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State orders security safeguards for voting machines
APRS000020060304e234000f4
By BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer
313 Words
04 March 2006
01:09 GMT
Associated Press Newswires
English
(c) 2006. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The state has recommended on Friday that elections
officials across Florida enhance security safeguards for all voting systems
after tests in California and Tallahassee exposed weaknesses.
Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho called the technical advisory
a vindication of his findings last year that some Diebold optical-scan
voting machines can be hacked by election office insiders to change results.
"In other words, you could steal the election and no one would ever know,"
Sancho said.
The advisory to supervisors in all 67 Florida counties cites testing reports
by California's Voting Systems Technology Assessment Advisory Board.
"The Florida Division of Elections believes that potential system
vulnerabilities identified in these reports can be addressed through
enhanced security safeguards," the advisory states.
Sancho said the California testing verified his earlier results, which had
been disputed by the Division of Elections and Diebold.
Sancho contends he has been ostracized by the voting machine industry as a
result of his dispute with Diebold.
He tried to buy touchscreen machines for handicapped voters from another
major manufacturer, but that company, Elections Systems and Software,
refused to fill his order. ES&S issued a statement saying it did not believe
it could have a smooth working relationship with Sancho but gave no
specifics.
As a result, Leon County missed a deadline for complying with a federal law
to provide voting systems for handicapped people and had to return more than
$500,000 in federal funding.
While the technical advisory failed to mention Sancho's testing, the
Division of Elections also Friday sent him a letter threatening legal action
if he fails to comply with the federal law by May 1.
"We will be talking to our lawyers over the weekend," Sancho said. "Somebody
is going to pay for it."
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