BLACK BOX VOTING INVITED TO HACK DIEBOLD 

VOTING MACHINES

Nov 23, 2005: The California Secretary of State has invited Black 

Box Voting to hack away at some Diebold voting systems. The testing 

is set for Nov. 30, 2005.

Diebold Election Systems has been trying to re-certify its “TSx” touch-

screen machines in California. Diebold has added stronger passwords 

and encryption, but even the consultant hired by California to evaluate 

the system reported that the voting system remains vulnerable to 

alteration of vote results. (More on consultant report and 

vulnerabilities: http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/1954/14296.html)

This week, officials at the California Secretary of State's office 

invited Black Box Voting, a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog group for 

elections, to try hacking into the Diebold system. A specific testing protocol was 

provided by Diebold and the California Secretary of State’s office. 

Though the opportunity was welcomed by Black Box Voting, negotiations 

remain on the procedures. Black Box Voting contends that the proposed 

testing violates California Election Code §19202, which governs the 

request for voting machine testing formally submitted to the state of 

California by Black Box Voting on June 16, 2005. Also, Black Box Voting 

identified areas of bias in the proposed procedures, which would 

violate normal scientific protocol and cause voters to lack confidence in the 

results.

At issue is Diebold’s insistence on being involved in setting up the 

testing procedures, and Diebold’s provision of hand-picked machines, using new 

voting systems not currently in use in California. 

LET'S LOOK AT WHAT'S AT STAKE FOR DIEBOLD:

Black Box Voting had formally requested replication of the work by 

experts Harri Hursti and Dr. Herbert Thompson. If Diebold does not survive the 

tests, the firm may face a nationwide product recall, rivaled in notoriety 

only by the exploding gas tank fiasco that afflicted the Ford Pinto. Diebold is 

dependent on a particular outcome. Failing this test might cost them their 

elections business altogether. 

Diebold’s stake in the outcome is compounded by financial problems in 

the Diebold ATM division, which produced a restatement of corporate profits 

and caused a significant collapse in stock prices. 

Though the formal request for replication of Black Box Voting security 

tests was made over five months ago, Diebold delayed the test required by 

§19202 for more than five months. Diebold is now “permitting” the testing only 

under conditions Diebold controls, using machines only Diebold provides.

THE PROPOSED PROCEDURES CONTAMINATE THE RESULTS

Black Box Voting has offered to resolve procedural defects in such a 

way as to “enhance public confidence” as required by §104 (c) in the 

California certification procedures. Instead of voting machines hand-

picked by the vendor which have never been used in elections, Black 

Box Voting wants to test a randomly selected voting system used in 

the last election -- the machines that elected the California governor 

and the president.

Black Box Voting also proposes selecting machines from county 

elections offices which have not shown a bias for Diebold, recommending 

Alameda County for the evaluation of the touch-screens and Placer, 

Modoc, Trinity or Santa Barbara County for evaluation of the optical 

scan system. Within these counties, Black Box Voting proposed random 

selection of the machine. The five counties suggested by Black Box 

Voting are the Diebold customers who did not take part in a pro-Diebold 

advertisement copied on back of the official flyer containing the 

agenda for the certification hearing. Sec. State’s office’s Bruce McDannold 

disavowed the flyer, saying his office had nothing to do with its 

distribution. 

The scientific method attempts to minimize bias by removing the 

influence of any party who profits from one outcome or another. In testing, those 

who design the system are not supposed to be the same as those who 

test the system.

Therefore, Black Box Voting is confident that the California Secretary 

of State will comply with these reasonable adjustments.