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1. Dear Mr. @miwine (aka Michael Wines of the @NYT),
I enjoyed your recent article about the vulnerability of our voting system to hacking,
I enjoyed your recent article about the vulnerability of our voting system to hacking,
2. with a major caveat: it perpetuates the MYTH that it would be exceedingly difficult to hack the voting machines themselves...
3. Specifically, you write that "remotely infiltrating machines of different makesand models and then covertly changing the vote count is..
4. challenging" and thus "American officials [have] said Russian hackers focused on other internet-accessible targets," like computers at...
5. ... at the DNC and e-polling vendors. Your article does not challenge this bogus claim by our election officials. On the contrary, it ...
6. accepts at face value that voting machines are not internet accessible, making it somehow unlikely that anyone would attempt 2 hack them.
7. But this claim by our election officials and others in government--and yes the media--is a LIE. The plain, cold, hard truth is that...
8. the internet CAN be used to hack our voting machines even if the voting machines themselves are not connected to it. This concept is...
9. not even difficult 2 understand. The concept is explained here. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/877325199485444096
10. And here. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/883387792507641856
11. And here. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/876958305750351872
12. And here. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/878031975155515393
13. In addition, although your more recent article (thanks for forwarding to me) vaguely mentions the possibility of corrupt "insiders,"...
14. it omits to mention that Diebold/Premier (owned by Dominion since 2010) was founded by CRIMINALS. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/915088927882584064
15. Nor does it mention that Diebold/Premier (owned by Dominion since 2010) hired another CRIMINAL, J. Dean (23 counts of embezzlement...
16. ... involving COMPUTER TAMPERING and a HIGH DEGREE OF SOPHISTICATION). https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/898619034421280768
17. Nor does it mention that Dean maintained a consulting relationship w/ Diebold even after Diebold told the AP that Dean was...
17. ...no longer with the company. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/919428302871207936
18. Here is more info. abt convicted felon Dean & his relationship to Diebold/Premier (30% of US voting equipment). https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/898815614793338881
19. And more. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/904936651058692096
20. And more. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/904931749280362496
21. Corrupt insiders indeed...
22. Because our trusted media, including the @NYT, has deemed Mr. Dean's relationship 2 Diebold 2 be NOT newsworthy, I can only speculate
23. ... when, if at all, convicted felon Dean's relationship to Diebold (30% US voting equipment) ended. On a related point, your readers...
24. might like to know that just TWO vendors Diebold/Premier (of the felons) and ES&S, account for 70% of US voting equipment.
25. Source for post 24. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/903734529210195968
26. Additional source for post 24. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/919422167460192256
27. And that those two separate vendors accounting for 70% of U.S. voting equipment aren't very "separate" at all. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/919421495058640896
28. Here's more re: the incestuous relationship btwn Diebold/Premier (of the felons) & ES&S (formerly AIS/DataMark). https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/913517620350951425
29. Perhaps the media doesn't want to report these things because there is no "direct evidence" the felons at Diebold or those who...
30. made the dubious decision 2 hire them (e.g., Bob Urosevich, who founded ES&S and then moved on to Global/Diebold, where he hired Dean)..
31. ... have actually rigged any of our elections. If so, does the media realize what this means?!
32. IT MEANS THAT THERE ARE NO CHECKS WHATSOEVER ON WHO IS GIVEN DIRECT CONTROL OVER THE VOTING MACHINES!!
33. I would like to know how that is compatible with democracy.
34. On a related point, the implied assumption that we can expect NO OVERSIGHT absent proof of actual vote rigging ignores that we have ...
35. a realistic means of knowing whether our elections are legitimate. WE DO NOT. And the problem stems not just from Trump or the current..
36. Congress or DHS declining to look (as suggested in your article and pretty much all others on the subject)....
37. ... It stems from the fact that just 26 states conduct any sort of post-election audit at all! https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/919968627549335552
38. Per IT expert Alex Halderman (who testified to the Senate Intel Committee on election security), just two conduct post-election audits..
39. ... ROBUST enough to detect hacking. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/905852891621089280
40. As for the states' HAND recount laws, those are generally triggered only if the margin of victory between the two candidates is ...
41. ... exceedingly small. Although these laws MIGHT help in the event computer glitches caused the wrong candidate in a close race to...
42. ... be declared the winner, they offer no protection against intentional vote tampering bc anyone who gains access to tamper...
43. (whether directly or thru the internet) can simply flip more votes so as to exceed the specified hand recount margin. As we saw in...
44. ...2016 w/ the recount efforts, the courts have been USELESS in these situations. I discuss this in detail here. https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/919913011833225217
45. Thus, to protect democracy in 2018, we need STATE LAWS requiring immediate, public & meaningful HAND audits of every single race.
46. In addition, to protect democracy in 2018, we need STATE LAWS requiring full HAND recounts of races where the final result differs ...
47.... significantly from the last pre-election polls and/or exit polls. We need this because, as explained above, the current hand...
48. ... recount laws WILL NOT SUFFICE TO DETECT HACKING! But here's the rub. Republicans will NEVER AGREE to enact laws requiring...
49. ... HAND recounts in the event of significant disparity between polling and final election results. Why do I say this? Because pretty...
50. ...much every single race 2 show such significant disparity since the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (which allocated billions of dollars
51. ... for states to buy voting machines has favored a REPUBLICAN. https://www.alternet.org/something-stinks-when-exit-polls-and-official-counts-dont-match
52. Yes, yes, I know, Republicans are supposedly just too "shy" to talk to pollsters. Except @JonathanSimon14, the same election forensics..
53.. expert who analyzed the data supporting post 51, also conducted a study in 04 that DEBUNKED THE SHY REPUB. MYTH https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/882702165382316032
54. And regardless of whether the shy Republican myth is true (which it apparently is not), Republicans insistence that it IS true means...
55. the chances of the US ever adopting meaningful HAND RECOUNT laws (i.e., requiring a full hand recount if official result differs...
56. ... significantly from the polls) is about ZERO. As for the post-election audits, even if Republicans in the state legislatures of...
57. key swing states pass laws requiring them after every election (which I find highly unlikely), what will happen if the hand audit...
58. ... produces a different outcome than the machine tally. Do u really think someone like Trump would agree that the machine tally was...
59. ... wrong? Or would he claim that the HAND audit, which reviews only a sample of the votes, is more likely to have been in error?
60. To summarize, what we have is an untenable situation in which voting machines CAN easily be hacked either through direct access OR..
61. THE INTERNET, combined w/ a media that will not report when actual CRIMINALS have direct access to the programming & machines, ...
62. ... combined with non-existent or wholly inadequate post-election hand audit laws, combined with wholly inadequate hand recount laws,
63. .. combined w/ a Republican party that has NO INCENTIVE to enact MEANINGFUL hand audit or hand recount laws (if anything, they have...
64. ... an incentive to maintain the status quo), combined with TEPID reporting about the GRAVITY of the situation w/ our voting machines.
65. Although I appreciate your at least "dipping your toe" into the subject of voting machine vulnerability (you have done more than most)..
66. .. it is not enough. Not by a long shot. America must be told by a news source it can trust, like the @NYT, that the situation w/ our...
67. voting machines is BROKEN and cannot be UNBROKEN for the reasons outlined above. America must be told that there IS in fact another way.
68. By which I mean HAND COUNTED ELECTIONS. Like almost every other western democracy embraces due to concerns about voting machine...
69. vulnerability to hacking...
70. Germany ruled EVMs unconstitutional bc the average voter cannot see or understand their internal processes. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6961
71. Due to recent concerns over Russian meddling, France now requires hand counted paper ballots even for absentees https://www.pcworld.com/article/3178417/security/fears-of-election-hacking-spread-in-europe.html
72. In 2017, the Netherlands switched to hand counted ballots due to hacking concerns as well. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/world/europe/netherlands-hacking-concerns-hand-count-ballots.html
73. So did Holland.
http://protectyourhome.tk/a/holland-used-paper-ballots-to-foil-putin-but-despite-hacking-georgia-refuses-to-do-likewise/
http://protectyourhome.tk/a/holland-used-paper-ballots-to-foil-putin-but-despite-hacking-georgia-refuses-to-do-likewise/
74. And Norway.
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/life-and-public/2017/09/norwegian-votes-be-counted-manually-fear-election-hacking …
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/life-and-public/2017/09/norwegian-votes-be-counted-manually-fear-election-hacking …
75. In Canada, paper ballots are counted by hand on election night, and normally counting done w/in four hours http://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=crimjust_facpub …
76. But in America, voters are told to “suck it up” unless they themselves find proof of actual vote rigging somewhere in the dark.
77. Without the benefit of a system that would allow them to know if an election result is legitimate or not. Without the hope of getting...
78. laws passed in the state legislatures that would allow them to know if future elections have been rigged. Our election system is BROKEN.
79. And it can't be UNBROKEN if our own media remains tight lipped or coy about it. America needs an ice cold shower of truth. I hope you...
80. will consider turning on the faucet full force. If not you, then who? Thank you.
81. P.S. Please excuse the typos in this. I am on my way to the hospital to visit my father and had to do this quickly. I wanted to get it..
82. out now because I saw that I had your attention (at least as of last night). Thank you for your consideration.
83. PPS. The award for my biggest typo of all goes to post 34. I meant that current reporting "implies" (not "ignores) that voters ...
84. have a realistic means to know if elections are legit or not. I really wish Twitter would get an edit function...
85. Article by @miwine that was impetus from this thread. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/us/voting-russians-hacking-states-.html?emc=eta1
