ALLEN, Texas, Feb. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, the California Secretary of State's Office certified, with conditions, use of the AccuVote- TSx and AccuVote-OS from Diebold Election Systems for use in California elections in 2006. The decision comes on the heels of a report by the University of California at Berkeley and the Voting System Technology Assessment Advisory Board (VSTAAB) relating to the AccuBasic code found in the firmware of the Diebold AccuVote-OS and AccuVote-TSx.
After the completion of the state and federal certification requirements, as well as a detailed study of the voting components, Secretary of State Bruce McPherson requested that Diebold undergo an additional security analysis of the source code resident on the system's memory card. Computer scientists at UC Berkeley conducted the additional security review of the memory card code for both systems. The independent reviews concluded that the voting systems can be securely used for upcoming elections, but the report did suggest additional enhancements that Diebold will include with the system during 2006.
"I commend the hard work of Secretary of State McPherson and his staff. Diebold Election Systems has been open and forthcoming in its dealings with the Office of the Secretary of State in California, as well as with local California elections officials, and is committed to supporting its California customer counties," said Dave Byrd, president of Diebold Election Systems, Inc. "We have confidence in our technology and its benefits, and we look forward to helping administer successful elections in California and elsewhere in the country."
Secretary of State McPherson has introduced a 10-point Statewide Electronic Voting System Standards requirement which is part of the very thorough state certification process. These standards include escrowing Diebold's system software, and conducting a high-volume system accuracy and reliability test. Diebold has met these standards and Diebold's touch-screen system with a voter-verifiable paper audit trail printer passed the high volume test with 100 percent election result accuracy, and is the only such system to pass this stringent testing requirement.
The accuracy and reliability of Diebold's systems is supported by the many successful election result recounts performed over several years of successful operation and by California's own parallel monitoring accuracy tests involving the AV-TSx system, which has repeatedly demonstrated a 100 percent accuracy rate. The systems remain secure when operated in accordance with established procedures, an assertion supported by the UC Berkeley report.
Diebold Election Systems wholeheartedly agrees with the security procedures applicable to the certification, such as: require election administrators to update the cryptographic keys on every AV-TSx machine prior to deployment in an election; and deploying strict procedural safeguards to prevent anyone from gaining unsupervised access to a memory card. Moreover, Diebold will immediately implement the following enhancements:
- Vote counter arithmetic checks in the AV-OS firmware, providing further
security to protect against memory card tampering.
- Incorporation of strong cryptography to digitally sign the AccuBasic
reporting script on the AV-OS memory card in order to detect any
attempted tampering, similar to the protection used in the AV-TSx
system.
Diebold will certify and issue an updated firmware release in the short term that incorporates the updates described above.
Diebold Election Systems, Inc. is a wholly owned operating subsidiary of Diebold, Incorporated, a global leader in providing integrated self-service delivery systems and services. Headquartered in Allen, Texas, Diebold Election Systems provides high-quality voting technology to jurisdictions of all sizes, along with comprehensive service and support capability, and is committed to elections accuracy, security and integrity. For more information on Diebold Election Systems, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dieboldes.com/, or call 1-800-433-VOTE.
First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:
