@jennycohn1's Threads
107 added
Too bad @PhillyVotes chose ES&S’s ExpressVote XL Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs) after receiving donations from ES&S lobbyists. Per @philipbstark, who invented Risk Limiting Audits (RLAs), BMDs cannot provide the basis for a meaningful RLA. @PAStateDept @ChrisDeluzio #corruption 1/
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“Leonard Leo [Opus Dei, the Federalist Society] will be able to take credit for something no president has accomplished for decades: installing four Supreme Court justices [Alito, Scalia, Gorsuch, & Kavanaugh].” politico.com/interactives/2… 1/
2/ “As executive vice president of the Federalist Society, Leo has been the quiet architect of a pivotal shift to the right throughout the federal judiciary.”
3/ “Leo first met Trump in March 2016 at the law offices of the firm Jones Day, near the Capitol. Fellow Federalist Don McGahn, then a partner at the firm and now White House counsel, had invited Leo to help hone the candidate’s message on federal judges.”
.@amyklobuchar knows that vendors have re-defined “paper ballots” (w/o the “hand marked” prefix) to include hackable machine-marked printouts (often w/ barcodes) from controversial & risky Ballot Marking Devices. Klobuchar blew it by failing 2 specify HAND MARKED paper ballots.1/
Ballot marking devices should be purchased only for voters who are unable to hand mark and who choose to do so despite the hacking risk. Thanks. 2/ 
This is a distortion of history. The concern in 2000 was punch cards, which machines can rig by cutting the holes so that they’re too hard or too easy to dislodge. No one is calling 4 punch cards. Election-security experts are calling for #HandMarkedPaperBallots (paper & pen). 1/
Several former workers told Dan Rather that Sequoia had changed the paper stock b4 the election & knew in advance the punch cards would cause problems. 2/ wired.com/2007/08/sequoi…
ES&S may have provided some of the defective punch cards in Florida 2000 as well. 3/
.@amyklobuchar knows that vendors have re-defined “paper ballots” (w/o the “hand marked” prefix) to include hackable machine-marked printouts (often w/ barcodes) from controversial & risky Ballot Marking Devices. Klobuchar blew it by failing 2 specify HAND MARKED paper ballots.1/
Ballot marking devices should be purchased only for voters who are unable to hand mark and who choose to do so despite the hacking risk. Thanks. 2/
ES&S (44% US election equipment) & IDOX (election IT company for Brexit) caused large voter data leaks in the US & UK.
IDOX partners with Scytl, which has partnered w/ ES&S in the UK.
h/t @blmohr
Scytl’s former director founded ES&S.
Thread. @carolecadwalla 1/
IDOX partners with Scytl, which has partnered w/ ES&S in the UK.
h/t @blmohr
Scytl’s former director founded ES&S.
Thread. @carolecadwalla 1/
2/ Source re: ES&S voter data leak: gizmodo.com/us-voting-mach…
3/ Source re: IDOX voter data leak: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2…
I wrote this article re: the CNP, a Religious Right/billionaire networking group w/ ties to voter data breaches & voting machine vendor ES&S. Recent members include the Cambridge Analytica crew (KA, Bannon, the Mercers), R. DeVos, Pence, & Wayne LaPierre. link.medium.com/EoFdK93xN0
Meanwhile....
ES&S has the contracts in Georgia and TN where voting machines seem to be losing black votes (as previously duscussed by @LuluFriesdat in her Netroots panel). I wrote about that and other concerns w/ ES&S here: link.medium.com/WNb4hmByN0
It appears from this article that ES&S may have come up w/ a “Permission to Cheat” option (allowing voters to cast their votes w/o verifying selections on the the paper) for non-hybrid ExpressVote Ballot Marking Devices. Is that how u read it?! ⬇️ 1/ boonvilledailynews.com/news/20190930/…
Here is the relevant part of the article: 2/
3/ Note that voters in this county will have the option to hand mark their ballots. But the above-referenced option on the ExpressVote touchscreens is unacceptable.
Illinois uses epollbooks with a live connection to state or county voter registration systems on Election Day. What happens if insiders or hackers change the state or county voter registration systems to falsely reflect that certain voters have already voted (when they haven’t)?!
This is a vulnerability w/ epollbooks that cannot be mitigated with backup paper voter lists or allowing same-day voter registration, right? Suggestions?
“If an e-Pollbook has a live connection to the state election day voter roll, compromising one device could be used to change statewide records.” belfercenter.org/publication/st…
Which jurisdictions have “live connections”?! @RobbyMook @BelferCenter @McFaul @DwightShellman @SEGreenhalgh
Which jurisdictions have “live connections”?! @RobbyMook @BelferCenter @McFaul @DwightShellman @SEGreenhalgh
The “system” is completely broken. The people who misrepresented election security in 2016 are setting the stage for 2020. #ProtectOurVotes
Why does @beckerdavidj get a seat at the election-security table after he helped spread the myth (debunked by @kimzetter) that no voting machines connect to the internet & helped bury legitimate concerns about potentially hacked VR Systems epollbooks in NC? What is going on?! 1/
2/ Thread with sources:
.@beckerdavidj helped spread the myth that no voting machines connect to the internet, tried to bury concerns w/ NC’s electronic poll books in 2016, and (most recently) has helped @GASecofState bury concerns about “universal use” ballot marking devices. 1/ docs.house.gov/meetings/SY/SY…
Becker’s misleading congressional testimony about internet connectivity is in post 1. Contrary to his suggestion, as reported by @KimZetter, and as many experts have been warning, some voting machines in key swing states DO connect to the internet. vice.com/en_us/article/… 2/
Here is where Becker tried to bury concerns about the electronic pollbooks that malfunctioned in Durham County, NC. 3/
As we barrel toward 2020, why are we blindly trusting these new electronic pollbooks from GOP-connected companies like Tenex and Knowink?! This equipment will confirm whether voters are registered and allowed to vote. Corrupt insiders or hackers could wreak havoc. 1/
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The inventor of Risk Limiting Audits, @philipbstark, says the security model for the “universal use” Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs) sweeping large swaths of the U.S. (in lieu of unhackable HAND MARKED paper ballots) is broken, including L.A. County’s new BMD system called VSAP. 1/
@JoeBeOne (also on the thread) is with the Center for Democracy and Technology, which has partnered with Voting Works to develop Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs). 2/
CDT is funded by @DemocracyFund, which pays BMD proponent David Becker (an electronic-voting activist) who is helping Georgia Governor Brian Kemp force BMDs down the public’s throat despite opposition from independent election-security experts & election integrity advocates. 3/
How common? GA, SC, NJ, DE, & counties in PA, WI, OH, TN, WV, TX, KY, IN, KS, CA, MT, & NY, reject unhackable HAND marked paper ballots as a primary system in favor of hackable MACHINE marked printouts from BMDs supplied by vendors who provide gifts to lawmakers & officials. 1/
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3/ It is not clear that these jurisdictions will give voters the option to hand mark if they ask at the polling place. It varies by state & county. Most voters don’t know to ask. The BMDs are being purchased as the main voting system in these places.
This is the Ron DeSantis (previously Jeb Bush) appointee who demonstrated Florida’s electronic poll books to Russian observers in March 2015 & is now selling electronic pollbooks for Tenex as we barrel toward 2020. 1/
2/ Thread.
3/ Thank you to @glb101 for bringing this to my attention.
We have a rather sudden explosion in epollbook use as we barrel toward 2020, and it seems there has been little or no vetting of the vendors or meaningful oversight! Thread.
“According to the 2018 Election Administration and Voting Survey, ... 26.2% of jurisdictions nationwide reported using e-poll books, representing a 48% increase in e-poll book usage since the 2016 election.” ncsl.org/research/elect…
Former Florida election official Mike Ertel (R) demonstrated electronic poll books to a Russian delegation in March 2015.
Ertel now works with epollbook vendor Tenex, which recently landed a contract to provide epollbooks to the entire state of KY.
h/t @glb101 1/
Ertel now works with epollbook vendor Tenex, which recently landed a contract to provide epollbooks to the entire state of KY.
h/t @glb101 1/
2/ “The [Kentucky] State Finance and Administration Cabinet awarded a contract for electronic poll books to Tenex Software Solutions, a Tampa, Florida-based company, for up to 5,500 e-poll books for the state's 3,732 voting precincts.” - 7/26/19 somerset-kentucky.com/news/local_new…
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I worry about e-poll books in the context of early voting & vote centers bc, in those contexts, I believe they connect w/ the state or county VR database itself (not a pre-loaded copy). If so, a hacked or stolen epollbook could be used to alter the main database, yes? Or no? 1/
And in jurisdictions with a voter registration cutoff (and no automatic voter registration), there would be no remedy for a deleted voter, right? Or am I on a tangent? 2/
It’s not that there wouldn’t be massive chaos and potential disenfranchisement if the voter-roll copy lists were hacked on Election Day. But at least that could be mitigated a bit with provisional voting as long as the main database isn’t altered. 3/
Unbeknownst to most of the media & public, @VerifiedVoting & other insiders define “voter marked” to include MACHINE MARKED (hackable) printouts from controversial new Ballot Marking Devices. VV receives funding support from Microsoft, which partners w/ES&S, a vendor of BMDs. 1/
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New question for election-tech experts: If e-pollbooks are used for early voting and/or in large vote centers, is it your understanding that they connect directly via the internet to the county or state voter registration system (vs. using pre-loaded copies of the voter rolls)?
“As many as 4,000 voters may have been knocked off the registration list [in Hamilton County Ohio] because of the error” involving new e-poll books from Tenex - 2015 cincinnati.com/story/news/201…
“According to federal data, nearly half of all voters who voted in person in 2016 signed in at their polling place using an electronic poll book. That's up from 27 percent just one presidential election prior.” npr.org/2019/05/30/727… 1/
“Like many issues surrounding elections, moving from paper to a digital process may bring convenience, but it also brings big questions about security and reliability.” 2/
The benefits of electronic poll books “rely on the e-poll books' being able to be connected to the Internet or at least to an election board's network, thereby greatly increasing vulnerability to a cyberattack...” - @JoeBeOne 3/
