Will Your Vote Count?

By Mike Siesel

Why Do We Have to Ask

Maybe a better question is whether or not your vote will be counted. The recent primary in Maryland may have disenfranchised voters because of computer glitches and logistics problems, though the state has spent $65,000,000 on purchase and support for the Diebold voting system. But the general election might have been compromised using computer disks sent to Cheryl Kagan, a former state legislator, according to ABC News.

Recent news reports also question whether or not the city of Baltimore will have a sufficient number of trained election judges in time for the November elections. At this time they are about 250 judges short of what's needed to hold an election.

While Diebold and other companies producing electronic voting machines insist their devices are secure, there's also reports from Princeton University and the Brennan Center at NYU that demonstrate how easy it is to circumvent the security measures.

Across the pond, in the Netherlands, a similar report (PDF) has been published. Perhaps the most obvious lapse in security involves the lock that secures access to the data card. Dutch researchers identified the key as a common one used in office furniture, and ordered 100 keys over the internet that opened the lock. Cost: About one Eurodollar a piece.

Using a bit of Yankee ingenuity, Princeton researchers have gladly demonstrated the ease with which the Diebold lock can be picked. You think at an average cost of $3500 a machine that they could install a decent lock.

Naturally this has produced a firestorm of conspiracy theories, though of course no one has any hard evidence that vote fraud has occurred in any of our elections. Yet, suspicions remain. And of course, so do the vulnerabilities.

A Rose by any other Name can not Vote

In an attempt to address the overall concerns about our elections, several states have passed laws that require voter identification. But the US Election Commission reports that voter registration fraud is not a problem, and that absentee ballots remain the primary source of vote fraud.

All of this has prompted a movement to return to paper ballots. Others want a print out of every vote. This would seem elementary to a company like Diebold because of their dominance in Automated Teller Machines (ATM), all of which offer a printed receipt. And yet, though the company offers the AccuView Printer Module™, it seems that the vast majority of the 130,000 Diebold machines in use do not have this option, or it does not provide a printout for each individual voter.

This is My Land—But Not My Software

Perhaps the most controversial issue involves the use of private or proprietary software. Like their ATM systems Diebold uses a Windows platform customized for voting. Of course, anyone running Windows on their home or office computers is aware that Microsoft continually issues security patches to correct holes or vulnerabilities in their operating systems. At the same time the company has been more than reluctant to reveal source code, even when directed to do so by the courts.

Further, how secure, and how stable the actual voting software is has been a question not only raised, but contested by experts in the field. In addition, because the software is proprietary, election officials can not verify the software's ability to count the votes correctly, nor can they have the code scrutinized for back doors or vulnerabilities.

Keep It Simple Sally

Experts argue that the more complex the code, the greater the chances of compromising it. That seems to defy logic, yet the most secure systems are special purpose computers that only do one thing, and do it very well. The advantage of General Purpose computers is that they are adaptable. The computer in your office or home is capable of running multiple operating systems. The processor doesn't really care as long as the software can speak its language.

Special Purpose computing devices do care. Some are hardwired to accept certain distinct commands. A light switch, for instance, is a simple logic gate. Flip the switch and the light goes on or off. Of course counting, or registering, how many times the light goes on or off requires some additional complexity, yet we've had counting devices in mechanical form for centuries, and in electronic form for six decades.

As Apple Computer demonstrated with their Macintosh line, you can burn a simple operating system into a set of ROMs (read only memory chips), and whatever code you include on those chips can not be altered. No matter how simple the code it would be secure. Perhaps the most familiar of the special purpose systems are found in video game consoles like the Xbox, Nintendo, and Playstation. In fact, this may be where the future lies considering that even toddlers play these games.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire

In California alone there are 27,000 precincts. Every precinct needs at least 10 machines, maybe more. Extrapolate that out to the nation and you're talking about several million voting machines. So it's no wonder that Diebold and others are anxious to have a piece of that market. But somehow it's not worthy of a lock that is at least difficult to pick. More to the point, a proper and secure design would not need a lock to prevent manipulation of data. Perhaps what need is a contest. Design a voting machine that is reliable and secure, provides a paper trail for voters and electors, and win XXX million dollars.

It could be that simple.