Techdirt is reporting that voting machines in California, manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems, allows you to cast multiple votes if the machines are placed in “manual mode.” Apparently the machines emit a “loud beep” when the “manual mode” button is pressed, but that hardly strikes me as an adequate safeguard, especially given that poll workers often receive limited training.
I’ve been beating up on Diebold lately, but the fundamental problem isn’t Diebold-specific. The problem is simply that e-voting is needlessly complex (and therefore error-prone) and inherently insecure. That will continue to be true no matter who’s manufacturing the machines.
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