CIA Warns EAC on the QT
It’s just like the federal Election Assistance Commission (created by HAVA) to keep quiet about the bad news, so don’t be surprised at this story. They were warned last month about the dangers of computerized vote counts, but they kept the warning out of the press until McClatchy broke the story this week.
The warning came from the CIA. An agent said some provocative things such as
“I follow the vote. And wherever the vote becomes an electron and touches a computer, that’s an opportunity for a malicious actor potentially to . . . make bad things happen.”
He also alleged that two highly publicized 2004 elections had seen electronic tampering–Venezuela and Ukraine. Lots of Americans think Ohio should be added to that list of fishy 2004 elections.
Secret Agent guy says opportunities abound when computers are used at the polls:
Stigall told the Election Assistance Commission, a tiny agency that Congress created in 2002 to modernize U.S. voting, that computerized electoral systems can be manipulated at five stages, from altering voter registration lists to posting results.
Internet voting was also panned by Stigall. We have all the bad stuff right here in the USA: internet balloting, computerized counting (in Iowa yet!), paperless voting machines, wireless connections, and motivated politicians, I’m sure. I wouldn’t even trust the CIA.