[LINK] Florida vote inquiry

[Jan Whitaker]

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/04/17/ap3619937.html
House to Begin Probe Into Florida Election
     By Phil Davis
     The Associated Press

     Tuesday 16 April 2007

     A House task force will take the first steps Tuesday in an 
investigation of a Florida congressional election decided by 369 
votes amid complaints that voting machines failed to count thousands 
of electronic ballots.

     Republican Vern Buchanan was declared the winner of the 
election, a result Democrat Christine Jennings is challenging in Florida court.

     The House, which has final authority over its membership, 
typically waits until legal challenges are completed before taking 
action. But Florida Democrats last month asked the House 
Administration Committee to begin reviewing the election after 
reports of an anomaly in the touch-screen voting machines that 
recorded about 18,000 skipped votes in Sarasota County.

     Committee Chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Calif., 
created the three-member task force to investigate the issue and 
report back to the full committee.

     Jennings' spokesman David Kochman said it is time for 
congressional intervention and order a revote.

     "We think this is an important step," Kochman said Monday. "It's 
already been more than five months since the election and we don't 
have any answers. Hopefully this will bring answers."

     The controversy in Florida's 13th Congressional District has 
become a rallying point for advocates challenging the accuracy of 
electronic voting machines.

     News reports last month revealed that voting machine 
manufacturer Elections Systems & Software informed state and local 
election officials of the machine's slow response times nearly three 
months before the November election.

     Kochman said the company's memo is significant because it shows 
there were problems with the iVotronic machines that were not 
disclosed to the public or Jennings' lawyers, although they had 
requested all correspondence about issues with the machines.

     The company has said the slow response is not the reason no 
votes were recorded in the race for some 18,000 Sarasota County 
voters who cast ballots in other contests.

     The rate of non-votes in the county was far beyond the norm, but 
a state audit and two recounts found no evidence of a malfunction in 
the machines.

     Jennings and several voter advocacy groups have appealed a 
circuit judge's decision not to allow them access to ES&S source 
code, which the company says is proprietary. A decision on those 
cases is still pending.

     Buchanan and Jennings campaigned for the House seat Katherine 
Harris left to make an unsuccessful Senate run. As Florida's 
secretary of state in 2000, Harris presided over the presidential 
election recount that gave George W. Bush the presidency.

and this:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4396
    Voting Machines Vulnerable to "Serious" Vote-Flipping Attack
     By Michael Richardson and Brad Friedman
     Bradblog

     Monday 16 April 2007
Scientific report finds "serious security vulnerability" similar to 
"Princeton Diebold virus hack" in widely used iVotronic system, 
allowing a single person to change election results across entire 
county without detection. Despite GAO confirmed mandate to serve as 
info "clearinghouse," embattled EAC says they will take no action to 
alert elections officials, public.




Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/

'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, 
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