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By Miriam Raftery
April 1, 2009 (La Mesa)—The prospect of election-rigging via electronic vote machines is no longer a theory. In Kentucky, election officials have been arrested for reportedly buying and selling votes—and manipulating votes using electronic voting machines without the knowledge of voters. Officials arrested and charged under Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) laws normally reserved for organized crime included a circuit court judge, the county clerk, a school superintendent and other members of the Clay County elections board, Brad Friedman reported in an article titled “Kentucky Fried Clickin’” at Bradblog.com. According to the indictment, the officials’ alleged criminal actions affected outcomes of federal, local and state primary and general elections in 2002, 2004 and 2006.
Charges include extortion, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to injure voters’ rights and conspiracy to commit voter fraud. The scheme involved both Democrats and Republicans, though a poster claiming to be from Clay County alleged that the Democrats arrested were actually Republicans who re-registered in order to wrest control of precinct leadership positions and influence primary election outcomes.
The machines in the Kentucky scam were ES&S touch-screens capable of flipping votes. ES&S machines are not used in San Diego County, which relies on Diebold electronic voting equipment instead. Last month, Voter’s Watchdog reported on how Diebold machines in California have been found to contain a secret “delete” option capable of wiping out large numbers of ballots in a virtually undetectable way.
But Diebold’s unreliability isn’t limited to voting equipment. In late March, ITWire revealed that anti-virus provider Sophos has discovered malware coding on Diebold automated teller machines (ATM). The software code creates a skimmer capable of secretly recording ATM card details and personal identification numbers (PIN numbers) without the customer’s knowledge. Sophos concluded that the software was pre-installed at the Diebold factory.
“It appears to be an inside job, as it uses undocumented functions of the ATM software and appears to use the printer,” stated an article in ITWire. Similar undocumented functions have repeatedly been found in Diebold voting software.
My bank uses Diebold ATM machines. On my next visit, I will be visiting the bank manager and asking them to remove these untrustworthy machines capable of committing identity theft and/or robbing customers of our funds. I suggest that all of you do the same.
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