Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[David R.Matusiak <dave AT matusiak.org>]

** Just watched "Bowling for Columbine" last nite, so beware faint  
reader!! **

Well, there is a lot of flamalicious potential on the InterNetWorkers  
list this fine day, due in no small part to some recent trollification.  
 It seems as if one or many people are "conducting research" about what  
generates responses and potentially accelerates heart rates.  This  
valuable research may one day put an end to people dying in shock and  
horror at the sight of an email, but currently we are left with only  
questions.

Besides drawing lines and picking sides, there has also been discussion  
of Electronic Voting ("eVoting" for those who need a cutesy name), one  
of my favorite topics.

http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/column/index.php3?article_view=4

My own personal naivety may be omnipresent in that diatribe, but at  
least I was honestly trying to provide ideas for a better solution to  
our voting quandary.  I believe I was especially naive about the evil  
intentions of those with great power and influence in the United States  
of America.

I certainly never thought that some person or group would go so far as  
to completely "discredit" the notion of electronic voting in the minds  
of the American populace.  But it appears that several groups are  
working in concert to make sure that the voting infrastructure is NEVER  
improved in this nation and that the right to vote and democratic rule  
will also NEVER be within reach of the average American.

"Preposterous!," you say.  "There could be no evil of such power and  
determination," another might add.  "Our government is working to give  
us the best life possible," might be the comment from a Wolfowitz  
plant.  Well, a lot of people think a lot of things about Hawaii, but  
that does not change the facts.

Please allow me to apologize for the dearth of links provided, but I  
simply do not feel like doing everyones research for them today.  The  
information is out there - google and google news are your friends in  
this regard.  But how 'bout a summary to brighten your day?

Election 2000 is FUBAR'ed and the US Supreme Court thinks that War with  
Arabs is a better decision than "I created the Internet."  Civil  
Libertarians begin losing grip on reality.

In Florida, Jeb Bush and his merry band of Highway Patrolmen keep  
blacks from getting to the polls (because they would obviously have  
voted for Internet over War).  This is quickly washed over by our ever  
vigilant media hounds.

A grotesque amount of time is wasted complaining about Chads and  
recounts and rigged elections.  No action whatsoever is taken to  
correct these problems.  War party is in office and begins ramping up  
for the "Big Showdown."

Internet bubble is still expanding and "Techies" have an ever  
increasing amount of power and sway.  More people look to Tech CEOs for  
social and moral advice than their local pastor (and probably with good  
reason).  Techies do not like the problem posed by hanging chads and  
voting fads and Fhqwhgads.  Techies ponder solutions and then are left  
to quickly ponder working at McDonald's vs. Hardees.  Now the rest of  
the country can snub their noses at the self-absorbed,  
stock-option-fallout victims.  "Someone needed to take them down a  
notch" was heard at many a local blue collar pub.

Introduce massive unemployment and unpredictable social instability.   
Besides increasing the deficit and elongating Unemployment payouts,  
nothing is provided for the American public (besides the Shock and Awe  
campaign on TV - which should be rightfully scaring the shit out of  
you).  The country and its citizens are now acceptably terrified and  
being taught to hate foreigners and non-Christian religions in a very  
subtle, yet effective way.

Well, if Christianity is going to save America, then certainly the  
biggest Casino in the business wants to be involved, right?  In walks  
the friendly Christian Coalition - ready to consult with "Real  
Americans" and take their troubles "Straight to Jesus."  (Notice I  
didn't say "Gay to Jesus" as the Gays are at fault for all these  
fucking hurricanes and ice storms).

Now think of a football huddle - what the team does right before they  
go into direct battle with their sworn enemy, the opposite team.  Good  
sportsmanship seems to have been thrown out with the baby 'cause the  
bathwater reeked of multiculturalism and acceptance.  So, Team War and  
Team God huddle together and think.  They think and they think.  They  
think and they pray.  Then they think some more.  Finally, they pray to  
God to keep Joe Sixpack and Suzy SUV in the Dark Ages, both in terms of  
their beliefs and their abilities.

What is the greatest threat to their dominance?  An educated public who  
is willing to vote for candidates that represent them (and then perhaps  
Islam and all those other religions).  Well, Team War is doing a  
bang-up job convincing the rest of the world to convert to "The Freedom  
of Democracy and the Wisdom of Christianity," so Team God has to come  
in and do their part.  Otherwise, this precarious tower of cards may  
fall.

Now, as millions of Americans are scampering about collecting gas masks  
and trying to find a decent job with health insurance, these smiling,  
friendly "God-fearing" folks are trying to do their best to "help  
improve the dastardly voting system" in this country.

Enter Diebold - a manufacturing firm from somewhere in Ohio.  They take  
it upon themselves to create sleek, new electronic voting booths and  
stations and sell the shit out of these systems to the fucking idiots  
who run individual states.  States like Georgia, Maryland and Nebraska  
- states that ordered tens of thousands of these voting stations before  
they had ever received any external security examination (at a cost of  
millions to taxpayers).

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/ 
1062927138187161.xml

Now, this is the part where most people stop me and utter "There is no  
conceivable connection between benevolent organizations like the  
Christian Coalition and any corporation that manufactures voting  
machines."

Well, past research has show that the owners and major investors of  
Diebold and companies like it are (more often than not) affiliated with  
very conservative, very republican, and very christian values.  So much  
so that other politicians (or candidates) have questioned the trail of  
money from these people to the companies that manufacture the highly  
insecure and now widely deployed eVoting machines.

Fast forward to Spring 2003.  The War Party has successfully trashed  
Afghanistan and Iraq and is looking for more property to "acquire."   
Very quietly a report is produced by some of the top Security  
researchers on the face of the planet and in it, they decry the utter  
foibles of Diebold's voting machine and the insecure code that runs it.  
 This is an annoying pin prick to the manufacturers who waste no time  
informing the media that the study is "flawed" and that the code they  
complain about has been rewritten and that their devices are now secure  
(without releasing code or new machines to the researchers).

And while their are bigger things to create hysteria about, the media  
takes a day or two and whip up a frenzy about how "Electronic voting is  
not secure and you can NEVER trust it!!"  This, admittedly, is pure,  
unadulterated journalism with top-notch technical research to back it  
up.  The public sees a tiny blurb in the corner of their screen that  
says "eVoting machines unsafe!  Do NOT TRUST eVoting or its  
proponents!!"

In three easy steps, the prospect of future improvements to our voting  
system are readily destroyed.  Right between bits of "Who Loves  
Raymond" and "Madonna's TongueFest 2003."

So, of course this is all bullshit because all I ever spew is bullshit.  
 No sense in taking notes or paying attention.  No matter how shitty a  
student you are, you still get full credit at the end of the semester.   
Just continue to play into the Fear culture being cultivated by  
television and government and make sure to support our economy!!  How  
can we get our jobs back unless we spend all our money on this  
Taiwanese garbage??

I cannot positively state "whose" fault this is or where "you" are at  
in regards to it all.  I cannot say that "I" don't contribute to this  
anarchic madness.  I don't know who "they" are, but "I" imagine "they"  
are coming to get "me."  Make "your" own decisions.

And if you couple the votes that are thrown away with the fraudulent  
votes yet to come, ummm...  what was the point in me voting again?

/drm

On Monday, September 22, 2003, at 09:52  AM, Edward Wesolowski wrote:

> Thanks
> The articles are referencing the CalTech/MIT study "Voting: What Is,  
> What Could Be."
> The comments on viability of "Direct Recording Electronic" machines  
> are interesting. ...this is on computerized and  on Internet voting  
> systems. ...security issues, expense, but the authors say snags  
> w/electronic voting are likely to be worked out, and it's what's  
> coming.
> Best
> Ed Wesolowski
>
> At 09:33 AM 9/22/03 -0400, you wrote:
> > http://www.lwv.org/elibrary/nv/2002/voter_0302_4.html
> >
> > Currently, during the average U.S. presidential election, between four
> > and six million votes, out of the approximately 100 million cast, are
> > "lost" or go uncounted due to faulty or outdated voting machinery and
> > registration problems, according to a study by scientists and  
> > engineers
> > from the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts
> > Institute of Technology.
> >
> > http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2003/vote.html
> >
> > About 120,000 votes were lost in Massachusetts statewide elections in
> > 2000 due to election practices and technologies that could be  
> > reformed,
> > according to a Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project report written by
> > Charles Stewart, professor of political science at MIT, and funded by
> > The Boston Foundation.
> >
> > The estimate of lost votes is based on Census Bureau research, which
> > reported that almost 10 percent of 1.3 million registered  
> > Massachusetts
> > voters who did not cast ballots that year cited “registration  
> > problems”
> > at the precinct as their reason. The MIT report, "Voting in
> > Massachusetts" (pdf file), states that these “lost” votes could be
> > recovered by adopting a range of sweeping and incremental reforms.
> >
> > http://www.brennancenter.org/presscenter/pressrelease_2003_0730.html
> >
> > LAWSUIT CHARGES CITY BOARD OF ELECTIONS KNOWINGLY FAILED TO REPAIR
> > VOTING MACHINES
> >
> > 60,000 New York City voters thwarted in 2000 election; Similar numbers
> > of lost votes in other recent elections; Minorities disproportionately
> > harmed
> >
> > A lawsuit filed today in federal court claims that some 60,000  
> > residents
> > of New York City failed to have their votes counted in the 2000
> > elections because the City Board of Elections left disabled a voting
> > machine device designed to prevent such “undervoting.” The device,  
> > known
> > as a “sensor latch,” had been disabled in all 7,000 New York City  
> > lever
> > voting machines. The suit filed in the Eastern District of New York on
> > behalf of the Working Families Party, ACORN and individual voters by  
> > the
> > Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law seeks to compel the
> > Board of Elections to repair the sensor latches in the City’s voting
> > machines.
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > [mailto:internetworkers-
> > > bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Edward Wesolowski
> > > Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 8:45 AM
> > > To: Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
> > > Subject: RE: [internetworkers] Bush the monster?
> > >
> > > Shea:
> > > ...just curious, what's your source on this:
> > > "And this doesn't even include the number of ballets that are simply
> > > lost.  In NC in the past
> > > few years, thousands of votes have simply been lost."
> > >
> > > Definitely looks right, but I was wondering, is this from the
> > newspapers
> > > or....
> > > Ed Wesolowski
> > >
> > > At 11:51 PM 9/19/03 -0400, you wrote:
> > > >The Electoral College argument is a weak one at best.  In the past
> > 200
> > > >years there have only been two, arguably three, occasions where  
> > they
> > > >differed from the popular vote and in those cases it was always a
> > > >situation where the popular vote was very, very close.
> > > >
> > > >And if you going to nit pick to that extent, then you should be  
> > more
> > > >concerned with unelected and unaccountable local officials  
> > rendering
> > > >decisions on votes that can't be machine read properly.  Each
> > election
> > > >more than 10 times the number of votes in question in Bush v Gore  
> > are
> > > >discarded because local officials decide they are incorrect in some
> > way.
> > > >In most cases the ballet is wholesale discarded even though it is
> > > >perhaps only a single mark that is incorrect.  And this doesn't  
> > even
> > > >include the number of ballets that are simply lost.  In NC in the
> > past
> > > >few years, thousands of votes have simply been lost.