Diebold v Leon County Florida

An eerily familiar scenario to that currently being suffered by Stephen Heller (the Diebold Whistleblower whose actions led to the initial decertification of the companies electronic voting machines in California and who is now facing felony charges) today the Miami Herald has an update on another anti-Diebold activist, Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho.

Last year after conducting experiments on Diebold Voting machines, Sancho released a report that indicated how easily the machines could be hacked.

"In other words, you could steal the election and no one would ever know," Sancho said.

It's now looks the E-Voting Empire has begun to strike back, as Sancho has had difficulting finding replacement machines. ES&S says it "did not believe it could have a smooth working relationship with Sancho". According to the Miami Herald it looks like the State of Florida is also getting into the act.

When two of the only three voting machine vendors certified to do business in Florida (other potential competitors are shut out) refused to sell new machines to the troublemaking maverick from Leon County, the state snatched $564,421 in grant money away from Leon County for failing to meet a deadline for -- you guessed it -- obtaining new machines.

He may be a hero in California, but messing with monied interests makes him a pariah in Florida.

Ok, everybodies clearly hot under the collar here - but just what's gotten both the Florida Secretary of State and the various E-voting companies so excitable?

California's voting systems assessment board issued a report last month that cited -- in the very first paragraph -- Leon County's security tests. Sancho had dispatched renowned computer expert Harri Hursti of Finland to attempt to hack Leon County's Diebold voting system. He did. Hursti demonstrated that someone inside the supervisor's office could both alter the outcome of an election and erase any trace of his meddling.

But was this just a fluke? Skewed results from a test where everything neccesary had been handed to Husti? Er, not so much.

California's follow-up investigation ''absolutely vindicated Sancho's concerns,'' said David Wagner, a University of California computer scientist and a member of the voting machine assessment board. ``Our report found all of Ion Sancho's concerns were valid and, in fact, worse than anyone realized.''

As a results of the work in California as well as by Sancho security holes in the system are (finally) being addressed - but it appears that many of the companies hold a grudge.

Wagner noted, instead of getting credit, Sancho has been savaged. One vendor canceled his orders at the last minute, one refused to sell him machines, the third won't return his phone calls.

Salesmen are suddenly too busy to sell him machines. The state, rather than react to possible collusion, promptly canceled his grant and threatened to sue him for failing to fulfill his official duties. A couple of Leon County commissioners have joined the pummeling.

Corporate Clowns to the left him, State idiots to the right - Sancho finds himself caught in a bind.

''Can a vendor punish someone who exposes defects in their product?'' Wagner asked.

``If they can drive out Ion Sancho, this is going to have a chilling effect on election supervisors across the country.''

That it can, and maybe that's exactly the point eh?

I can't possibly stress how critical accurate elections are to the functioning of a free democracy, and especially to getting back control from this Rubber Stamp Congress.

They totally caved on the NSA Investigation, and IMO they're likely to fail on the Dubai Ports deal as well.

California currently has 6 Fighting Dems running for Congress, Florida has 5. Democrats need just 15 seats to take back the House and 6 to take back the Senate.

Defeating Diebold (and ES&S) before we get to the ballot box is the only way.

[Update from the Comments: Sancho has 'breach of contract' proceedings against Diebold.]

Vyan