Originally published February 16 2006
E-vote law sparks discussion in North Carolina
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and chair of California's Voting Systems Technical Assessment and Advisory Board, discusses a new law aimed at securing voting machines against tampering and manipulation in North Carolina.
E-voting rules head to court this week in North Carolina, where election officials stand accused of ignoring a tough new state law designed to raise the bar on procedures to ensure machines are secure and accurate.
A hearing is set for Wednesday in the suit, filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, against two state agencies in North Carolina for certifying voting machines in violation of state law.
"Everyone is watching this carefully," said David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and chair of California's Voting Systems Technical Assessment and Advisory Board, which advises the secretary of state on voting systems.
The move caps a controversy that engulfed the company after O'Dell wrote a fund-raising letter at the height of the 2004 presidential contest promising to deliver Ohio to President George W. Bush.
In the suit filed last week, EFF says the North Carolina State Board of Elections -- working with the Office of Information Technology Services -- certified two vendors to sell machines in North Carolina although the vendors did not comply with a new law requiring them to place all source code for a system into escrow before the machines could be certified.
The suit also charges state officials with breaking the law in failing to review the source code before certifying voting systems of the two vendors, Diebold and Election Systems and Software.
The Public Confidence in Elections bill was passed after e-voting mishaps in 2002 and 2004 angered North Carolina voters and election officials.
In the state's 2002 primary, touch-screen machines made by Election Systems and Software experienced problems in two counties and lost more than 400 ballots.
Diebold spokesman David Bear said the filing was necessary because Diebold's system uses some commercial-off-the-shelf software, or COTS, created by other companies.
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