These flaws are likely intentional. In a global marketplace, the current regimes in power are the ones making the purchasing decisions of what machines to use to run the next election.
Machines that can be readily tampered with and reprogrammed in undetectable ways likely sell better under the assumption leaders would rather stay in power and have ceremonious democracy than risk being ousted or overthrown.
Regardless, if someone was upstanding and wanted to run a fair election with the machines, they can do that as well. Ones that can be altered, preferably only by the election committee to change an election without getting caught, is likely a highly sought after device.
That's likely why we keep finding them over and over again. Every few months another trivial exploit that a fairly incompetent people could discover is found on yet another device.
No receipts, audits, paper trail or any verification ... just a bunch of readily reprogrammable devices that anyone with a USB stick or an sd card or the edge of a housekey could use to change the votes however they please. Again and again and again.
Indeed, the US presidential election is a joke on various levels.
1. The president is not picked based on the people’s vote. The US is a republic, not a democracy, where government officials cast the deciding votes.
2. The voting infrastructure can be easily tampered with, likely by design as pointed out above.
3. There is no limits on campaign spending, enabling billionaires and corporations to own the winning candidates that got the most airtime.
4. Two private entities have a duopoly on the presidency. They’ve established rules that prevent any new parties from serious consideration.
5. As surfaced by the Wikileaks DNC dump, at least one (if not both) of these parties actively sabotage some of their candidates to ensure the party’s pick a spot in the final national election.
> The president is not picked based on the people’s vote
Yes, the US President is. It's not a straight referendum but that doesn't mean it's not based on people's votes.
> The US is a republic, not a democracy
It's both.
> where government officials cast the deciding votes
No they don't.
> The voting infrastructure can be easily tampered with
The machines appear to be. That's quite a way from saying that the infrastructure is. That would require the tampering to be easily achievable. There's little evidence of that.
> There is no limits on campaign spending
Yes there are. They're not very effective but they exist.
> Two private entities have a duopoly on the presidency
Effectively yes.
> to ensure the party’s pick a spot in the final national election
This would be way more convincing if Trump wasn't the President. He clearly wasn't the pick of the Republicans establishment. Or anywhere near. If anything, his election shows that the parties don't have the control that they'd like you to think they have.
The US presidential elections are far from a joke. Not perfect by any means but internationally important events and, in historic terms, beacons of democracy. And in case it need saying, I'm not American and have no interest in being American.
Machines that can be readily tampered with and reprogrammed in undetectable ways likely sell better under the assumption leaders would rather stay in power and have ceremonious democracy than risk being ousted or overthrown.
Regardless, if someone was upstanding and wanted to run a fair election with the machines, they can do that as well. Ones that can be altered, preferably only by the election committee to change an election without getting caught, is likely a highly sought after device.
That's likely why we keep finding them over and over again. Every few months another trivial exploit that a fairly incompetent people could discover is found on yet another device.
No receipts, audits, paper trail or any verification ... just a bunch of readily reprogrammable devices that anyone with a USB stick or an sd card or the edge of a housekey could use to change the votes however they please. Again and again and again.
It's very likely intentional.