Doubts plague e-vote systems

Doubts plague e-vote systems VIDEO
Coalition of opponents says computers are not secure; backers contend the threat is low.
By DAVE HELLING
The Kansas City Star
In just eight weeks, most Kansas City voters will cast their first ballots on electronic machines, assuming they are accurate, convenient and safe.

But a loose coalition of computer scientists, political activists, and election experts says electronic voting is none of those things. In the media and the courts, the opponents insist electronic ballots are “inherently untrustworthy” and should be scrapped.

“It’s faith-based voting,” said Christi Clemons Hoffman, who has fought electronic voting here for at least a year. “You just have to trust that everybody’s doing their job.”

State and local election officials — Democrats and Republicans — have heard those criticisms for months, but say they’re misguided. “It’s fear of the unknown,” said Kansas City’s Democratic election director, Sharon Turner Buie.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/14820785.htm

I just focused on one phrase. He said that there are "some computer scientists" who claim the machines are a cause for worry. I said in my email that it was my impression that there isn't a computer scientist ("scientist" meaning PhD in the field) in this country or any other who would vouch for the security or freedom from malfunctioning of any voting machine. If he knew of such a scientist, I told him I'd like to know his name and the institution he graduated from.

If he wanted to ask such a scientist, I recommended he contact Avi Rubin at Johns Hopkins or David Dill at Stanford. If he meant "expert" and he wanted to talk to one, he could find those anywhere. If he wanted a bogus expert, he could talk to Diebold or ES&S.

There are plenty of bones to pick with this article and I think DU-ers might want to fill his computer with pearls of wisdom about these machines.

he was all on board.

So, it's alright to plunge democracy into the unknown? What a brave new world this has become... unknowns are treated as just another day at the office?

Like bushco when it ventured into the unknown of Iraq, against the advice of knowledgeable military people, election directors adopt use of these unknown systems against the advice of knowledgeable computer experts.

And what are you gonna do about it? Huh?