SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the your-vote-really-doesn't-count dept.
An anonymous Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official has told several media outlets that hackers have targeted voter registration systems in 20 states.
It also has been reported that nine, and more recently, 18 states, have sought assistance from the DHS to "help improve cyber security for their election systems":
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told a Senate hearing Tuesday that 18 states have taken up his agency's offer to help improve cyber security for their election systems, in the wake of suspected breaches blamed on Russian hackers. "We are seeing a limited number of instances where there have been efforts through cyber intrusions to get into the online presence of various state election agencies. And, one or two of them have been successful, others have not," Johnson said at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing.
[...] Asked by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, whether hackers are seeking to change votes, Johnson said: "What we are seeing are efforts to get into voter registration rolls, the identity of registered voters, things of that nature, not to change a ballot count." Johnson said the matter was still an active investigation and that the source of the intrusions hadn't been concluded.
US officials briefed on the investigation have told CNN that an intrusion in an Illinois voter registration database and an attempted breach in Arizona are believed to be the work of hackers working for Russian spy agencies. US officials say there's strong evidence that Russian government hackers are behind a series [of] other cyber-attacks against the Democratic National Committee and other affiliated political organizations.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2016, @11:35AM
Using electronic voting is just completely irresponsible. Rigging the results is much easier to do on a large scale than if we used paper ballots, and even if the results aren't rigged, just the perception that the results might have been rigged is harmful enough. Also, many voting machines run on non-free proprietary software; having black boxes used to count votes is utterly insane and shouldn't even be allowed under any circumstances. Simple solution: Use paper ballots. Maybe paper ballots are more expensive, but it's worth it. We survived without voting machines before, and can certainly do it now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2016, @11:40AM
Nobody uses paper for anything anymore. Young voters who turned 18 yesterday and who immediately registered to vote ( and the dudes registered with selective service) have never even seen a sheet of paper in their lives. Everything is done on phones, tablets, and laptops now. Everything.
(Score: 2) by drussell on Saturday October 01 2016, @03:49PM
Well, here in Canada our elections are done properly with simple paper ballots and pencils.
All those goofy mechanical and electronic voting systems are completely insane!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday October 01 2016, @12:32PM
The systems in question are voting registration systems, not e-voting. We haven't become Estonia just yet.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Sunday October 02 2016, @01:24PM
yep, except paper ballots *aren't* 'more expensive' (huh? the bedrock activity of small-dee democracy is 'too expensive', after spending BILLIONS on bullshit campaign ads and shit ?), and the POINT isn't to have the cheapest, fastest elections; but the fairest, most accurate elections...
those computer-based systems are ALWAYS being updated or junked for not being reliable (hmmm...), and the PROPRIETARY systems cost tons... (wtf? what are PROPRIETARY s/w systems doing on OUR vote counting/tabulating machines ? ? ? *)
i would also add two provisos: hand-counted by gen-u-wine nekkid ape citizens, AND locally reported, so no jiggery-pokery done at a central vote tabulating/fraud center...
further (while we are dreaming dreams of a real small-dee democracy (oh, and fuck you 'its a republic' pedants)), why not go all out and put in the single most important factor in ATTEMPTING to recapture Empire, and institute what was called 'Instant Runoff Voting', but i guess has been re-branded to 'Ranked Choice Voting'... that it makes tons of sense and opens up democracy to third party efforts is EXACTLY why it will never be allowed to happen...
* um, am i too stoopid to know what i am talking about, or is a fucking vote program *SHOULD* be about as simple a program (or spreadsheet/database) as could be written (ASSUMING they are NOT tied to the internet: WTF for beyond STUPID, false 'convenience' ?)