bugtraq - Re: Diebold Global Election Management System (GEMS) Backdoor Account Allows Authenticated Users to Modify Votes

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Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 21:45:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: "David F. Skoll" <dfs@...ringpenguin.com>
To: Simon <lists@...e.org.uk>
Cc: bugtraq@...urityfocus.com
Subject: Re: Diebold Global Election Management System (GEMS) Backdoor Account
 Allows Authenticated Users to Modify Votes

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004, Simon wrote:

> Sometimes, IMHO, there's just no alternative to pen and paper.  Surely
> the manual method of ticking a box and having multiple human vote
> counters checking ballots is the best option going, even if it is more
> expensive.  (I confess I've no idea what costs are involved either way.)

According to Elections Canada, the 2000 general election cost $200.6
million (Canadian dollars).  But this included everything, including
maintenance of voter registries, reimbursement of expenses to
political parties and candidates, etc.

Source: http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=faq&document=faqelec&lang=e

In that election, there were 28,846,761 voters, so the cost
per voter was around $6.95 Canadian, or $5.43 US.

I suspect that the cost to actually count the votes is significantly less
than this figure.  I have no idea what the figures are for electronic
voting, but I doubt it can be done for much under $4 to $5/voter.

Consider that the average polling station contributes a couple of
hundred votes to the total.  So you can hire six people at $25/hour
for 5 hours each (two shifts) to man the station and count the
ballots afterwards, and you've spent $750, some of which you recover
in the form of income tax. :-)

Now how many voting machines would such a polling station require?  And can
you buy a super-de-duper-de-luxe voting machine for $750?

--
David.