California Restricts Voting Machines: after a source code review of voting machines turned up "significant, deeply-rooted security weaknesses" in voting machines by Diebold, Hart, and Sequoia, the California Secretary of State decertified all three vendors' systems. These weaknesses have been well covered here at MeFi, but some are bad enough to shock even the well-jaded, including the revelation that Diebold "uses at least two hard-coded passwords -- one is 'diebold' and another is the eight-byte sequence 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8." Time to think about open voting?
posted by jacobian on Aug 5, 2007 - 48 comments

California holds a "No Hearing Hearing" on Diebold certification. "In June, over 200 people traveled to Sacramento to voice their concerns at a public hearing before a panel of advisors to the Secretary of State on voting systems. Since then, every scheduled meeting of the Voting Systems Panel has been cancelled, and now the Secretary has simply disbanded the VSP without notice, without hearings, without any type of due process." This isn't the only jurisdiction in which Diebold is attempting to circumvent legal requirements - in North Carolina they filed for and received a broad exemption from new disclosure rules recently passed into law. The EFF are now suing to force Diebold to comply with the law. As if that wasn't enough, an official Certification Test (PDF) for Diebold's Optical Scan voting machines confirms an earlier threat analysis test (PDF) that the memory cards on these machines run uncertified and arbitrary executable code, a charge that Diebold has vigorously denied.
posted by dinsdale on Nov 22, 2005 - 30 comments

The results are in! the MeFi guesses weren't too far off, and Escher wins the domokun, while ook wins the booby prize.
posted by mathowie on Oct 8, 2003 - 18 comments

The Gropenator will have to spin his wheels for awhile: California's Vote Delayed by Court Over Punch Cards. And here's the kicker--it's deja vu all over again, Bizarro stylee: Bush v. Gore Outlives Its Limited Warranty for Use in California

The Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore was meant to be a ticket good for one ride. "Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances," the justices said in their unsigned opinion in 2000, "for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities." Three judges on the federal appeals court in San Francisco, all appointed by Democratic presidents, decided yesterday to use it for another ride anyway.
posted by y2karl on Sep 15, 2003 - 8 comments

Warren Buffett endorses Schwarzenegger for CA Governor That's an interesting development which reminds us that beyond the circus there actually may be a real election at stake.
posted by clevershark on Aug 13, 2003 - 57 comments

Save Our State: Vote Terry Tate. (NYT/rr) Remember the Reebok Superbowl ad featuring the "office linebacker"? Well, that actor just entered the California governor's race. As the bumpersticker says, "Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?" Name your pick for next has-been to get on the ballot...I smell Kato.
posted by serafinapekkala on Aug 12, 2003 - 20 comments

Dude. To hell with moving to Canada. I'm not giving up that easily. This may not be the best time to be a liberal, but why concede? Secede! With the 5th largest economy in the world, prodigious industry, a diverse population, rich natural resources, and a growing rift with the federal government, why is California sharing a budget with the unbeautiful when we could be enjoying our very own Republic? Is it for lack of leadership? Or lack of a clue?
posted by scarabic on Jul 21, 2003 - 82 comments

Hey Bay Area Nader fans -- get your tickets! (if you haven't already) -- 6:30 PM today at the Kaiser Arena in Oakland: the only California Super Rally, featuring Cornel West, Medea Benjamin, Danny Glover, Jello Biafra, Patti Smith, Tom Tomorrow, and other surprise guests! For those who can't make it there will be a Live Webcast available at votenader.org.
posted by johnb on Oct 21, 2000 - 3 comments

I hope all the Californians that are reading this today have voted. There's a great site at CalVoter.org that features a page listing all the top financial backers of the propositions. There are some curious contributors in there, like why are oil companies and public utilities behind the "try gang kids as adults and put them in real prisions" prop? There's a few dot com millionaires on the No on 22 campaign, and obviously a lot of tobacco companies want to see the cigarette tax repealed.
posted by mathowie on Mar 7, 2000 - 4 comments

The most disgusting things I've seen in California this year are the parents against a student group and Propsition 22. Last night, I saw that support for prop 22 was leading in the polls, which I find incomprehensible. The LA Times has a summary of what religious leaders think about it, and there's a protest against the proposition by 400 clergymen this weekend. If even these guys have problems with it, why would the average citizen support it? Hopefully reason will win out on this one, but unfortunately, if you haven't already registered to vote in CA, it's too late for this primary election.
posted by mathowie on Feb 11, 2000 - 5 comments