Report on the use of uncertified software in California voting machines

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

author iunknown



Report on the use of uncertified software in California voting machines


Hi everyone,

This afternoon I attended a meeting of the California Secretary of
State's Voting Systems Panel, which is in charge of certifying and
decertifying voting systems for California elections.

At this meeting the initial results from the Secretary of State's
audit of counties using Diebold equipment were released.  The
Secretary of State's auditors discovered  that of the 17 counties
using Diebold equipment (both optical scan and touchscreen), all 17
had some software or firmware version in use that was not certified
by the Secretary of State.

It was an astonishing piece of information -- no one knew how
widespread the problem was of Diebold installing uncertified software
in voting systems as was discovered in Alameda County.  It turns out
all of Diebold's California clients are using some version of Diebold
software or firmware that is not certified by the state.

The latest version of Diebold's GEMS software that was certified in
California is 117.17; the audit revealed that counties were using
other versions, such as 117.20, 117.22, 117.23, 118.18, and
118.18.02.    The audit also revealed that three counties
-- Los
Angeles, Trinity and Lassen -- were using software versions that had
not been approved for use at the federal level.

It was a real bombshell.  Secretary of State Kevin Shelley came into
the meeting to address the panel and spoke very firmly and
passionately about the need for voters to have confidence in
elections.  He also suggested that it is possible Diebold could be
decertified in California altogether.

Not all the information the Secretary of State's auditors collected
has been analyzed.  I understand there is a 66 page report that may
be available.  The next meeting of the VSP will be held in
mid-January, around the 14th, to take up the Diebold audit matter
again as well as the development of voter verified paper audit trail
standards for California's computerized voting systems.  The
Secretary of State also will conduct an audit over the next three
months of the 41 other California counties' voting systems to
determine whether their software and equipment is in compliance with
California law.

-- Kim Alexander





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