When Voting Machine Makers Hide Vote Theft (William Chirolas)

  Ever wonder why it is hard to get evidence of vote theft by machine into the record by way of our government officials?

  (Editors Note: Chirolas submitted this story March 25th.)

  William Chirolas -- World News Trust

  April 13, 2007 -- Ever wonder why it is hard to get evidence of vote theft by machine into the record by way of our government officials?

  Well, we had the revelation of a letter from the "I guarantee Ohio for Bush in 04" voting machine maker staff the other day.  And, now we have another letter from voting machine maker ES&S, this one sent to David Drury who oversees the voting system certifications for the state's Division of Elections, just as a group of state officials and the Florida State University's SAIT Lab were preparing to conduct two examinations to test the voting systems used in Sarasota county with a source code review of the software.

  You would think that a voting machine maker would want the world to know why some 18,000 ballots didn't have any vote cast in the 13th Congressional District race. Below, taken from the link above, is the letter's detailed list stating what the testing reports should,  and should not say: 

  "In the letter, ES&S refers to its list as "guidelines," but the instructions are extensive -- running a page and a half -- and make some pretty strong demands.

  Among them, that the report should make (the quotes are ES&S's): 

  * No statements about possible "vulnerabilities"

  * No statements about the "style" of the source code

  * No statements commenting on the use of less desirable techniques, instructions, or constructs

  * No statements regarding conformance to source code standards of any type or kind

  * No statements regarding ES&S hardware or software engineering practices or design methods

  * No statements regarding the use of preferred or non-preferred data structures, data types, data formats, databases, storage methods

  * No statements rendering opinions on security techniques employed or not employed

  * No statements discussing presence or absence of cryptography or other security methods and techniques"

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