Good News, Bad News: The (Mostly) Important Things You Need to Know About the Vote Counting Machines
Apr 6, 2016 • Tim Henares
4. Good News: The digital signatures for the BEI members are computer-generated
Via verafiles.org
What this means is that you can’t just hack something to get to the individual PINs each BEI member will have, much like how it is for someone with a new ATM card. Come to think of it, if we can have some measure of security when handling our personal finances with an ATM, we should at least be able to expect the same level of security with our votes when it comes to these VCMs, right?
3. Bad News: There are currently no concrete ways to fix any assorted issues that might crop up on election day
Via interaksyon.com
There are no specific SOPs in place if a machine fails to transmit, or if someone steals the VCM, or if there is a huge amount of discrepancies between voting receipts and alleged votes to the point that there seems to be a pattern emerging. Granted we didn’t have these protocols during manual elections, it seems a bit worrying that the be-all and end-all are the machines, since the Election Returns are also generated by the machines with minimal human supervision.
In short, if there is an electoral protest, it’s either immediately quashed because of what the machine says, or it’s going to take ages to resolve because we don’t have much else beyond what the machine says.
2. Good News: No more bibs!
Via newscentral.ph
True, this isn’t about the VCM’s anymore, but it’s good to know that we don’t have to spend an extra 24M for it any longer.
1. Bad News: James Jimenez loses credibility when he shaves his beard
