Guest blogged by Winter Patriot
If they can do it, you can do it too. We have all the details below…
A couple of 54-year old women from Black Box Voting bought $12 worth of tools and in four minutes penetrated the memory card seals, removed, replaced the memory card, and sealed it all up again without leaving a trace. This experiment shows that the seals do nothing whatever to protect against access by insiders after testing, and the seals also are worthless in jurisdictions like Washington, Florida, California, and many other locations where voting machines are sent home with poll workers for days before the election.
The Busby-Bilbray contest in San Diego now has proof that the optical scan machines sent home with poll workers subjected the tamper-friendly memory cards to an non-recoverable lapse in chain of custody. The recipe for tampering [PDF] has been on the Internet for over a year:
The photos below blow apart claims by elections officials that voting machine “sleepovers” — sending voting machines home with poll workers for days or weeks prior to elections — are secure because of seals over the memory card.
Two Black Box Voting studies in Leon County, Florida proved that election results can be altered in such a way that the supervisor of elections cannot detect the tampering. Not to worry, we were told by elections officials. The memory cards are sealed inside the machines.
But then Black Box Voting purchased an optical scan machine and obtained discarded voting machine seals from King County, Washington. Here’s what we found:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-memory-door-inside-nut.jpg
The cover can be removed without detection by removing five screws. Inside, all that stands between a pollworker (or an insider at the warehouse or elections office) and the open-for-business memory card is a washer which you can unscrew.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-memory-card-put-in.jpg
See the memory card: It is the item in the slot that says “this side up.” Diebold’s first line of defense is a metal door that pivots down over the memory card slot.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-memory-door-in-out.jpg
See how the door works: The hole in the right side of the door is over-large, so you can move the right-side bolt in and out at will. Therefore, they seal the right-side bolt.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-memory-card-door-hole-in-bolt.jpg
See the hole in the top of the right-side bolt: The plastic seal is threaded through that.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-sealed.jpg
See the plastic seal: This plastic seal was used by King County. It had been broken and discarded, so we used the high-tech method of putting an orange rubber band on it to hold it together for this demo. The seal is pointless anyway, as you’ll soon see.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-screws.jpg
See the screws holding the Diebold AccuVote optical scan machine together: There are five. We tried a Phillips-head screwdriver on the thing.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-unscrew-case.jpg
See the screws come out: What’s inside?
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-memory-card-unfasten.jpg
See the left-side bolt. Can you remove it? We stuck a small Allen wrench into the bolt.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-memory-door-inside-nut.jpg
See that nut on the screw: (Red arrow) We got out a pair of pliers.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-remove-memorycard-door.jpg
Is it possible that Diebold does not know this??? Grasp nut with pliers, twirl Allen wrench and see what happens.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-memory-card-seal-cracked.jpg
See the bolt come off. But can you get the memory card out?
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-memory-card-opened.jpg
See the metal door pivot to the right: Remove the memory card.
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/accuvote-memory-card-out.jpg
We then put it all back together without leaving a trace. Cost for materials: $12. Time: 4 minutes to open, remove card, re-insert card and re-seal everything.
San Diego, June 6 2006: Sent these voting machines home with poll workers for sleepovers. They said the seal on the memory card bay made it secure.
STILL GOING HOME FOR SLEEPOVERS in King County, Washington: King County elections officials told citizens on Aug. 29 2006 in a videotaped statement that they are using the door and plastic tab seal as shown in these pictures, and they are sending the voting machines home with poll workers for the September primary election.
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Black Box Voting has prepared a Citizen’s Tool Kit — basically a brain dump of the things that worked during our last three years in the field. It is organized into modules, each only a few pages long, bullet points, easy to follow.
Two modules can help you address this issue in your area:
Media Module: http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit-media.pdf
(tips to get this into the media in your location)
Adopt a public official module:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit-adopt-an-official.pdf
(tips to educate, persuade, and hold public officials accountable)
—————————————————————–
The Full 20-Module Tool Kit is FREE:
It is a Declaration of Independence for Citizens.
You can download it here:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/toolkit.pdf
(Adobe Acrobate 7 or higher recommended)
“Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” — the Declaration of Independence
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Black Box Voting is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501c(3) elections watchdog group supported entirely by citizen donations. We refuse funds from any vendor or vested interest.
To support Black Box Voting:
click to donate
or send your donation to:
Black Box Voting
330 SW 43rd St Suite K
PMB 547
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Please plan to participate this fall to restore control of elections to the citizenry. Thank you for your stewardship of our republic.
Be part of the solution: Please sign up for the NATIONAL HAND COUNT REGISTRY.
This is big news. I wonder if Dobbs will pick this up for all those cable watchers. Thanks for the info.
While we’re on the subject – has anyone heard anything more about the guy who busted up the voting machines?
No surprise here. I am disgusted that people don’t realize the problems with the memory cards and the “ballot definition files”. Audits won’t solve this problem; only hand counting paper ballots will. But what do we do in the interim? Read Bruce O’Dell’s article in the OpEd News in which he says: “Jonathan Simon, Steven Freeman, Josh Mitteldorf and I have just published a paper that recommends nothing less than a 10% in-precinct hand count of all paper ballot records to be done by the public and on election night, everywhere we allow electronic tallying…Because I for one firmly believe that wherever and whenever we actually do start hand-counting ballot records in public on election night, we will find such a catalog of horrors, such unconscionable sloppiness, such pervasive backdoor manipulation of the electronic tally that the American people will rise up and demand that we take back control of our elections into our own hands – and cast and count our paper ballots ourselves.”
Apparently, we must be ready to stand and demand these hand counts ourselves, for audits at this level are not legislated anywhere.
http://www.opednews.com/article...rategy_for.htm
For more direct defensive measures, see Mark Crispin Miller’s piece: “Psst! The Fix is In (and what you can do about it)”
http://www.opednews.com/article..._fix_is_in.htm
I have less talent than those 54-year old women.
Can Bev show us all how to do it? I think this would be worthwhile – public domain, as it were. I mean they are our machines, are they not? We should know how to hack them in case of emergency.
Anyway, I’m ready for a seminar. Bev?
LOL… I guess I should have read the whole post first. Good seminar.
The Republicans are saying “Tic Toc, game is locked, and nobody else can play.”
Beverly Harris says “Wanna bet?”
Bluebear2 #2
I wonder if that guy who tipped over the Diebold machine looked like this guy?
Just in case this link doesn’t work, here’s a clue. “open the pod bay door HAL!”
Sorry Dave…
(in sticking with my 1 second destroy the vote challenge on *ANY* electronic box)
Instead of “replacing” the memory card, lay a thick cloth over the chip, And wack it, really fucking hard, one time, with the end of the screw gun. Pop the bracket and two screws back in.
~poof~
*All* votes gone.
Chip must have overheated and cracked! Doh!
There is NO ELECTRONIC machine that can be trusted to count votes.
This is specifically by design. That way it will always have to go to the courts.
What are you going to do, go through every single component with an electron microscope to check every nanometer from end to end for anomalies? No. Not even GOD can do that. Your also not going to be able to monitor every inch of every mile of every network that is used to send these signals to the central tabulator.
And if your hand carrying the CHIP that can be swapped with a specially crafted CHIP also.
I will say, nice work by blackboxvoting.org
If I had to do it in a hurry, I would be flying blind, but with an electronics and mechanical background, I still say ANY BOX, ANY circuit, chip or component, and I CAN give it a one second death. It doesn’t matter if I have seen the hardware/firmware/powersupply/or circuit board before or not.
Q: Why else does EACH box cost about $5000 ?
A: So it’s a felony.
(I got a god damn scanner for $20 bucks)
Just think what a billion dollar invisible government could do at the “doping level” of each chip!!
Hell some parts are not even made in america (As if that matters), who’s to say, that ANOTHER COUNTRY is deciding for us. You can’t validate it either way, because you can’t validate the god damn electronics either way, unless you destroy them by destructive reverse-engineering.
These machines MUST all go.
Just like the CORRUPTION in our government MUST go!
There’s always a government level above, to block such things from happening, look around you, Every problem that you have, that you have tried to change. IT JUST LIKE I SAID. Always some fuck in some agency muckin something else up to stop common sense or justice, or whatever (fill in the blank.)
It’s interesting, how each state/local precint is supposed to decide how we vote. Except at the federal level HAVA [wiki:Help America Vote Act] can apply to ALL precints nationally. Yet nothing can be done at the federal level to get rid of these fucking devil machines that have COST US TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS NOW!
This whole god damn electronic voting thing is a GIANT crock of steaming shit.
IT IS KILLING PEOPLE.
I don’t think I can face these people civily anymore, I just want to shove the palm of my hand up into their fucking nose bones.
How much more PROOF does our government need to ban these machines? Lou Dobbs, you should report on this.
Phil
As I have said frequently of late –
It’s time to start breaking shit.
Phil..I am seeing more and more posts such as yours. So, we aren’t divided. We are getting stronger. Six years of corruption and graft..and those machines were the secret weapon. Every time a republican christian goes to the gas pump, buys groceries, and tries to pay rent/mortgage payment..their govt. hits ’em in the face. Methinks same sex couples, racism and war will lose it’s appeal daily.When poor people get out and vote without the repub. drippings, watch out!
Got this from http://www.blackboxvoting.org
Looks like SLEEPOVERS ALL OVER CALIFORNIA!
The Registrar from Constra Costa County mailed this to me. It states:
“Sending voting equipment and supplies home with poll workers is equally secure to the alternative approach of delivering equipment to poll sites in advance of the election where the chain of custody and security cannot be as easily documented or traced.”
It looks like sleep overs are ok. See the full document below
California Association of
Clerks and Election Officials
ISSUE PAPER: VOTING EQUIPMENT “SLEEPOVER†PRACTICE
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF CLERKS AND ELECTION OFFICIALS (CACEO)
July 27, 2006
The reference to voting equipment “sleepover†refers to the practice of election officials distributing secured voting equipment to poll workers in advance of the election. In this model, voting equipment and all election supplies (including paper ballots) are stored at the home of lead poll workers (inspectors) and transported to the poll site on Election Day. Questions have been raised regarding the security and integrity of voting equipment under this practice.
Association Statement
The California Association of Clerks and Election Officials (CACEO) recognizes that distributing secured voting equipment to poll workers prior to Election Day is an efficient, accountable and transparent practice that contributes to the orderly and secure conduct of elections.
The following safeguards associated with this practice ensure that the integrity of the elections process is maintained:
All poll workers take an oath to uphold the integrity of the elections process prior to initiating their duties. Poll workers are essential to ensuring public accountability in the elections process. It is appropriate that they are entrusted with the security of voting equipment and supplies prior to and during the day of the election.
Poll workers are trained to confirm that voting equipment is sealed and that the tamper-evident seals are not broken prior to the opening of the polls on Election Day.
Lead poll workers (inspectors) are required to complete comprehensive training on all election processes which they are legally responsible for administering on Election Day.
Sending voting equipment and supplies home with poll workers is equally secure to the alternative approach of delivering equipment to poll sites in advance of the election where the chain of custody and security cannot be as easily documented or traced.
Memory cards, programming chips and other electronic data storage devices used to record votes are sealed within the voting equipment using tamper-evident seals prior to distribution.
Upon confirming that the seals are intact prior to opening the polls, the poll workers break the seals and run a zero report (or tape) to document and confirm that no votes have been cast or recorded on equipment prior to the first voter appearing at the poll site.
At the close of the polls, a results report (or tape) is run to show the number of ballots cast and votes recorded on the equipment. This report is maintained as part of the comprehensive audit and reconciliation processes associated with the canvassing and certification of the election.
California election law requires all voting systems to produce a physical representation of the ballot, either a paper ballot or a voter verified paper audit trail, which is used to validate vote results recorded on or by the voting system.
As a public and transparent process, elections in the United States historically rely on the checks and balances associated with appointing citizen poll workers to oversee the conduct at the polls. This practice is consistent with that model.
Officium Populi – Office of the People
OFFICERS 2004-2005
CONNY MCCORMACK
PRESIDENT
Los Angeles County
P.O. Box 1024
Norwalk, CA 90650
562-462-2716
cmccorma@rrcc.co.la.ca.us
STEPHEN WEIR
VICE PRESIDENT
Contra Costa County
KATHLEEN MORAN
TREASURER
Colusa County
REBECCA MARTINEZ
SECRETARY
Madera County
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
APPOINTED:
JANICE ATKINSON
Sonoma County
COLLEEN BAKER
Siskiyou County
DARLENE BLOOM
Orange County
CANDACE GRUBBS
Butte County
JOSEPH HOLLAND
Santa Barbara County
TIM JOHNSON
Tuolumne County
JOHN MCKIBBEN
Los Angeles County
MIKEL HAAS
San Diego County
DOLORES PROVENCIO
Imperial County
JOHN TUTEUR
Napa County
LARRY HERRERA*
City Clerk, Long Beach
*non-voting member
ELECTED:
JULIE BUSTAMANTE
Northern Area Lassen County
JIM MCCAULEY
Mother Lode Area Placer County
MICHAEL SMITH
Bay Area
Marin County
JULIE RODEWALD
Central Area
San Luis Obispo County
BARBARA DUNMORE
Southern Area
Orange County
ADVISORY COUNCIL
MARSHA WHARFF
Mendocino County
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES
CLERK OF THE BOARD:
VIOLET VARONA-LUKENS
Los Angeles County
COUNTY CLERK:
EEVE LEWIS
Sonoma County
COURTS:
PAT CHANDLER
Kern County
ELECTIONS:
JILL LAVINE
Sacramento County
DEBORAH SEILER
Solano County