Voting Machines with WEP WIFI and default standard passwords

[hmelton]

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... s-security
The passwords and other descriptions below applies if it's a AVS WinVote machine.
I personally wouldn't be surprised if these passwords were also used by any other voting  machine with built in WIFI.
From roughly 2002 to 2014 if you didn't like your vote and/or didn't think you would like how the other people were voting then to change them, all you needed was a WIFI capable laptop able to connect to the WEP WIFI of the voting machine.
The password for the administration account on all of these machines is "admin" or "ADMIN" and the WEP password is either "abcde" or "ABCDE".
OH! if that's not enough access, the machine also uses a version of Windows that hasn't been patched since somewhere around 2004.
It looks like the States that use these so called voting machines were informed of all these major problems at least by 2008, but continued using them through 2014.
My personal initial reaction upon seeing that these voting machine specifications included WIFI was "WIFI ON A VOTING MACHINE!"
They  have been decertified, but if I'm not mistaken that is only in 1 state "Virginia I think." and it only took 7 years. So if you don't like your vote or don't think your going to like how your neighbors are voting just take your laptop along on voting day and remember the above passwords you can set all the votes on the voting machines any way you like. Did I mention there is no auto logging of changes?
What I can't understand is why in the last 7 years since the reports started coming out about WIFI enabled voting machines is why some group of college students haven't gotten together and drove from district to district changing all the votes recorded on these machines to votes for "Darth Vader", "Garfield" or maybe their university mascot.
So just remember your electronic voting machine vote counts...  Maybe... You just can't be sure what it will be or how many times it will change after you have voted.   
God Bless 
edited to add link to an article about AVS machines in Virginia.

[robkelk]

You folks don't keep a paper record of the votes cast? That's how we do it in municipal elections in my part of the world (Provincial and Federal elections are still simple enough that only one X is required on the ballot) - mark a paper ballot, run it through the vote tabulator, and keep the paper ballot at the polling place in case a recount is required.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Valles]

Dunno 'bout big city machines, but the ones in use in my corner of WV keep a paper record on a continuous ream, like a receipt printer without the tear-off function, as everything's entered into the machine. There's even a glass window so you can verify accuracy as you go along, although I confess I've never more than spot-checked.
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[khagler]

robkelk wrote:

---

You folks don't keep a paper record of the votes cast? That's how we do it in municipal elections in my part of the world (Provincial and Federal elections are still simple enough that only one X is required on the ballot) - mark a paper ballot, run it through the vote tabulator, and keep the paper ballot at the polling place in case a recount is required.

The mechanics are typically handled at the county level. Some states have a set of voting machine makers who have paid sufficient bribes been certified, but leave it to the county registrars to decide exactly which one to use, if any.  LA county did it as you describe when I lived there.

[Dartz]

We still count by hand. They trialled voting machines, but had problems with them.

Our ballots are also numbers in preference order, rather than just X'd..... so counting is fairly tricky. Still ends up being the most reliable method. Also simplifies spoiling the vote, or blank-ballot voting.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[hmelton]

In my home state you still have the option of paper ballots, but in practice if you choose the paper ballot method over the computer machine the people running the polling station seem to have a set pattern of trying to first dazzle you into voting electronically and if that doesn't convince you they follow up with rehearsed arguments about being the lone paper voter and then move to attacks on your skill and intelligence saying maybe you don't think your smart enough to use a computer and then finally if that doesn't work they degenerating into vague  or implied threats before ultimately giving in and letting you have a paper ballot.
The threats are mostly veiled and run along the line of  "Your vote might not be counted" or "It will be easy to remember you".
I use to think it was just me a "known" republican in a mostly democrat area, but in the past 6 years some extended family(democrat) moved back to the area from a state that was using paper ballots and they went through the same cycle as I to get a paper ballot.  Later the more they thought about the vague threats the more it scared them and they called us and asked us what it meant to be classified as agitators and being "watched" .
The "very hard sell" to force me and I assume everyone else to the computer voting machines varies from vote to vote, but it is always there.
 hmelton
God Bless

[Black Aeronaut]

hmelton wrote:

---

What I can't understand is why in the last 7 years since the reports started coming out about WIFI enabled voting machines is why some group of college students haven't gotten together and drove from district to district changing all the votes recorded on these machines to votes for "Darth Vader", "Garfield" or maybe their university mascot.

*Sighs pitifully* The trouble with that is that it is technically voting fraud, even if it's being done to prove a point.  And the manufacturers of the voting machines will make sure you get hammered via their pet politician to make sure it doesn't happen again.

[hmelton]

Black Aeronaut that was the problem unless you bragged about what you did to these voting machines or used non-sense names no one would even know the WIFI had been accessed and changes had been made to the voting record.

With no printed records and full ADMIN access to the machine nothing would be retained in an AVS's voting machines memory for even the best expert to backtrack recover and start tracking the "Garfield" voting bandit.

hmelton

God Bless

[robkelk]

Black Aeronaut that was the problem unless you bragged about what you did to these voting machines or used non-sense names no one would even know the WIFI had been accessed and changes had been made to the voting record.

With no printed records and full ADMIN access to the machine nothing would be retained in an AVS's voting machines memory for even the best expert to backtrack recover and start tracking the "Garfield" voting bandit.

"Character is http://allthetropes.orain.org/wiki/Wha ... n_the_Dark]what you are in the dark."
—Attr. to Dwight L. Moody (American Evangelist, 1837-1899)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[hmelton]

RobKelk I like that quote, haven't noticed it's use in a while, I like most of D. L.. Moody's Sermons and quotes.
Since we were talking about a voting machine that seem almost purposely designed to make it  easy to silently cover any tracks for "fixing" the vote  I'll post a thought that crossed my mind while reading your D. L. Moody quote.
"In the Dark? I go out of my way to avoid many politicians in the daylight."
By the way here is a Link to some of D. L. Moody's Sermons.
http://www.biblebelievers.com/moody_sermons/
hmelton
God Bless

[robkelk]

I can't help but think this is relevant ... but I'm not quite sure how.
http://xkcd.com/463/
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012