonishingly easy to get in," she said. "There's no security whatsoever."
Programmer Jeremiah Akin, of Riverside, Calif., showed what he said was a flaw in software by Oakland, Calif.-based Sequoia Voting Systems Inc., that would allow a hacker to switch votes by people voting in Spanish or another foreign language.
Spokesmen for Diebold and Sequoia strongly denied the claims.

" What you witnessed was a staged event to convey something that isn't possible," said Diebold spokesman David Bear. "The fact of the matter is touchscreens have been around for many, many years, they've conducted hundreds of elections, and there's never been a single factual problem with touchscreens."

" It's so amazing to see people use fear tactics this close to a major election on issues that are so remote and unlikely," said Sequoia spokesman Alfie Charles. "They still haven't explained to people how these attackers would be able to walk into a county voting system, get the password and start reprogramming elections."

Harris offered several suggestions for eliminating potential problems with electronic systems.
Up to 50 million voters will use touchscreen machines in November; even more will have their votes tabulated electronically by central vote tabulators.

Harris said that poll workers should print out vote totals on the precinct level. Those could then be checked against the county total. She also recommended that jurisdictions with touchscreen machines allow voters to vote by absentee ballot on Election Day, and that precincts not relay vote totals to counties via modems, which could be vulnerable to hackers.

Another activist at the event, National Ballot Integrity Project co-founder Joan Krawitz, said that all races for federal offices should be done on paper ballots Nov. 2 - even if that means voters going back to the most primitive system of checking off someone's name on a slip of paper.

DeForest B. Soaries, chairman of the new U.S. Election Assistance Commission, said the idea of all federal races being conducted on paper was "a farce," and that it was irresponsible to recommend absentee ballots nationwide given that each state has their own system.

But, he said, "No one in their right mind would disagree that there are vulnerabilities."
His commission has recommended a list of security procedures, and he said there will be improvements Nov. 2 over past elections, including election administrators working harder to keep track of who has access to voting equipment.

Copyright © 2004 Newsweek, Inc

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Electronic voting systems will be used in an estimated 25-29 percent
of the nation on November 2. Overall 29 states will use some
electronic voting systems, and there are hundreds of jurisdictions
across the nation using e-voting.

To make it easier for the public and the media to track electronic
voting in this presidential election, below is a list I've compiled
of the 25 most populous places in the country using e-voting.

This list is also available online at:
http://www.calvoter.org/issues/votingtech/pub/top25places.html .

This list was compiled using data from state election web sites, the
Census Bureau, Election Data Services' map, and the National
Association of Counties' web site (www.naco.org).

The list identifies the city and/or Metropolitan Statistical Area
(MSA), followed by the name of the vendor, the type of e-voting
machine, and the county in which the city is located. An asterisk
appears beside those cities located in states identified as
presidential election battleground states. Cities and MSAs are
generally shown in descending order, starting with the most populous.

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E-VOTING AND THE 2004 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION:
TOP 25 PLACES TO WATCH

Featuring the following states:

California, Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada,
New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

1) Houston, TX (MSA: Houston - Baytown - Sugar Land)
-- Hart eSlate (Harris County, Texas)

2) * Philadelphia, PA (MSA: Philadelphia - Camden - Wilmington)
-- Danaher electronic (Philadelphia County)
-- Sequoia Advantage (Montgomery County)

3) Dallas, TX (MSA: Dallas - Fort Worth - Arlington)
Dallas:
-- ES&S iVotronic (Dallas County)
Fort Worth, Arlington:
-- Hart eSlate (Tarrant County)

4) San Antonio, TX
-- ES&S iVotronic (Bexar County)

5) San Jose, CA (MSA: San Francisco - San Jose - Oakland)
San Jose:
-- Sequoia Edge (Santa Clara County)
Oakland:
-- Diebold Accuvote TS (Alameda County)

6) * Columbus, OH
-- Danaher Controls, Model No. 1242 (formerly Shouptronic 1242)
(Franklin County)

7) Austin, TX (MSA: Austin - Round Rock)
-- Hart eSlate (Travis County)

8) Baltimore, MD (MSA: Baltimore-Towson)
-- Diebold Accuvote TS (Anne Arundel County & Baltimore County)
-- Sequoia Advantage (City of Baltimore)

9) Memphis, TN
-- Danaher Shouptronic electronic voting machines (Shelby County)

10) Washington, DC (MSA: Washington - Arlington VA - Alexandria VA)
Washington, DC
-- Sequoia Edge (District of Columbia County)
* Arlington, VA
-- Advanced Voting Solutions WinVote (Arlington County)
* Alexandria VA
-- Winvote (Fairfax County)
-- Hart eSlate (City of Fairfax)

11) Nashville, TN
-- Shoup 1242 electronic voting machines (Davidson County)

12. El Paso, TX
-- Diebold Accuvote TS (El Paso County)

13. * Denver, CO (MSA: Denver - Aurora)
-- Sequoia Advantage (Denver County)

14. Charlotte, NC
-- Microvote (Mecklenburg County)

15. New Orleans, LA (MSA: New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner)
-- Sequoia Advantage (Orleans Parish)

16. * Las Vegas, NV (MSA: Las Vegas - Paradise)
-- Sequoia Advantage & Edge (Clark County)

17. * Albuquerque, NM
-- Danaher 1242 and Sequoia Edge (Bernalillo County)

18. Atlanta, GA (MSA: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta)
-- Diebld Accuvote TS (DeKalb & Fulton Counties)

19. * Miami, FL (MSA: Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach)
-- ES&S iVotronic, (Miami-Dade County, Broward County)
-- Sequoia Edge (Palm Beach County)

20. Santa Ana, CA
-- Hart eSlate (Orange County)

21. * Tampa, FL (MSA: Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater)
Tampa:
-- Sequoia Edge (Hillsborough County)
St. Petersburg:
-- Sequoia Edge (Pinellas County)

22. Riverside, CA (MSA: Riverside - San Bernardino - Ontario)
-- Sequoia Edge (Riverside County, San Bernardino County)

23. Baton Rouge, LA
-- Sequoia Advantage (E. Baton Rouge Parish

24. Greensboro, NC
-- ES&S iVotronic (Guilford County)

25. * Trenton, NJ
-- Sequoia Advantage (Mercer County)