I am very political and yet I try not to mix politics and technology, the topics just don’t mix. Over the past 6 months or so I have watched the drama unfold surrounding the Diebold voting machines. I vote via absentee ballet and I am not worried about the accuracy of my vote, but I am concerned that the 1000’s of machines out their could be targeted by Hackers and Activist who wish to disrupt and manipulate such machines. Being they can literally be hijacked in several seconds I wonder if they machines will be targeted?
Municipalities and States that own these machines need to have the balls to stand up and say hey we have a broken system lets fix it. As in all government contracts it’s simply boils down to dollars. Local governments have laid out millions of tax payer dollars to automate the voting process and most are to scared to admit they have a problem.
I have a solution. My Grandmother who is 93 years old and my Mother (age not divulged) have worked in our district to count votes when we did it the old fashioned way on paper. What is so wrong with paper when the technology behind diebold voting machines has been proven not to be secure. Sure you may have a few spoiled ballots because someone forgot their glasses or did not take the time to read the instructions. Voting technology is only as good as the programmer that designed it. But one thing is for sure it does not take a programmer to design a voting ballot and there is no chance anyone is going to be able to hack it. [Dan Gillmor]