if Diebold had a delete audit log button on its ATMs! (The ATMs are rather good, by the way.)

Of course, we all know what is more important than counting votes.

Remember Nixon's secretary Rosemary Wood, who erased 18 minutes of critical tape? Don't they wish they had nice software like this!

OOPS!

Enough said…

All I can say is "me too!"

Considering that there is a legal requirement for a permanent log, it is astonishing that a "clear" button should exist. This has to qualify as one of the grossest cases of system mis-design ever documented.

I admit to an intense curiosity about the circumstances that allowed a total-fail feature into this system. Is it stupidity on the part of the development team? Was the development outsourced but no one bothered to send along the laws that circumscribe this system's function? Was there interference from management or marketing or perhaps indirectly from pols?

If anyone privy to the inner workings of Diebold's voting machine development is reading, please spill the beans. I'm sure I'm not the only one wanting to know how this project went off the rails so badly.

Is Diebold's management even aware of this incredible gaffe? If so, what kind of baffle-gab have they been pumping out to avoid being held accountable?

Paper. Pen. Cross. Sealed Box. Human Count. Done.

It takes a really special brand of idiot to think these kinds of systems are a good idea.

"The world's greatest democracy" is anything but that.

AC: I inadvertently hit the "delete" key, sorry.

"accidentally" left in...

the German Constitutional Court declared on Tuesday that voting computers (as they exist today) are unconstitutional because they do not allow for transparency of the electoral process and are too easy to manipulate

Given a feature like this, one can assume either that the designer was having an off day or that the designer was actually trying to build a machine that could steal an election and get away with it. Unless you are a conspiracy theorist or misanthrope, it is kinder to assume gross stupidity rather than criminal intent. However, Diebold have quite a history in this department and it's getting harder and harder for a reasonable person to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Who ever had the idea that using any kind of machinery in the process of elections was anything but a supremely bad idea? It broke Universal Comprehensibility. Every person who does not understand every single aspect of the process, from casting the vote to declaration of the winner, is effectively disqualified as a scrutineer.

Get back to pencil and paper -- and just stay there. Manual methods parallelise excellently, are Universally Comprehensible, and the adversarial relationship that already exists between candidates works in your favour.

When anything seriously corrupt comes to light, it's always "oh sorry we made a mistake". Occasionally there is a scapegoat (or an escape goat if you have done a bank robbery, thanks Jade).

Wally O'Dell, the director of Diebold systems, is a highly placed fundraiser for the Republican party and a personal friend of the Bush family.

He is quoted as saying , In his invitation to a benefit for Bush, (just prior to Dubyas re-election); "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president."

Seems he was able to keep that promise.. I wonder how?

Draw your own conclusions!

Diebold have been making reliable ATMs for at least 30 years. Of course, when I last dealt with them, the software was NOT Microsoft, and the programmers are long since retired. I'm sure the current ones are less thorough and less professional!

And management were not likely to have been friends of the Bush family (feh).

When will you people get it, These voting machines are working as designed.

Fail safes like this allow the powers that know better to fix any damage that might be caused by an illiterate electorate, just like the electoral college.

All your votes are belong to U.S.

BUSH HERE.

Ba-dum-tish!

Based on our own Mexican 2006 voting sham, I can personally attest that paper voting doesn't guarantee a clean vote. The tabulating software was allegedly tampered by the contractor, which was owned by the current President's brother-in-law, and had an obvious conflict of interest.

Add to that some "recount restrictions" that sound very similar to the 2000 Florida sham, and you've got a veeery suspicious "election" on your hands.

"paper voting doesn't guarantee a clean vote" -- you're right there. MANUAL COUNTING is what guarantees a clean vote.

Paper just makes this a lot easier.

F'cripesake, people, how much friggin' evidence do you _need_ before you realize that participating in "elections" is for _chumps?_