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Sunday, November 18, 2012

Did Anonymous Save The 2012 Election?



So, what is this letter at Wonkette?:






[UPDATE]: I've been trying to think this through. According to the Ohio election rules:
Security of Voting System and Tabulation Programs/Software

No voting machine or component of a voting system may be connected to the internet. A voting system includes the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical, and electric equipment, including software or firmware required to program, control, and support the equipment that is used to: set up elections, define ballots cast, receive voting data from polling places, count votes, report or display election results, and maintain and produce any audit trail information. The board’s voter registration server is not considered a voting machine or component of a voting system for purposes of this section.

Voting machines or components of a voting system may only be connected via a local computer network cable to the central tabulating system (a closed local network) for the purpose of creating or uploading memory cards, ballots definitions, precinct results, and other required tasks. Additionally, voting machines in a polling location may be connected to a closed local network.

Election results, ballot definitions, or other similar information must never be transferred to a voting system via the internet (except that blank ballots may be transmitted to a UOCAVA voter via the internet or facsimile).
Vote counting should be the simplest possible use of modern computational software - grade-school arithmetic - except, of course, that it is necessary to protect the process from cheaters!

Theoretically, the Ohio voting systems are hermetically sealed from the Internet, but there are always - always! - exceptions. The supposedly outward-looking UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voters) rule is one exception, as is the Secretary of State's Office itself (where election results are presented to the public). Maybe the three "digital tunnels" Anonymous refers to needed to be placed out-of-state in order to exploit the UOCAVA exception.

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