April 09, 2008

Since Hawaii’s votes are transmitted over telephone lines and local area networks (LAN’s), I believe the entire Hawaii election system is compromised and subject to hacking and flipping.

Election vendors can easily put a dial-up modem into any voting machine which is attached to a telephone line. Election machines can easily be programmed with an 800 number that will go to an internet service provider, and the election machines can automatically be placed onto the world wide web and have the ability to send votes to a remote website which could be controlled by the election vendor and/or could be hacked by hackers. 

The election vendor and/or hacker(s) could then flip votes. Votes could be taken from one candidate and given to another candidate, and nobody would ever know the difference, since the total vote count would not change. Voting machines are “proprietary assets,” and the law does not allow anyone to inspect the insides of voting machines, under “intellectual property” laws, and so there is no way for the citizens of Hawaii to know for sure that vote counts are not transmitted over the internet to a remote website where they can be flipped.

Once the votes are flipped, then the election vendor’s computer at the State Count Center can dial the same 800 number and also use a dial-up modem to get onto the same website, down load the “flipped” votes and put them into the final statewide vote count.

I am a citizen of Hawaii and of the United States of America, and I have a legal right under both the laws of the State of Hawaii and of the United States, to expect that my vote, and all votes by all citizens, be accurately counted, and that the Hawaii election system be of the highest integrity to insure the same.

Some steps that should be taken immediately include:
• All telephone and LAN transmissions of votes should be banned altogether, and no voting machines should be connected to any telephone line and/or wifi system of any kind.
• Instead, all memory cards from the counties should be flown by air  from Hawaii, Maui and Kauai Counties on election night to Honolulu. 
This would totally eliminate any possible hacking and/or flipping of votes sent over telephone lines and/or a LAN.
• The printouts would still be traced in the next day as a double check.

It would take less than an hour to fly the memory cards to Honolulu  and get them to the State Count Center. The election results could  still be released to the media by 11 p.m. on election night. But above all, it is far more important to have accurate vote counts than it is to have speedy news releases. This would require no change in the existing election equipment just purchased, since all voting  machines have a memory card in them.

There are many other changes that I recommend in my petition. I urge  Mr. Cronin to immediately formulate emergency administrative rules designed to eliminate all of the election system weaknesses I mention, in time for the primary and general elections to be held later in this year.

Mr. Cronin has the power, granted to him as Chief Election Officer under 2-50-6, “Emergency Rule Making,” to correct all of these weaknesses and assure the people of Hawaii that every vote will be counted honestly and accurately.
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(Babson has written an official petition “for the Adoption, Amendment, or Repeal of Rules in accordance with Hawaii Administrative Rules, Title 2, Chapter 50, Adoption, Amendment, or Repeal of Rules by Chief Election Officer,” and has sent it to Mr. Kevin Cronin, Chief Election Officer of the State of Hawaii. It refers to the following situation in great detail. – JW)

Robert G. Babson, Jr.