“Americans once used various mechanical methods to tally votes, for which poll workers developed rigorous procedures to minimize fraud and/or inaccuracy. But, during the 21st century, Americans have largely adopted electronic voting machines, instead, which (with rare exceptions) lack the same rigorous security safeguards that were developed for older voting methods—even when those machines have been produced by companies like Diebold, which has earned itself an excellent reputation for secure transactions through other types of equipment.

In 2004 after Election Day, the Utah Voting Equipment Selection Committee decided that Utah’s state government would purchase new Diebold electronic voting machines for use in each of Utah’s counties. Emory County received its 40 “new” machines on 2005 Dec 27 and its clerk Bruce Funk tested them on 2006 Jan 31. Funk reported on 2006 Mar 07 to the Emory County commission that, although these were allegedly new machines pre-tested by the state, they were shoddily constructed, contained data for past elections (indicating that they were not “new” as Diebold claimed), and that 6 of the 40 needed to be either repaired or returned. Funk reported on 2006 Mar 21 to another commission meeting that further testing had revealed that these machines enjoyed significantly lower storage capacity than Diebold promised, that he invited Black Box Voting to independently test these machines (which had not yet finished its report), that his research revealed that these voting machines were easily hackable, and that he could not conscientiously allow Emory County to use such flawed technology in local elections.

During this meeting, at least one Emory County commissioner urged that both Diebold and the state be allowed to rectify such problems. During the following week, Utah’s lieutenant-governor Herbert portrayed Funk as an anti-technology conspiracy-believer, while one of his subordinates suggested that Black Box Voting may have rigged the Diebold voting machines to malfunction in order to falsely accuse the state. Some state officers, Diebold personnel, and Emory County commissioners convened a special meeting on 2006 Mar 27, partly in secret (which is inappropriate for public meetings except during wartime to keep secrets from enemies), which accused Black Box Voting’s tests of jeopardizing the integrity of local elections, and led to Funk feeling so exhausted that he volunteered his resignation, which they accepted—but, within 24 hours, Funk changed his mind, and began to seek legal help to resume the duties that he was elected to fulfill, but failed to persuade Emory County commissioners to reverse their decision to accept his resignation.

Because these Black Box Voting tests were conducted without supervision, the state invited Diebold to come retest those same machines without supervision (and at great expense) to certify that they were working properly. Funk hoped to supervise (and even record) Diebold’s tests but, without being allowed to continue his elected duties, he was unable to do so. Funk’s story was featured in a documentary entitled “Uncounted” in 2008. He now warns American citizens about easily-hackable voting machines (as in this LDS Conservative video), as have others, although mostly to figuratively-deaf ears. Ezra Taft Benson in 1976 identified voting as the single thread by which America’s federal Constitution still hangs. How may we better uphold the integrity of our elections?” – David Edward Garber