DUTCH BAN VOTING MACHINES AFTER MAJOR FLAWS ARE REVEALED

DUTCH BAN VOTING MACHINES AFTER MAJOR FLAWS ARE REVEALED

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE - Voters in Amsterdam and 34 other Dutch
cities may be using paper and pencil instead of computerized voting
machines in national elections next month. The government on Monday
banned the use of one common type of computer voting machine, fearing
that secret ballots may not be kept secret. It ordered a review of all
electronic machines after the Nov. 22 election.

Government Renewal Minister Atzo Nicolai said the move was necessary
after an investigation found the machines made by Sdu NV emitted radio
signals that a technology-savvy spy could use to peek at a voters'
choices from a distance of up to several dozen yards.

"What can be detected is the image on the screen that's visible to the
voter, by which his voting could be monitored," Nicolai said in a letter
to parliament.

"In short, the machines made by the company Sdu can now be tapped, and
there are no technical measures that can be taken before the upcoming
elections that would prevent this tapping and guarantee the secrecy of
the ballot."

He said he had revoked the permits for all the machines, about 10
percent of all voting machines used in the country. . .

The turnabout came after a group called "We Don't Trust Voting
Computers" protested the vulnerability of electronic voting to fraud or
manipulation.

"I think this will have repercussions far beyond Holland" said Rop
Gonggrijp, one of the group's founders, after Monday's announcement.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/30/europe/
EU_GEN_Netherlands_Voting_Machines.php


WE DON'T TRUST VOTING COMPUTERS - 90% of the of the votes in The
Netherlands are cast on the Nedap/Groenendaal ES3B voting computer. With
very minor modifications, the same computer is also being used in parts
of Germany and France. Use of this machine in Ireland is currently on
hold after significant doubts were raised concerning its suitability for
elections.

We were able to buy two Nedap voting computers from a Dutch
municipality. . . . When given brief access to the devices at any time
before the election, we can gain complete and virtually undetectable
control over election results. . . . We discovered that radio emanations
from an unmodified ES3B can be received at several meters distance and
be used to tell who votes what.

FULL REPORT
http://www.wijvertrouwenstemcomputersniet.nl/English

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MACHINES IN FLORIDA RECORD WRONG VOTE IN EARLY BALLOTING

CHARLES RABIN AND DARRAN SIMON, MIAMI HERALD - After a week of early
voting, a handful of glitches with electronic voting machines have drawn
the ire of voters, reassurances from elections supervisors -- and a
caution against the careless casting of ballots.

Several South Florida voters say the choices they touched on the
electronic screens were not the ones that appeared on the review screen
-- the final voting step.

Election officials say they aren't aware of any serious voting issues.
But in Broward County, for example, they don't know how widespread the
machine problems are because there's no process for poll workers to
quickly report minor issues and no central database of machine
problems.. . .

Debra A. Reed voted with her boss on Wednesday at African-American
Research Library and Cultural Center near Fort Lauderdale. Her vote went
smoothly, but boss Gary Rudolf called her over to look at what was
happening on his machine. He touched the screen for gubernatorial
candidate Jim Davis, a Democrat, but the review screen repeatedly
registered the Republican, Charlie Crist. . . A poll worker then helped
Rudolf, but it took three tries to get it right, Reed said.

Broward Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Mary Cooney said it's not
uncommon for screens on heavily used machines to slip out of sync,
making votes register incorrectly. Poll workers are trained to
recalibrate them on the spot -- essentially, to realign the video screen
with the electronics inside. The 15-step process is outlined in the
poll-workers manual.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties
/broward_county/15869924.htm