In the never ending saga that has rocked U.S. politics and the election of the next president of the United State, Kevin Mitnick announced an astounding discovery of the source of confusions, frustration, argument and amibiguity in the presential election of 2000. The voting machines and styluses used to operate them are not Y2K compliant.

The so-called Y2K or Millinineum Bug was the subject of billions of dollars of effort in 1999 as many businesses and government entities prepared for January 1, 2000, the date when many devices and computer programs would not function properly because of using only two digits to designate a given year. The problem is that 00 can be either 1900 or 2000 and computer programs, including microcode imbedded in many devices, either add or subtract using the year as constant.

"I hate to be an 'I told you so,' but it is clear the voting machines used by the state of Florida were not Y2K compliant," Mitnick said. His finding were confirmed by Troy Wolverton of CNet News. On December 2nd, CNet ran its own test on a random sample of voting machines used in the elections in Florida, while both the Florda and U.S. Supreme Court wrestled with counting votes at the intellectual level. The results show the Y2K effect.

"I got involved in this story on a hunch about whether or not Mitnick knew anything about a rumor that anarchist hackers managed to screw things up," said Wolverton. "At first Mitnick didn't even want to talk to me. So, I followed him for about a day and caught up with him at a Starbuck's in San Jose, CA. I paid for his Latte and shared my glazed doughnut with him. He seemed to soften up a bit and then the opened up."

"The machines, microcode and software applications used to count votes are simply not Y2K compliant," Wolverton said, explaining how Mitnick analyzed the situation. Apparently, the bit used to indicate a "yes" or "no" vote is flipped based on the year date field. The bombshell that nobody wants to admit is that the votes for Bush are in fact votes for Gore and the votes for Gore are in fact the votes for Bush!

"CNet put a whole crew on it," said Wolverton. "At first nobody believed it. But, in reality, voting machines were never tested to insure they were Y2K compliant. It was assumed, since the machines and technology were so old and based on mechanics, that there would not be any problem. They didn't even consider the fact that the counting mechanism is electro-mechanical, not purely mechanical.

This startling revelation has thrown the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to stop counting the ballots into question. Amazingly, the Bush camp has dropped its opposition to manual recouring and filed an emergency petition to recount all ballots. Gore's legal team has decided to drop its legal suit.

"This is disgusting," said Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. "Gore can't make up his mind what he wants to do."

Sources inside the Supreme Court insinuated the Court is thinking about ordering a total recount of all votes in Florida, even those that have been previously counted, with machines that are Y2K compliant.

"This is certainly a roller coaster ride," said George Smith. "I guess the election ain't over until the president sings. The bug is the bomb!"

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

Answers

Just came across this thread.

You don't mention the source of the article. Do you have any further information or references on this matter?

Many thanks!

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001

I don't have a record of this one and
can't find it with a search.

-- Anonymous, April 16, 2001