CONSPIRACY THEORISTS WHO OPPOSE ELECTRONIC VOTING SUGGEST WE RETURN TO THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF ‘HANGING CHADS’

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

In recent “tests” established by the Secretary of State, all of California’s electronic voting machines “failed” security tests designed to see if computer hackers could break into the various systems.

The Secretary of State has a short time to decide whether or not to decertify the machines for use in next years (early) Presidential primary.

There is a cadre of activists joined together through internet blogs and labeled (by elections officials), the “black bag” people. Outraged by Republican tactics in Florida where George W. stole the election (with a little help from a Republican Supreme Court), these activists are now paranoid about what the GOP might do to stay in power.

One of the electronic voting systems used in California – Diebold – had a CEO who contributed to George W. Sufficient evidence to some that Diebold was putting in the fix in the factory to stack the cards against the Democratic nominee.

When no evidence for that scenario was uncovered, the next logical step was to assume that the systems were made “insecure” to allow hackers to alter the results from the outside.

This latest series of tests show that is possible – in a laboratory environment, when the hackers have been given access codes and where there are no polling place officials to inquire what in the world they think they are doing…

Regardless, the black baggers are now demanding we junk millions of dollars worth of equipment and return to the good old days of paper ballots. You know, the punch cards with the “hanging chads” that we saw in the Florida debacle.