Voting machine stop on Road to Totalitarianism

From Google "Tech Dirt"
Why Is The Government Afraid To Let Election Officials Test Voting Machines?

from the seems-like-a-simple-request dept

The situation with voting machines just keeps getting more ridiculous. Back in December, when a Florida county election official found serious vulnerabilities with Diebold vote scanners , the company simply laughed it off. Apparently they did so with good reason. Since the election official was still required by federal voting laws to buy such machines, and other voting machine vendors refused to bid on the contract, Diebold was able to set onerous terms, including banning certain tests on the machine. It seems like they're getting government help as well. Interesting People points us to a story about how that same elections official is now fighting against the state government that is trying to set new rules that would require local election officials to first seek state approval before running any tests on voting machines. As the official says, he has no problem notifying the state to any tests, but can't see why they need to approve the tests first. On top of that, given the way other states, such as Colorado, have reacted when local officials want to test their voting machines, it seems like this ruling would likely put a stop to many tests -- such as the one in Colorado that not only upset state officials so badly, but also turned up a huge security hole in those machines . No matter what your political leanings may be, it's a travesty that so few people seem that concerned about making sure election results are accurate -- and that so many politicians seem to be going out of their way to make it even harder to make sure those votes are accurately counted.