Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold, has patched a serious security weakness in its election tabulation software used in the majority of states, according to a lab that tested the new version and a federal commission that certified it. Full Story »
Posted by Mike LaBonte - via Ellen Miller, Wired
A followup to some great investigative journalism. This story surprisingly falls a little short on context, failing to explain some things that many people will not know about GEMS. The suggestion to read the report seems odd in a news article, but it may be hinting at future stories.
GEMS can be used with both DREs and with optical scanners, but is entirely optional. Before election day it programs the machines. After the election GEMS mostly collects the results from individual machines and combines them. In Massachusetts for example, few if any communities probably use GEMS, outside of Boston.
Zetter reports on changes and testing of electronic vote counting software. He reports past problems, but seems pacified about other and continuing problems with oversight and openness of the vote counting process.
The hacking of the vote by repugnantcans in Diebold may not have been uncovered without the heroic efforts of many people, such as those at blackboxvoting.org
It’s not known if Premier will offer the more secure version to election officials who purchased previous software. The company did not respond to a call for comment ... More »
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