Published: 2006-10-27
Maryland state Board of Elections Chairman Gilles Burger spoke to the Baltimore Sun (Associated Press) recently and indicated that Diebold quietly patched the state's 4,700 voting machines in 2005, three years after the bug was discovered. The unpredictable freezes caused voters and election official to question whether votes were processed or not. Diebold confirmed that tabulated voting numbers were not affected, however. The fix required replacement of the voting computer's motherboard.
The lengthy delay in fixing a major bug brings new questions about the speed Diebold operates when problems are discovered. While the three-year timeframe to patch faulty systems was not a security issue, "time to patch" is a major concern in the security arena. Diebold's proprietary source code and PC hardware has repeatedly undergone serious scrutiny, and it is not known how long the company takes to patch security issues.
University researchers have consistently shown major security flaws in Diebold systems, including a proof-of-concept virus capable of manipulating voting tallies in a real election and remaining hidden from view.
More than 80 percent of Americans will use electronic voting machines to vote in the upcoming November midterm elections, according to the Washington Post. The uncertain security and reliability of American voting machines has raised eyebrows from onlookers around the world, with concerns over democracy and vote-fixing.
Posted by: Kelly Martin
