Those looking for more polling data than they will know what to do with, for today’s midterm elections in the United States, should have a look at Pollster.com. For first year M.Phil students nervous about the quantitative methods test, it might be worthwhile reading as well.
I will definitely be watching the news closely between now and whenever the House and Senate races are settled. Hopefully, none of the quite justified concerns about problems with electronic voting machines will manifest themselves. Unfortunately, the vulnerabilities exposed by the Princeton study and others could be exploited in ways that could never be detected by electoral officials. Anyone who thinks that electronic votingi s secure, with paper ballots and automatic auditing of part of the vote, should watch this short video produced by the Princeton team.
No matter which way this election goes, fixing the mechanics of the electoral system should be a huge priority before the 2008 elections. Relevant previous posts:
Also well worth a look:
- How to steal an election (via Bruce Schneier)
- How to steal an election by hacking the vote (via Ars Technica)
- Evaluation Report of New Methods of Voting (Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec)
- A longer and much scarier video showing how vulnerable the computers that tabulate election data are to undetectable manipulation.
- HBO Special: Hacking Democracy (1 hour 22 minutes)
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Are you going to stay up all night, watching the results come in?
WHEN KEY POLLS CLOSE (GMT)
0000: Virginia and Indiana
0030: Ohio
0100: Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Missouri, Maryland, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut
0200: Texas, South Dakota, Rhode Island, New York, Minnesota, Colorado
0300: Montana
0400: California
Vs lbh nfxrq Oehpr Fpuarvre gb qrpelcg guvf, ur’q pehfu lbhe fxhyy jvgu uvf ynhtu.
Most people use passwords. Some people use passphrases. Bruce Schneier uses an epic passpoem, detailing the life and works of seven mythical Norse heroes.
Bruce Schneier knows Alice and Bob’s shared secret.
Though a superhero, Bruce Schneier disdanes the use of a mask or secret identity as ‘security through obscurity.’
Vs lbh nfxrq Oehpr Fpuarvre gb qrpelcg guvf, ur’q pehfu lbhe fxhyy jvgu uvf ynhtu.
ROT13 magic
If you asked Bruce Schneier to decrypt this, he’d crush your skull with his laugh.
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