5.24.2006

California increases security to $11.99/hour.

THE BRAD BLOG: "Internet Ad Seeks Temp Workers to Privately Shuttle Hackable Voting Machines for California's Upcoming Primary Elections": "A classified ad seeking the workers is currently posted on the Internet at Monster.com by Kelly Services. (A screenshot of the complete ad is posted at the end of this article.) The salary offered to temp workers hired for the job -- who will have private unsupervised access to the state's voting machines before and after election day -- is $11.99/hour according to the posting."

Last time I knew anything about elections handling a box of marked ballots was like handling a shipment of gold, with observers from both parties present at every step. Now, apparently - in California, at least - some guy from Kelly shows up and hauls away a machine. After multiple studies describing how easily these things can be hacked (see Black Box Voting), this does not seem like a terribly good idea.

If we want our elections to be anything more than symbolic acts of superstition we really ought to care.

No comments: