It has been in the news for awhile now, but again last night on Lou Dobbs (CNN) it hit the jackpot with how stupid Government is. Seems that over in California, they been looking into the various electronic voting machines that has captured the Government’s Interest. I mean what really is it about technology that gets some people wet with excitement? Is it the fancy gadgets? The flashing screens?

While nearly half the eligible voters simply sit at home on their fat asses, half do actually vote, but maybe those sitting at home know something the others don’t? Maybe they know that in truth, the votes don’t matter, now that everything is being done by machine. They know that even if 100 people Vote for Obama, 50 for Romney, that the result will show Romney winning, simply because he had the money & smarts to hire a better Hacker, than the Democrats.

It really is that basic. The machines are subject to tampering, and worse, the companies seem in denial, even though they refuse to release to experts their lines of code, claiming they know it is secure. Well a University testing shows otherwise, and in fact its across the board. It doesn’t matter if you use Chavez’s machines or any of the others, they all failed the tests.

Teams of hackers employed by the University of California conducted sample elections and found the technology and security of all three systems could be compromised. (Quote Source)

Seems to me that there really is a simple fix to all this. Yes, I know that in the United States there are a lot of races being run, a lot of propositions that need to be voted on, but frankly, I don’t see a lot of people voting on every race. I know we had a proposition during our last provincial election. It was really simple, two ballots each one a different colour, and two boxes to put them in. Not hard to separate or count really. Best of all, if there is a dispute, you got the paper trail to fall back on.

Just like the 2000 Presidential Election, there was a paper trail that one could fall back on and argue over. No such luck in 2004, and this is unbelievable to me. To begin with, don’t people in the USA care whether their votes count or not? (see comment ‘Does Your Vote Count?‘) I mean if these machines are vulnerable, what is so wrong with simply reverting to paper ballots. So you might have to wait till the morning to find out who won, like that is worse than not having your vote counted, or being miscounted, without any way to redress the error?

Then there is the other aspect of this nightmare. How in the hell are you going to know if the vote was rigged? If you have a simple paper trail, you would be able to check, but not with electronics. Oh sure, they can talk about audits and all that bullshit, but working on computers, I know they can be hacked, can be cloned, and altered, and the user never know. This is the reality of electronics, and you can have all the security measures in place, it isn’t going to help prevent a determined thief from screwing things up. Given that you have candidates with hundreds of millions of dollars under their thumb, it isn’t inconceivable that they could pay for a rigged election. A smart operator could do it, and what proof can you show to the contrary?

Robin Williams made a movie about just such an occurrence, and you know, it was chilling because more and more the USA is turning to electronic voting machines without paper trails. This is a recipe for disaster, and yet even when it is proven that these machines can be easily hacked, no one seems willing to let go of the concept of having electronic voting, all in the name of ease, and quick results. What good is it, to have the results of who won, when the person who won really didn’t?

And you will never know!

Seems to me that the solution is simple. If you MUST have these infernal machines, than get one that spits out a paper results page that the VOTER gets to pull out. Let them then look it over, and then as they leave, have it placed in an old fashioned ballot box. Then if the election results from the voting machines become in dispute, you at least have a verified ballot to fall back on to count. Sure, it is time consuming, but let’s be honest, this is about electing the Government. (see comment ‘Civil Rights 101‘)
Naturally it is obvious why the Government is in no rush to go that route, or one similar. They aren’t interested in having the REAL VOTE COUNTED. They want the ability to fix the election, to rig it, and to whoever has the most money to spend on that, will be the winner. Your vote won’t matter, because the election will have been decided not by how many votes are cast for one or the other candidate, but will be determined by who spent the most on getting the best computer hacker available, to rig the count.

This is the state of Democracy today, and yet no one seems perturbed by it. I may not be able to get through to Stephen Harper by phone, or email, or fax, but at least I know I can get through by going out and voting come election day. I know that my PAPER BALLOT might get lost, but it’ll take a hell of lot lost ballot boxes to effect an election, and if the election is in doubt, least I know there will be a record that can checked.

I love technology, but you know, I much prefer my freedoms, my rights, than whether or not I get to play with a fancy computer while voting. For me, a good old X marks the Choice works best. Computers are too risky, yet it appears that come 2008, it will be once more decided by who has the best hacker, not who the people voted for.

So much for Democracy.