Update on Florida E-Voting

Kim Zetter of Wired News has written an excellent account of the UC Berkeley findings called "Researchers: Florida Vote Fishy." It's the first mainstream(ish) account of the report, and she really did a nice job -- getting comment from ES&S (makers of the suspect touchscreen machines) and Florida Election officials on very short notice, and including some factoids -- like the fact the study was reviewed by 7 Berkeley profs before being made public -- that weren't in the press release or in other stories. (But she's apparently still pissed at me for criticizing her earlier story, and is so far the only person who's asked to be taken off my email list. Oh well.)

There are a few possible scenarios as I see it. One is that this story flares up briefly and dies for lack of interest by Media Sloths, or gets tepid coverage and inspires cries for "e-voting reform" from the usual suspects and then gets forgotten. The other scenario is that other researchers examine the study and decide to apply this methodology to other states, other counties, other precincts. Then... who knows? Personally I have little hope of reversing the atrocity of this election, especially given the Demos' utter uselessness in this fight. But if the electronic house of cards starts to fall, both in Florida and Ohio, anything can happen.

Hey, the Red Sox won the World Series, and the Cal Bears have a very good shot at the Rose Bowl this year. Miracles do happen. So let's all now bow our heads and pray.