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See the original image at bradblog.com

NY TIMES MAGAZINE TO RUN 'MASSIVE, SCARY' COVER STORY ON AME

bradblog.com — Cover Graphic Said To Show Exploding Voting Booth with 'WARNING' Label: 'Your vote may be lost, destroyed, miscounted, wrongly attributed or hacked'

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  • Wdeet, on 01/06/2008, -1/+71One expert says that "about 10 percent" of the devices fail in each election.
    10 percent is a MASSIVE amount in any election, this MUST stop, we must have "recountable" paper ballots NOW! Vote early, absentee to get a paper ballot!

    • Mononuclear, on 01/06/2008, -10/+2the same expert said that those 10% that "fail" amounts anywhere from 0 to 1 vote.
      • crzdmn, on 01/06/2008, -2/+40 to 1 vote = citizens vote or electoral vote... 1 electoral vote is a big deal, 1 citizens vote not such a big deal, but in that case than 10% of the votes means only 10 people voted :)
        • Mononuclear, on 01/06/2008, -3/+1why would they use voting machines to count the electoral vote? 1 citizen vote..
      • happyhappyhappy, on 01/06/2008, -0/+2Not sure why he is being dug down. That is straight from the article.
      • mrgreen4242, on 01/06/2008, -1/+1Is that zero or one vote per machine? That's how I read it. Losing 1 vote from 10% of the voting machines is a pretty big deal, imo.
    • Mononuclear, on 01/06/2008, -0/+9Michael Shamos, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University who has examined voting-machine systems for more than 25 years, estimates that about 10 percent of the touch-screen machines “fail” in each election. “In general, those failures result in the loss of zero or one vote,” he told me. “But they’re very disturbing to the public.” From http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/magazine/06Vote- ...
    • joegibes, on 01/06/2008, -2/+3Too bad that in nearly every state, your individual vote (for President) counts for nothing.
      Yay, electoral college!
  • quakerorts, on 01/06/2008, -3/+63Dude, learn to write a headline. "AME?" This is an important story and the headline doesn't even tell you what it's about.
    • BenMuldowney74, on 01/06/2008, -27/+2"NY TIMES MAGAZINE TO RUN 'MASSIVE, SCARY' COVER STORY ON AMERICA'S E-VOTING DISASTER THIS SUNDAY" it got cut off you dumbazz... Dude why dont you learn to go read the story.
      • Schneckehaus, on 01/06/2008, -0/+8Hey genius, did you miss the part where he said it was an important story, and the guy truncated the title wrongly? You're missing hte point.
      • Mononuclear, on 01/06/2008, -0/+8Before you submit there is a preview of what the story will look like so you can see if anything was cut off and if it even makes sense. I suggest people use it.
      • ayeroxor, on 01/06/2008, -2/+3In conclusion, Ben, you drooling idiot: you're part of the problem and should probably kill yourself in order to make the world collectively smarter. Thanks.
      • scotticus, on 01/06/2008, -0/+2You're a *****, as are all of your "friends" who hit the digg button for you.
    • kris33, on 01/06/2008, -0/+8Ame brother, ame!
    • anthonyretro, on 01/06/2008, -0/+4Hell, I thought the Times Magazine was doing a cover story on the AME Church. Buried!
    • ostracize, on 01/06/2008, -0/+2DOESN'T MATTER. IT'S ALL IN CAPS SO WE MUST DIGG!!!
  • sdlee, on 01/06/2008, -4/+70I can't understand how America can't get their act together in this regard.

    Down here in Australia, we have a faultless system that works perfectly using paper, why don't you just follow our lead? It is truely amazing that after 7-8 years, you still haven't managed to get your act together. You go overseas to export democracy when you don't truly have democracy at home. Kind of ironic, no?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_electoral_ ...

    here is the template: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Australian_Hous ...
    • Rabbit63, on 01/06/2008, -17/+5Yes, as crooked as our pollies are in Oz and they are the scum of the earth generally,. at least we know when we vote for the one or the other waste of carbon our vote is secure and counted.

      Bloody stupid baaing sheep Amerikans cannot even manage a fair election anymore and ten percent is enormous when the usual margin between the one or other bad choice is a single percent or so.
      • chall85, on 01/06/2008, -2/+13See, you guys can be arrogant like you are and call us all stupid Americans who can't fix their own election problems, but you have NO IDEA the deep brainwashing that's been done to the people of my country by the corporate elites who are in the White House right now. It would be easier to manage a fair election if nearly every aspect of American politics and life wasn't controlled by corporate fascists.
        • ChaosMotor, on 01/06/2008, -1/+7Sadly, most Americans have no idea how deep their brainwashing from their corporate masters has been.
      • poiuytrewq44, on 01/06/2008, -0/+4Hey how about this, rather than being an arrogant prick, actually contribute and stop preaching your ***** to the choir.
      • sandbags, on 01/06/2008, -1/+1@chall85 :
        WOW!!! thats the first time I've actually heard anyone say this stuff!!!

        We actually do know how brainwashed you are in the rest of the world. Thats why America has such a bad name around the world. But, because most people are not like you and cannot see that when this gets pointed out it's not US bashing but the truth, we get dug down.
    • smacksaw, on 01/06/2008, -0/+4Not on that, but the compulsory voting is pretty good as well.
    • TurboBeard, on 01/06/2008, -1/+4Your links lead to nothing.
      • ayeroxor, on 01/06/2008, -0/+3He edited his post. Digg handily ***** all your long links for you once you edit your post. It's not a bug; it's a feature.
    • Shirleycakes, on 01/06/2008, -4/+8Wait...election fraud is impossible down under? So you all WANTED to join China in censoring the internet?
      • Karmavs, on 01/06/2008, -1/+3The Voting system reflects the thoughts of everyone (over 18) - and in a country where parents & the elderly are a large percentage of voters (most developed nations) - yes, most people do want to censor the internet (not like China does, but like most countries do TV shows & movies). The group which most opposes censoring the internet happens to also be the one that isn't yet allowed to vote.
        The voting system is smart - the voters? Not so much.

        (anyway- the entire last election was down to one issue really - Workchoices, AKA Industrial Relations law)
    • mozealou, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1correct, we are not a democracy... We are a republic.
    • spenderaka, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1Your completely right. I'm sad to say I think there's some arm bending going on behind the scenes and it's making the whole process very ugly.
      A large portion of our younger generation are apathetic and it saddens me to think they could make a change in this society if only they would get off of MTV and VH1.
      These candidates are going to have such a huge impact on their life to come.
      'Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt', The powers that be would rather keep the young minds occupied in other areas while the extremes in both parties try to gain control. It's usually the left and right radicals that show up for the primaries. Then the general public has to pick the least of the worst in the general elections.
      To me, Ron Paul is the only candidate for change. All the other candidates are backed by the old inside the beltway power mongers. These are old dogs and you won't see any new change here. Spender a.k.a.
  • HeartlandUSA, on 01/06/2008, -7/+24sdlee: The Republicans require every form of election fraud so that they can get elected. Yes, they have zero ethics. Its very sad.
    • Rabbit63, on 01/06/2008, -17/+10You stupid American!!! There is NO difference between the Dems or Reps when it comes to election rigging. The elite and Zionists who choose the candidates then shove it down your ill educated necks don't care which side of the aisle they get their man or woman from, they own both sides.

      They will diddle the machines for Hillary or Obama, if the Republican choice is not theirs and if you don't know that, then welcome folks to why the USA is *****. Too many of the sheep buy the ***** that there is a choice between two parties. Didn't you IDIOTS learn anything from the 2006 Congressionals?

      Why does it take a RABBIT from Australia to tell you this? Oh my God you are *****!!!
      • sdlee, on 01/06/2008, -3/+7lol, gotta love that Australian vernacular ;)
      • Schneckehaus, on 01/06/2008, -2/+2Australian English is amazing.
        I love it.
        • ADWestCo, on 01/06/2008, -2/+9It's just the evolution of 19th century prison slang
        • poiuytrewq44, on 01/06/2008, -1/+2Oh yea, isn't being a felon one of the immigration requirements? /sarcasm (normally i'm not this much of an ass, but this guy's being excessively obnoxious).
        • sandbags, on 01/06/2008, -1/+1You guys have no idea what you are talking about. You should see Americans when they get here. I live in a tourist mecha, so I see alot of American tourists. They are mind blown. Not only do we live in one of the worlds most comfortable countries but we're exceptionally liberal. We have public health that means that everyone gets to see a doctor when they need to. We have a schooling system here that is one of the best in the world. Our economy produced a surplus of 15 billion last year. Australia just voted our mini-bush out (not let him retire VOTED his ass out BIG TIME). The greens are now the 3rd largest political party here so we are fairly committed to the environment. National disasters here get a co-ordinated and effective response. No one is suffering brown outs.

          Basically, maybe you guys should just let us run your country for a decade or 2?. Not saying there isn't anything wrong, but we're not committing genocide either. So go ahead and laugh about the way we speak (which might I add is not the totally bastardized "American" english you guys love to spew (y'all?????)) and we will just continue to be a better run nation and an example of what a democratic system can actually look like. Next.
          • Schneckehaus, on 01/06/2008, -0/+2What?
            I wasn't being sarcastic, I genuinely love it.
            I want to go to Australia.
            But I don't want to meet you when I get there, you sound like a dick.
      • herozero, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1it also takes a RABBIT from australia to tell us what we can do about it now. well??
  • principle, on 01/06/2008, -7/+4Electoral fraud is a very complex subject even for experts, so it is no surprise that so many people are confused. The problem is that all current voting systems are flawed. Paper based voting systems were abandoned do to numerous problems such as fictitious ballots, destruction of ballots, etc. Voting machines were invented to cope with these problems. Up to now, technology has failed to deliver. However, such machines are just around the corner. If we abandon voting machines and go back to paper, we will be going right back to where we started.

    http://www.forcefield.net/voting.htm
    • poiuytrewq44, on 01/06/2008, -1/+3All forms of voting are unfair. A group of mathematicians devised a set of rules that a system must follow to be fair. It was then determined that it is impossible to meet all of those requirements.
  • justice7, on 01/06/2008, -2/+25Canada is still done with paper ballots and the results are posted same day. Don't give me this "population difference" ***** either, Toronto is as large as many US cities and very densely populated. They get by just fine.

    Also, even electronic voting machines.. how are they so complicated? A simple PC application which takes your ID and your vote.. holds them all in a local database until the polling is done for the night -- and is then uploaded along with all the others to a central database server .. really simple and inexpensive. More corporate money laundering is whats going on here.
    • Schneckehaus, on 01/06/2008, -0/+8We don't have a database like that.
      There is no American ID number in the US.
      (although, that is becoming what a SSN is)
      Also, one of the tenets of the system is that it is decentralized, one of the tenets of our country, really. Or atleast it used to be...
      Decentralized voting makes it hard to conduct wide-scale fraud, but easy to conduct small-scale fraud.
      If we make it all into a single database, we then get a different problem, much less people with access to the voting system to defraud it, but if someone did, they could do an absurd amount of damage with just one little hack.
    • HPCELarry, on 01/06/2008, -0/+2Well the problem with the electronic one's isn't that they don't work really, its that they are too insecure.
    • poiuytrewq44, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1You obviously don't know what happens behind those applications. Look up coke machine hacking and you'll find out why voting machines are relatively the same.
    • enri, on 01/06/2008, -0/+2We HAVE a simple PC application. The problem is it depends on secrecy for security instead of industry standard practices. It uses a Microsoft Access database that can be edited without evidence of tampering by any second year computer science student. The machines can be opened with a hotel minibar key. It's a complete shame. Money laundering indeed.
      Imagine if these people were responsible for our national security.
    • artanis, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1The problem isn't the simplicity of the machines. Well.. it is partially. It is simple enough that anyone with microsoft office installed on their PC can change the ***** vote count. It is NOT the tool to use in a valid election.
  • flavioribeiro, on 01/06/2008, -0/+6About ***** time!

    It seems people don't take anything seriously unless there's a scary spin to it.
    • tinselt0wn, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1 you dont need a scary spin on this

      its disturbing enough as it is
  • wetmetalthong, on 01/06/2008, -1/+7"If we abandon voting machines and go back to paper, we will be going right back to where we started. "
    Dude, as technology gets better, it becomes far easier to rig. It's far harder to obtain and destroy the paper. Voting machines can be hacked from anywhere, especially with back doors. Despite this, though, I'm actually FOR electronic voting machines, as long as they are open source, published code. The binary must be compared before and after use to a legitimate compile. Make the code available to citizens, and they can test that code with the binary that will be used as the "legitimate" compile. And still use paper receipts.
    Without control of our elections, we are not free. And it'll only get worse.
    • sandbags, on 01/06/2008, -0/+0here here. Give this man a job. President should do just fine.....
  • Beson669, on 01/06/2008, -5/+31THIS JUST IN FROM NYTIMES: TYPING YOUR STORY HEADLINE IN ALL CAPS GIVES THE READER AN IMPRESSION THAT WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY IS SUPER IMPORTANT
    • Falldog, on 01/06/2008, -1/+5They just copy+paste'd the headline from the page, which being in all caps, is still retarded.
    • Karmavs, on 01/06/2008, -1/+3NOW IF ONLY WE HAD A BADLY ANIMATED POLICE LIGHT.
      • dood, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1IT'S UNDER CONSTRUCTION
        • Karmavs, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1OH GOOD. LETS PUT A CONSTRUCTION SIGN THERE SO PEOPLE KNOW THAT, K?
    • KaJuN4, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1That was the least important thing I real all day.
    • Loonacy, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1THIS JUST IN FROM NYTIMES: TYPING YOUR STORY HEADLINE IN AL
    • L0g1X, on 01/06/2008, -0/+0Captializing The First Letter Of Every Word In The Description Makes It So Much More Important.
  • jimcirile, on 01/06/2008, -6/+12SD Lee, we're not exporting democracy. That's BS. We're exporting NeoCon imperialism. That was just a BS cover story. It's all been about the Iraq oil revenue-sharing deal, so Big Oil can get cut in on Iraq profits. Iran, same thing.

    As for why Americans don't use paper ballots, the answer is--because it's a lot easier to rig elections using voting machines. That is the real truth behind the Help America Vote Act, yet another disingenuously named initiative that should really have been called "Help America Vote Republican Act." The whole "hanging chad" BS over the 2000 Florida recount was designed to pave the way for the takeover of our voting systems by the fascists. Nobody got it at the time. Maybe they finally will now.

    Oh, and hey, New York Times, since you have finally gotten around to validating one "conspiracy theory," maybe it's high time you stopped covering up the 9-11 coverup. www.ae911truth.org.
  • las3rjock, on 01/06/2008, -1/+15Digg this story up instead--it links directly to the New York Times article: http://digg.com/security/New_York_Times_Magazine_o ...
  • zonk3r, on 01/06/2008, -2/+4OH NO!!!! AME IS GOING TO KILL US ALL!

    Wait, what?
  • cerealjynx, on 01/06/2008, -0/+4I'm gonna have fun screaming NO ***** at the magazine rack while waiting in line...
  • nshady, on 01/06/2008, -3/+1Sometimes, just one, comma, just isn't en, ough.
  • nomadxx7, on 01/06/2008, -0/+10
    Direct link to Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/magazine/06Vote- ...
  • Darkyuubi, on 01/06/2008, -0/+2Good article. Great read. Dugg
  • ShooterMcGavin, on 01/06/2008, -1/+8I fail to understand why e-voting is such a fiasco. Last time I checked, computers handle BILLIONS of dollars in transactions daily. And have been for years. You're telling me that somehow, the entire human race is incapable in adapting technology to the voting process?

    I don't buy it.

    If I had to guess, I would say that the reasons that e-voting is such boondoggle is that we have multiple interested parties trying to get their grubby little hands in on the process for their own gain.
    • poiuytrewq44, on 01/06/2008, -0/+5Agreed, it's ridiculous. Ironically the manufacturer of the american machines claims that there's no way to make sure that the vote is accurate. While their competitor in Venezuela has devised such a way that there is little to no trouble with the machines.
  • jhails, on 01/06/2008, -0/+8In Canada we use a pencil and a piece of paper to vote. It seems to work just fine and the results are in the same day. We would be happy to sell you some if you don't have any of your own.
  • musicpyrite, on 01/06/2008, -6/+1SOME STUPID ASSHAT POSTS SOMETHING IN ALL CAPS AND EVERYONE DIGGS IT

    MARKED "STUPID AS *****"

    P.S. - RON PAUL FOR PREZ
  • novask, on 01/06/2008, -0/+4Spoiler Warning.

    The big bad guy doing all the hacking is the government.

    End Spoiler.
  • thejko, on 01/06/2008, -0/+2AME is scary indeed =(
  • neko6, on 01/06/2008, -0/+3If you're gonna spend millions on voting machines why not use election protocols thet CANNOT BE FIXED, in which votes CANNOT BE MISCOUNTED, and where any person can VERIFY that their vote has been counted correctly? The best cryptographers in the world have been working on this field for years and yielded voting protocols that satisfy this - and yet the world continues to use obsolete voting protocols so stupidly. Spread the word, inform your friends and peers, and 2012 might be different.

    Here's one example of a voting protocol that cannot be fixed: http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~talm/papers/MN06 ...
  • samsam123, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1cant wait to read the "8,000 world article"
  • AdmiralHalsey, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1FTA: "...disgruntled citizens and scared-senseless computer geeks.."
    Did they insinuate computer geeks aren't citizens?
    Weird. People who know how computers work were aware of how easy computer voting machines could be compromised? Who would have thought?
  • LoneRanger85, on 01/06/2008, -6/+1The democrats are now claiming fraud even before they lose the election. The early bird.... I didn't hear any democrats screaming about every vote counting when they sued to keep Ralph Nader off the ballot in my state during the last election.
  • crazywarthog, on 01/06/2008, -2/+2The New York Times is a dinosaur going extinct. It can not be trusted.
  • m1grant, on 01/06/2008, -0/+4"Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything."
    -Stalin

    Scary stuff this is!
  • l0ne, on 01/06/2008, -1/+2PLEASE DO NOT SCREAM ON MY MONITOR!!!!!111oneone
  • frankiez, on 01/06/2008, -2/+0HOW ABOUT IF I JUST TYPE IN ALL CAPS SO I LOOK LIKE A F'ING IDIOT?!?!?
  • jlhoben, on 01/06/2008, -0/+1How to spin this?.....Tyranny saves trees.
  • homesickalien, on 01/06/2008, -0/+2The best solution to this problem is to have the voting machines print out a receipt that the voter can verify the accuracy of their selection. The receipt should then be placed into a regular ballot box. Afterwards, both numbers should be compared. I can't believe people would trust a voting machine without any paper trail. Ridiculous.
  • HippyInASuit, on 01/07/2008, -0/+1If there is absolute proof that a single vote was incorrectly tallied then that entire state should have all it's votes removed from the tally. No delegates from that state should be allowed to vote. Once a state has been compromised it can not be trusted.
    This way we could eliminate all fraudulent votes and the states would have an incentive to make sure things are done properly.
  •  

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