My new article - Georgia hasn't, and can't, certify crucial vote software update

[Douglas Lucas]

Howdy Cypherpunks,

Today BradBlog.com, run for two decades and counting by journalist Brad
Friedman -- host of the AM/FM radio show the BradCast, syndicated across
the U.S. -- published my new investigative article titled:

_Exclusive: Georgia Secretary of State Has Failed to Certify Urgent,
CISA-Recommended Voting Software Update_

and subtitled ...

_Critics charge state laws block him from doing so, even if he wanted
to..._

Here's the hyperlink direct to my article: https://bradblog.com/?p=14711
and my newly pinned tweet for it:
https://twitter.com/DouglasLucas/status/1676695595774509057 

I included a sentence just for grarpamp: "Following the breach, the
intruders uploaded Dominion's 5.5-A software suite to a secret site on
the Internet, allowing access to selected individuals and organizations
who, themselves, may have further disseminated the swiped software."
More precisely, it was a password-protected site; the intruders were
partisan, and 'allowing access to selected' should have been
'restricting access to only selected individuals' ... more Leak Keeper
behavior. 

Summary: 
In short, Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has not
contracted with a certification agent (typically a VSTL or voting system
test laboratory) to get a state-level examination done for Dominion
Democracy Suite 5.17. Other evidence similarly shows Raffensperger isn't
moving, and cannot move, on the 5.17 software version. According to Univ
Michigan computer science professor J. Alex Halderman -- whose report on
the matter was unsealed by a federal judge last month -- 5.17
purportedly addresses the flaws he uncovered in version 5.5-A. That
older 5.5-A version is presumably what we'd find in place if we wheeled
out the voting computers presently locked away in Georgia warehouses and
closets and booted them up. It's the same defective version currently
slated for use on Election Day 2024, since Raffensperger says he won't
update till at least 2025. With how long these issues have been raised,
Raffensperger is taking longer to patch than the U.S.'s whole official
involvement in World War II. Given the Coffee County breach (see my
previous article, also posted to this list by me) and Halderman's
report, the vulnerabilities and code of 5.5-A are probably widespread by
now, putting a November 2024 bullseye on the swing state's back unless
Raffensperger's office switches to, say, hand-marked paper ballots
tabulated by 
scanners checked through mandatory, robust Prof. Philip Stark-style
risk-limiting audits. 

Some points of interest to the Cypherpunks email list in my article: A
lying State Secretary spokesperson who's a higher-up at an opaque
department; proprietary software (no way to really know if 5.17 actually
does mend 5.5-A to any impressive degree), physical breaches leading to
exact copies being uploaded to secret sites for restricted audiences
seeking partisan and/or pecuniary gain (Coffee County); and many voters
who typically only care about earning their I Voted stickers on Election
Day -- with gale-force screeching about patriotism for a few days -- yet
who ignore electoral mechanics the 36-plus other months of each
presidential cycle, because, it is said, thinking too hard, caring too
much, is uncool, especially when there's so much good TV lately and we
work so we deserve to just be happy... 

Thanks, and curious for any meaningful feedback, 

Douglas
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