political process
Mar. 28th, 2007 01:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrian_turtleDoes anyone remember the fear that Diebold voting machines might be used to steal an election because they're so easy to hack? (With the news cycle so short, I thought it might have been forgotten in the flood of more recent scandals.) It looked like we might not be affected, here in Massachusetts, because we weren't using the Diebold machines. And because local activists had managed to drum up a healthy skepticism about Diebold.
So when the time came to buy voting machines, (for the use of voters who can't see or hold a pen, and thus can't use the standard MA ballot without an assistant who would make it not a secret ballot), Massachusetts bought a bunch of voting machines from Diebold's competitor, AutoMARK. The AutoMARK machines produce paper ballots, and Galvin said it was a factor that ballots from disabled voters would look just like other ballots. I wonder how significant it is that AutoMARK machines produce a paper record at all, while Diebold machines are famous for not being traceable?
Anyhow, Diebold is trying to sue. They claim the state had an obligation to buy the best machines, and they must have made a mistake somewhere because Diebold machines are so obviously the best.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/03/26/voting_device_pact_at_issue/
So when the time came to buy voting machines, (for the use of voters who can't see or hold a pen, and thus can't use the standard MA ballot without an assistant who would make it not a secret ballot), Massachusetts bought a bunch of voting machines from Diebold's competitor, AutoMARK. The AutoMARK machines produce paper ballots, and Galvin said it was a factor that ballots from disabled voters would look just like other ballots. I wonder how significant it is that AutoMARK machines produce a paper record at all, while Diebold machines are famous for not being traceable?
Anyhow, Diebold is trying to sue. They claim the state had an obligation to buy the best machines, and they must have made a mistake somewhere because Diebold machines are so obviously the best.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/03/26/voting_device_pact_at_issue/
