Could Hackers “Rig” The Election? - Comments Page 1

"Jerry-rigged?" Perhaps it should be "Jury-rigged."

EDITOR'S NOTE: See http://grammarist.com/usage/jury-rig-jerry-rig-jerry-built/

Elections have sometimes been rigged since their inception. That, however, is no excuse for the poor security of the electronic voting machines currently in use. We must demand more from our elected and appointed officials. It's up to us folks!

Certainly not after reading this article.

An ex-mayor of Philadelphia once said, "Vote early and vote often". I guess in the future it won't matter if people are resurrected from the cemetery or how early or often they vote.

The election is already rigged thanks to the "Electoral College" started by George Washington. Presidential elections should be by POPULAR vote, not the "Good ol' Boy Network."

I wonder what we can do as citizens to counter the possibility of rigged voting whether it be machines rigged or voting fraud such as stealing identities, voting multiple times etc.

I believe it!!! I have questioned so many of the last elections, especially since they have been using electronic voting machines.

When not in use, they need to be stored securely. I wonder if, when they need to be repaired that the men and women who do the repairs are certified and bonded, at the minimum???!!!

The machines record our votes and voting is vital to the Republic. No wonder so many eligible voters don't vote - They say my vote doesn't matter. The elections are 'rigged'.

All true. However, the BIGGEST threat to elections is voter fraud. Several key races have been stolen through fraudulent votes, and the Democrat party is adamant that voter ID laws cannot be allowed.

You can't get on an airplane, or go into any government building, or open a bank account, or cash a check without a government-issued identification card. But you NEVER need to prove who you are in order to vote. Thousands of dead people "vote" in every election cycle, because nobody asks for ID. Al Franken was elected with fraudulent votes. Mary Landreiu was elected with fraudulent votes. Loretta Sanchez was elected with fraudulent votes.

Until voter ID laws are enforced nationwide, we will NEVER have any confidence that our elections are not rigged.

Do you realize how large the conspiracy would have to be to rig a national election or even a state wide election?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Not that large. Flipping even one close "battleground" state could tip the scales in favor of one national candidate.

I believe the voting machines will be rigged and one lady when Obama was being elected said I vote 6 times in front of a camera so why wouldn't many others do the same. In Chicago and New York not enough people watch these machines.

Here in Oregon we have no voting machines. All voting is done by mail on paper ballots. Not only is it not hackable, but it has increased the percentage of registered voters who actually vote.

Vote by mail maybe the answer.

Governments (at ALL 'levels') continue to "impress" their citizens with their continually PROVEN ability to F%$K UP almost EVERYTHING they touch!!!
They constantly tell us how "important" it is
to vote, then turn right around & let this happen!
Meaning, "they" are either EVIL &/or STUPID!!!

How is voting by mail the answer? The Mailbox can be stuffed the same way we get junk mail stuffed into our mailbox. Mail is bundled when a lot of it is going to one address, that would be the Counting Center. Maybe Dead Voters are smarter than the Living.

You raise questions about voting machines identified as "DRE"s.

I always thought that stood for "digital rectal examination."

Perhaps you can vote and get your prostate checked at the same time.

Can't do that with paper ballots!

I'm with Ron De Stasio -- Vote by mail. I'm one of those old fashioned Americans who feels a certain aura of 'Sanctity' in a voting booth -- for me it really was a quazi-Religious/Spiritual experience each time I've stepped into a voting booth and pulled the curtain. After the 2000 election, I asked for, and received, a vote by mail ballot. The PEOPLE should elect a president, not the Supreme Court or Congress or the Executive or The Electoral College -- it's up to the PEOPLE.

Here's one of MY biggest gripes: the PERCENT OF REGISTERED VOTERS WHO VOTE - in the year 2000 only 51% of registered voters voted, meaning the Bush the Second was elected by only ~25.5 of the population, thus 3/4 of the population is not represented, and the percentage of non-voters remaining in the ~50% range (49.0% - 58.2%) it only makes sense to vote by mail since rural elderly, infirm, or people without transportation have SEVERE obsticals placed in their path, the same is true of inner city populations, and those in the suburbs where voting places may have been centralized FAR from their residence. Often by gerrymandering by both sides. It takes care of Moors Law and hacking voting machines, and the ONLY disadvantage I see is that a last moment revelation of a candidates malfeasance or funding structure (who paid to have him elected -- not meaning to sound cynical) - I cannot change my vote from one candidate to another, or withhold my vote completely if I cannot in good conscience vote for the alternative/proposition/law.

I am proud to say that I am a 'decline to state' party member - which leaves me out of primaries, but keeps SOME of my personal data personal (though this year I DID register for a party, voted in a primary, then changed back to 'Decline to State'. It does not align me in divisive politics, allows me to vote any way I please across party lines, and also allows me to play devils advocate with straight party line voters since I am NOT a straight line party voter -- I can read and I can think.

The 2000 election was a fiasco and that was all about 'hanging shads' - others ARE about Computer computer glitches. When I watched a video of a Hacker (note capital) take control of a vehicles CPU and turn it and crash it into a wall at 20 MPH -- switching to a vote by mail (paper trail) eliminated any part *I* might play in a 'rigged' election.

And Bob is right - fiddle with just a few machines in just a few precincts of one or two major states and the election is thrown. AND there are never 'not enough machines' if you are using voting machines, all you do is add several booths and the 3 and 4 block lines of voters waiting to vote, and the 1-5 HOUR waits disappear.

I support TWO concepts - 1) vote my mail and 2) if you do not vote, you incur a small fine that increases each subsequent year you fail to vote. If people refuse to participate in voting, even if by sending back a completely blank ballot, then it MAY be up to a Democratic Republic to force the issue in order to force the individual voter to participate in the process, and not say - both parties are basically the same, so no matter who I vote for, it makes no difference.

Elections are not just about people, they are about local ordinances and laws -- and I lived in a county where the population was so thin that - for example, the vote to add a $1 (ONE DOLLAR) fee to each parcel of land to support a library failed by 2 votes (out of less than 500 cast) -- our county no longer has a library. THAT is the biggest threat to Democracy I can imagine. Even a greater threat than ignorant voters - there is no non-partisan place where neutral information can be found. NE California and Central and Western Nevada have HUGE counties with population densities in the 3-7 people per mile squared. A single vote would have tied the library vote and 1 vote determined the fate of a rural volunteer fire department. One Vote took away a fire district which also provided EMS services through the EMT-II (NOT 'Paramedic') Basic Advanced Life Support services (B-ALS) - increasing response time to a heart attack, auto accident, or Ranch-Farm injury from about 10 minutes to first person on scene, to just shy of 30 minutes to first person on scene. That vote also took away their b-ALS status as well. Thus no IV's or Drugs administered on site by people who were 20 minutes.

And will it still be rigged if he wins!

Wow Bob, I would hate to ever accuse anyone of plagiarism but it is quite suspect in this article. So I will refer to this article at Politico

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/08/2016-elections-russia-hack-how-to-hack-an-election-in-seven-minutes-214144

This week in Australia we had a 6 yearly Census and they tried to do it via the internet.Our Gov. gave a contractor $6m.(IBM), to create the biggest disaster in Australia's Census history. The day before the Census,my friends and I took bets on when it would crash through congestion and attempts to hack it. I lost the bet by one hour! It happened at 10.30 Am. If a Gov. intends to use the internet, they should look at the banks systems. They seem to nearly work.

Fred, How can you intimate plagiarism when sources are so amply cited? Looks to me more like a condensation of the basics.