
Voting Machine Vendor Installed Remote-Access Software on Systems Sold to States - uptown
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/mb4ezy/top-voting-machine-vendor-admits-it-installed-remote-access-software-on-systems-sold-to-states
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DonHopkins
All election software should be open source and publicly inspectable, like the
code in the Dumbold Voting Machine for The Sims 1! ;)

[https://medium.com/@donhopkins/dumbold-voting-machine-for-
th...](https://medium.com/@donhopkins/dumbold-voting-machine-for-the-
sims-1-3e76f394452c)

Somebody actually reprogrammed the Dumbold Voting Machine to run their
intelligent university campus simulation!

[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4370926_Towards_a_m...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4370926_Towards_a_mixed_reality_intelligent_campus)

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seba_dos1
Electronic voting seems like one of those ideas that seem great when you start
programming in your teens, but you eventually grow out of it when you start to
see all the security considerations, costs and possible problems. With some
experience in the field, it just starts to seem cheaper and easier to stick to
the paper.

I'm always stunned when I'm reminded that there are places in the world that
not only went electronic, but absolutely fail at its basic security as opposed
to getting burned with some elaborate and/or clever attack.

~~~
DonHopkins
That naive Mom's Basement idealism coincides with the Atlas Shrugged years.
Voters should just buy their own voting machines, and let the market decide!

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IGI-111
So I suppose my stance that the benefits of online voting for direct democracy
largely outweight the complexity cost of a sufficiently secure solution are
equivalent to the older type of objectivists who realize that free market
isn't perfect but that it does lead to better outcomes in most cases.

That we can't produce secure voting software is just a testament to how much
we suck at software engineering and making safe computers in general, because
cryptographically this is a solved problem.

Hell I'd argue that modern implementations like Estonia's are pretty close to
an acceptable standard of trustlessness. But that's thanks to open standards
and public ledgers. The closed source voting machine was never a good idea,
and never will be.

Given the ancap vibe of blockchain in general this is all a bit ironic isn't
it?

~~~
notfromhere
online voting is a solution in search of a problem. Digital voting just makes
it vulnerable to hacking and the general public barely understands how
computer works.

Paper ballots are cheap and auditable, and can be understood by anyone that
knows how to count.

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kadenshep
This is one of the subjects I wish developers (of all persuasions) would
consistently put pressure on local representatives; don't let these sales to
voting companies just happen without pushback.

We can't expect representatives or legislatures to be technically adept at all
things (or anything for that matter). The fact that this has all gone down
over the last couple of years without much of a fuss from our industry is
shameful. We get riled up over corporate battles, which tech stack is the
best, but when it comes to protecting the people's sovereignty and everyone's
rights, the silence from our industry as a whole, across all strata, is
deafening. We should be angry. We should be loud. It should be a subject that
comes up at least once a month at meet ups and happy hours. But like the rest
of the populace, we've been silent. A good portion of us (developers) have
been just as ignorant about acquisitions and policies surrounding voting
machines as the general populace.

If there is one thing that you should write or call your representatives about
(local, state, and federal), just by virtue of your profession and interests,
it needs to be about e-voting. All developers have what I believe is an
ethical duty to our country to be educated about this subject and to make sure
we're disseminating accurate and helpful information to our representatives,
our friends, our neighbors, and our families.

Here's some helpful links to get you started if you've never broached this
subject, need a refresher, or just want to see how you can help out:

* [https://trustthevote.org/](https://trustthevote.org/)

* [https://www.eff.org/issues/e-voting](https://www.eff.org/issues/e-voting)

* [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/12/audit-better-faster-ch...](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/12/audit-better-faster-cheaper)

* [https://www.eff.org/wp/accessibility-and-auditability-electr...](https://www.eff.org/wp/accessibility-and-auditability-electronic-voting)

I firmly believe that we should stick with pen and paper. However, I think
that battle is already lost. We need to secure what governments/people want to
use and we need to do our part to make sure our representatives/voting boards
are making informed choices about which systems they'll be deploying in the
field.

Educate yourself and contact your representatives. Do your part for our
democracy.

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rjvbk
I don't think it's technically possible to make voting machines secure enough
to use them in an election. So I am happy these things happen so the idea of
using voting machines fades away forever.

