[kwlug-disc] Vote machines today

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

One thing occurred to me regarding the tabulating machines.
Do they get programmed/configured all the same for all poll stations?
Or are they specifically programmed/configured for each station?

Specifically, do they just say at the end of the day:
- ballot position 1, 5,000 votes
- ballot position 2, 2,000 votes
- ballot position 3, 7,000 votes

Or do they say:
- John Smith, 5,000 votes
- Jane Brown, 2,000 votes
- Jack Doe, 7,000 votes

In the first scenario, it is much harder to fudge the results by pressuring,
bribing a programmer to take n% of the vote for so and so party/candidate.

In the second scenario, there may be room for that, and only if a manual
recount is done would it be exposed.

Yes, the software is opaque, but having it fudge only to be exposed if there
is a recount is a risk for a big scandal. No big motive for that (so far).
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