Voting machine has hole, it's claimed

According to pressure group Blackbox Voting, here, by entering a two digit code on the Diebold central tabulator a second set of votes is created. This set of votes can be changed, so that it no longer matches the correct votes, this web site alleges.

The voting system will then read the totals from the bogus vote set. It takes only seconds to change the votes, it's claimed.

There are more than a 1,000 Diebolds in place, and they count up to two million votes at a time. According to Blackbox not a single location in the US has implemented security measures to fully mitigate the risks.

However, the group said that it is having problems making politicians understand the importance of the problem.

They demonstrated the apparent glitch to the California Attorney General in secret nearly a year ago. The only response from the guvnor of the State, it's claimed, was for him to "terminate" the funds which would have paid for increased scrutiny of the voting system. The month after the group demonstrated the glitch to CNBC hacks, they were allowed to show it to the politicians.

The meeting was behind closed doors it seems. According to Black Box the undersecretary of state, Mark Kyle, left early, and one voting panel member, John Mott Smith, appeared to sleep through the entire thing. So there appears to be no joy there.

The machine's manufacturer are aware of the claims. In fact they tried to slap a cease and desist order on the group in 2003 when it first approached them. However, despite the group offering to show the company how to fix the problem it has ignored them. The full story can be found here. µ