US election fraud? Perish the thought!
TheInquirer -Wednesday 24 September
By Egan Orion
DIEBOLD ELECTION SYSTEMS has brandished lawyers' threats to take down that pesky citizens activist website blackboxvoting.org. It seems they charged copyright infringement regarding materials on other websites that blackboxvoting.org merely linked to, despite such links having been ruled legal by appellate courts in other instances.
This appears to be a public relations gaffe of staggering proportions on Diebold's part. It's not like bunging the terms "Diebold election fraud" into Google brings up only that blackboxvoting.org site -- just it and about 1,889 other hits, including a recent story at Salon, another at Wired, and two pieces here at the INQUIRER, as well as articles in major news publications. What can they be thinking?
Titanic About to Hit Iceberg
NY Times -September 25
...An independent review of Maryland's proposed touch-screen voting system released Wednesday found a "high risk of compromise" by malicious outsiders who might want to tamper with election results.
...While some changes were required of Diebold, many more are to be made by the State Board of Elections. The study found problems not only with the technology behind the electronic machines, but in policies and procedures used by state and local election boards.
...While the SAIC report was released Wednesday, the study was completed about three weeks ago, and state officials have been meeting with Diebold rep resentatives and others to discuss the results. Only about 60 pages of 200 were made public.
..."James T. Smith, the Baltimore County executive, who has opposed the move to electronic voting, said the new report should stop the state from using the machines.
"For two years, Baltimore County has warned, `Iceberg ahead!' and now independent experts have warned that it's a gigantic iceberg," Mr. Smith said. "Maryland should not say, `Damn the iceberg, full speed ahead.' "
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