California decertifies Diebold bugware
By Thomas C Greene
Published Monday 3rd May 2004 12:37 GMT
In a move anticipated for several months, the state of California has
decertified all touch-screen voting machines due to security snafus
and vendor stonewalling.
California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley announced the decision
late last week. The move is in response to Diebold's failure to deal
honestly with numerous security issues in particular, but extends, at
least temporarily, to all touch-screen devices. Still, only the
Diebold AccuVote TSx will be strictly forbidden.
Those counties that can satisfy a list of new regulations will be
permitted to use touch-screen devices other than the TSx. Among the
new requirements will be a voter-verifiable paper trail for all new
machines, a step that had previously been slated for 2006.
Furthermore, all polling places will be required to provide paper
balloting as an option for voters who request it. Also, and quite
sensibly, the machines must not have any telephone, wireless or
Internet connectivity.
Diebold can now choose between fixing its systems in short order, or
challenging California's commonsense decision vigorously in the
courts. It will be difficult for the company to sit by and let this
dangerous precedent stand, perhaps encouraging other states to
question their equipment as well. ®
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* Origin: [adminz] tech, security, support (192.168.0.2)
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