Newly released video shows how easily electronic voting machines can be hacked, pried open

John Byrne
Raw Story
Tuesday, Sept 9, 2008

A newly released video depicts an eerie scenario in which voting machines produce an XXXXXX result for the ballot position of US senator after a vote is placed and then replaces the XXXXXX with an individual’s name.

Though it appears to be part of an eerie low-budget sci-fi thriller, the producers weren’t B-movie conspiracy theorists. Instead, they were students from the University of Santa Barbara’s Security Group, participating in a project commissioned by the California Secretary of State.

Why the video was posted now despite the fact that the project took place last year remains unknown. It may have its roots in a legal threat issued by the voting machines’ manufacturer in March. In a sharply worded letter to a Princeton research team that had audited their machines before, Edwin Smith, the VP for “Compliance/Quality/Certification,” said that the publication of any security audit of “Sequoia software [or] its behavior” would force the company to “take appropriate steps” through its “retained counsel.”

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In the film, included below, students demonstrate uploading a virus-like program to a voting terminal by inserting a data card and pressing a key. They then proceed through the voting process — selecting candidates and approving ballot issues. Following their votes, the machine spits out a paper receipt.

The receipt correctly displays the student’s choices. But a moment later, it spits out a second receipt, topped “VOID,” which has replaced the student’s senatorial selection with XXXXXX. The following receipt replaces XXXXXX with James P. ‘Jim’ Gray.

The student project also reveals the system’s vulnerability to hacking the machines’ internal workings. One student is able to slip one of the virus-implanting cards into a theoretically “sealed” machine simply by peeling back the flap.
Sealed machines opened up in seconds
A physically sealed machine is opened and hacked in just 18 seconds.

A second machine is unscrewed in less than a minute.

A piece of sheet metal holding on the door is removed in several minutes with a simple Phillips head screwdriver.

It’s possible the letter from Sequoia’s Smith has succeeded in keeping some audits of the company’s software off the national radar. In his letter to the Princeton professors who’d planned an audit of the company’s voting machines, the firm all but threatens a lawsuit.

“As you have likely read in the news media, certain New Jersey election officials have stated that they plan to send to you one or more Sequoia Advantage voting machines for analysis,” Smith writes. “I want to make you aware that if the County does so, it violates their established Sequoia licensing Agreement for use of the voting system. Sequoia has also retained counsel to stop any infringement of our intellectual properties, including any non-compliant analysis. We will also take appropriate steps to protect against any publication of Sequoia software, its behavior, reports regarding same or any other infringement of our intellectual property.”

Sequoia reemerged in the news late last month after votes were double counted during a test in Florida. Yesterday, the company blamed the glitch on “operator error.”

“Procedures by the poll workers and the Supervisor’s office staff proved to be good,” Sequoia asserted. “The hardware and software performed as it should. The accuracy will be confirmed at a later date. The reason that the vote totals doubled in these 40 precincts was due to an inadvertent operator error.

The California students’ video was picked up Tuesday by the blog BoingBoing.

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4 Responses to “Newly released video shows how easily electronic voting machines can be hacked, pried open”

1. stevevincint Says:
   September 9th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

   Go to this site… http://www.iwilltryit.com/

   THEN CLICK THE FIRST VIDEO ON THE PAGE, (TOP LEFT)

   It’s called FIXED ELECTIONS.

   There are many other videos and other info that proves without ANY DOUBT that elections are rigged

2. WakeUp Says:
   September 9th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

   You know, saker, I was hesitant to go to your site. I have seen your posts before and have always resisted. Today I checked it out and wanted to say “kudos to you,” my friend. There has been another idiot around here named Frank who is pushing his site that attempts to discredit Alex Jones, and virtually everyone who has a show.

   Your site rightfully gives credit where credit is due, si I am therefore passing some well-deserved credit to you.

3. Peasant Says:
   September 9th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

   We no longer are really voting but are living in a dictatorship complete with fake elections. There is a facade of elections, but I personally don’t believe my vote counts. I may push the button but I don’t believe it always has a direct link to who the vote goes for. If we can’t change our leaders via honest elections then where does that leave us? In Amerika!

4. stevevincint Says:
   September 9th, 2008 at 8:55 pm

   If anybody’s worried about my website, where I have fixed elections and some of Alex Jones links, try foing diect to YouTube and see for yourself.

   http://video.google.com/videop.....&hl=en

   You can vote all you want, but do you really think the guys making trillions off their war contracts and such are gonna leave it up to chance?

   Does anyone really think they would let some guy they don
   t even know have his finger on the nuclear button and take the football with him.

   Back in the 90’s Russian president Boris Yeltson was confronted with a MAJOR DECISION. They thought missles were coming into Russia from the US, (it was called a close call) and according to an interview he said they weren’t sure and he only had about a minute to make a world changing decision.

   Yeltson went on about how he was drunk, very drunk to calm down his nerves from having to make such a decision.

   He had the Russian FOOTBALL, which is basically a specialized laptop with codes that give the president the ability to LAUNCH NUKES in case of emergency.

   In other words… all he had to do was push the button, (metaphorically speaking) and Russia would have sent all their nukes, which would have prompted the US to send all it’s nukes and I don’t need to tell anyone what the ramifications would have been.

   So in a sense, the fate of the world was in the hands of a drunk old man with shakey nerves.

   Think about that when you think about whther the elections are rigged or not. They’re not going to let just anybody grab that old football and carry it around.