By Richard Tatlow
Gazette.Net, February 1, 2007
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to article]
| I found the report Lamone: Don't scrap voting machines quite amusing
(The Gazette, Jan. 25).
Linda H. Lamone must have scouted far and wide to find a computer
science professor to agree with her that the Maryland voting machines
are error proof and tamper proof.
Further, as everyone should understand, it's not the addition of a
printed record that ensures accuracy, but rather the use of that printed
record to perform random spots checks to verify machine totals. We don't
want to lose 18,000 votes here as they did in Sarasota, Fla., in November.
Your readers should know that Diebold included a back door in its
software, allowing anyone to change or modify the software. There are no
technical safeguards in place to ensure that only authorized people can
make changes. The same professor Michael I. Shamos has said, It's the
most severe security flaw ever discovered in a voting system.
It's not difficult to understand why Ms. Lamone doesn't want any changes
to the existing machines. As it is, she has the ability to
single-handedly determine the results of any and all elections in Maryland.
Richard Tatlow, Marriottsville |