Friday

Election Fraud in '04...No, you don't say

Sorry. I've been gone for awhile what with work picking up and it being summer (translate: Softball and beer drinking season) and all. I seriously wasn't planning on posting anything at all this summer and then I read this Raw Story article I found via The Political Carnival about possible vote tampering in Georgia and Ohio, and I just can't help but add my two cents.

A leading cyber-security expert and former adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has fresh evidence regarding election fraud on Diebold electronic voting machines during the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial and senatorial elections.

Stephen Spoonamore is the founder and until recently the CEO of Cybrinth LLC, an information technology policy and security firm that serves Fortune 100 companies.

(snip)

Spoonamore received the Diebold patch from a whistleblower close to the office of Cathy Cox, Georgia’s then-Secretary of State. In discussions with RAW STORY, the whistleblower -- who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation -- said that he became suspicious of Diebold's actions in Georgia for two reasons. The first red flag went up when the computer patch was installed in person by Diebold CEO Bob Urosevich, who flew in from Texas and applied it in just two counties, DeKalb and Fulton, both Democratic strongholds. The source states that Cox was not privy to these changes until after the election and that she became particularly concerned over the patch being installed in just those two counties.


What's so suspicious about the CEO of a major corporation fixing two machines in two highly Democratic counties? Don't CEO's do that kind of legwork all the time? Just the other day Bill Gates came to my office to show me how to use the new animation features in PowerPoint 2007.

The whistleblower said another flag went up when it became apparent that the patch installed by Urosevich had failed to fix a problem with the computer clock, which employees from Diebold and the Georgia Secretary of State’s office had been told the patch was designed specifically to address.


In all honesty, that wouldn't be the first time that a patch failed to fix a problem, but now things are starting to smell a tad rank.

Some critics of electronic voting raised questions about the 2002 Georgia race even at the time. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, who was five percentage points ahead of Republican challenger Saxby Chambliss in polls taken a week before the vote, lost 53% to 46%. Incumbent Democratic Governor Roy Barnes, who led challenger Sonny Perdue in the polls by eleven points, lost 51% to 46%. However, because the Diebold machines used throughout the state provided no paper trail, it was impossible to ask for a recount in either case.


WTF? Now my blood pressure is heading upwards.

Individuals close to Arnebeck's office said Spoonamore confirmed that the patch included nothing to repair a clock problem. Instead, he identified two parallel programs, both having the full software code and even the same audio instructions for the deaf. Spoonamore said he could not understand the need for a second copy of the exact same program -- and without access to the machine for which the patch was designed, he could not learn more. Instead, he took the evidence to the Cyber-Security Division of the Department of Justice and reported the series of events to authorities. The Justice Department has not yet acted on his report.


Whoa! There's a surprise. The insanely loyal Bushie run DoJ hasn't acted on his report. Well, I'll be dipped in shit.

What a fucking joke the rule of law has become in the last seven years. It truly does break my heart, and is partially the reason I don't write that much in the summer. I don't care to get all worked up about this mess when it's time to be outside having fun. And with that, I bid you adieu until next time.

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