Maryland To Abandon Diebold Voting Machines, page 1

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Topic started on 19-1-2008 @ 09:26 AM by gottago

Maryland To Abandon Diebold Voting Machines

www.newsjournal.com

Maryland will abandon the touch-screen voting machines that have sparked years of protests and replace the system with devices that permit a manual recount.

Maryland purchased the machines in the wake of the 2000 Florida election. They have been criticized as unreliable and susceptible to tampering.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has proposed $6.8 million to buy optical-scan machines which read paper ballots filled in by voters with pencil or pen.

But the new machines will not be available until 2010.

(visit the link for the full news article)

reply posted on 19-1-2008 @ 09:26 AM by gottago

This is extremely encouraging news, given the controversy surrounding Diebold machines in the 2004 election and the current horror stories seeping out of the NH primary recounts.

A few common sense remarks from the article:

Election reform advocates praised the move, saying voters currently have no guarantee that their ballots would be properly counted by the state's ATM-style machines, which were manufactured by Diebold Inc.

Maryland was among the first states to move to a paperless, electronic system after the voting dispute in Florida during the 2000 election, when Congress encouraged states to move away from "butterfly" and punch-card ballots.

But new worries arose about the touch-screen electronic systems that are easier for voters to use but that computer scientists say could be tampered with or hacked.

Let's hope Maryland's example encourages other states with Diebold machines to replace them as quickly as is feasible with systems that leave a verifiable paper trail.

Really, the era of Diebold--which happens to coincide with the era of Bush--is a national scandal. Time to end this madness, which is undermining confidence in the foundations of the republic--the integrity of the vote.

www.newsjournal.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply posted on 19-1-2008 @ 09:28 AM by andy1033

YOu should know what ever system they have, there will be people using there lifes trying to get to know how to fix them.

Thats life.

reply posted on 19-1-2008 @ 09:32 AM by gottago

reply to post by andy1033

But it doesn't mean that you should leave your windows rolled down and your car keys dangling off the steering column when you park your car.

Of course any voting system will not be perfect, but Diebold machines have been shown to be a cure far worse than the disease.

reply posted on 19-1-2008 @ 09:39 AM by andy1033

reply to post by gottago

Yep, i understand, but some will think things like this will be the answer. These people will fix the elections no matter what system you have.

But i suppose its about pretending theres confidence in the system.

reply posted on 20-1-2008 @ 11:36 AM by biggie smalls

reply to post by gottago

At least the state of Maryland has their eyes somewhat open. Maybe the rest of the country can follow suit. Probably not though.

What surprises me is that they think a quick fix is going to be a eye scan. These machines can be rigged too and definitely cheated.

There's contact lenses that change color and no doubt there's contact lenses that contain another's eye pattern (CIA spy # nonetheless, but it would not surprise me if they were involved in the hacking).

Why can't we go back to paper voting that can actually be tracked? All of these digital machines have no oversight and are easily manipulated.

Retards.

reply posted on 20-1-2008 @ 11:47 AM by Mindless

I agree with above . I never got why our voting is so secret these days . I always thought you should be able to pull up a web page and see who voted what where . I mean really does it need to be soooo secret ?

reply posted on 20-1-2008 @ 11:48 AM by SEEWHATUDO

reply to post by biggie smalls

Anybody have a link for the states that use diebold?
A narrowing down may be a good way to start a push.
At meetup.com there are hundreds of RP meetups going on this month and next, maybe a antidiebold booth could be set up for petitions, spread the word type campaign. The reason I say RP meetups is because it would be of upmost importance to Paul suppporters.

reply posted on 20-1-2008 @ 11:56 AM by apc

reply to post by Mindless

That would basically amount to a hit list.

I hope this catches on too. We should at the very least have a choice in how we cast our vote when such doubt has fallen on the method. If I don't want to use their machines, I'm just SOL and denied my right to vote.

The CIA should hack the power grid so it's lights-out on Super Tuesday and everyone has to write their vote on post-it notes.