Version of VisualBasic used in EasyCount software

Peter Lawler made this Freedom of Information request to Australian Electoral Commission

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was successful.

Dear Australian Electoral Commission,
It has previously been reported that you use Visual Basic to perform senate counting routines[1]. It has also been noted that the Visual Basic code is compiled to perform the tasks required of it[2].

There are a number of different Microsoft products that fit under the 'Visual Basic' banner (VB6, VB.NET, etc) which are significantly different in technology and syntax. Would you please inform me which VB you are referring to when you mention 'Visual Basic' in relation to Easycount.

I believe that in releasing this information, further clarity will be brought to previous statements made by you[1]. Thus such a release of the information is in the public interest,

Yours faithfully,

Peter Lawler.

[1] http://www.itnews.com.au/News/360504,the...
[2] https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/4...

Australian Electoral Commission

Thank you for contacting us.

This is an automatic response from the Australian Electoral Commission to confirm we have received your email.

For more information on enrolling to vote, federal elections or the AEC, visit www.aec.gov.au.

Please do not respond to this email.

Owen Jones, Australian Electoral Commission

5 Attachments

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Mr Lawler

I refer to your email of 16 July 2014 9:22 PM about this matter and I
enclose a scanned letter to you dated 17 July 2014 from Paul Pirani, Chief
Legal Officer of the Australian Electoral Commission responding to your
request.

This is my third attempt to transmit the letter to you. I have appended
the Undeliverable reports for the two earlier attempts. You should check
the hyperlink in the email address that you gave as its seems to cause the
failure.

Regards

Owen Jones

Owen Jones | Senior Lawyer

Legal Services Section | Legal, Parliamentary and Procurement Branch

Australian Electoral Commission

T: (02) 6271 4528 | F: (02) 6293 7657

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Commission

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should be consulted prior to any decision to disclose the existence or
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From: Microsoft Outlook
Sent: Thursday, 17 July 2014 3:54 PM
To: Owen Jones
Subject: Undeliverable: LS5097 Purported FOI Request by Peter Lawler about
which version of VisualBasic software is used in the EasyCount Software
[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

 

 

Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:

 

[3]mailto:[FOI #712 email]
The format of the e-mail address isn't correct. A correct address looks
like this: [email address]. Please check the recipient's e-mail
address and try to resend the message.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diagnostic information for administrators:

 

Generating server: PRD-EXHT-ACT21.prod.aec.gov.au

 

mailto:[FOI #712 email]
#550 5.1.3 STOREDRV.Submit; invalid recipient address #SMTP#

 

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From: Owen Jones <[email address]>
To: "mailto:[FOI #712 email]"
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CC: Legal Services - NO <[email address]>, INFO
<[AEC request email]>
Subject: LS5097 Purported FOI Request by Peter Lawler about which version
of
VisualBasic software is used in the EasyCount Software [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Thread-Topic: LS5097 Purported FOI Request by Peter Lawler about which
version of VisualBasic software is used in the EasyCount Software
[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
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From: Microsoft Outlook
Sent: Thursday, 17 July 2014 3:49 PM
To: Owen Jones
Subject: Undeliverable: LS5097 Purported FOI Request by Peter Lawler about
which version of VisualBasic software is used in the EasyCount Software
[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

 

 

Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:

 

[4]mailto:[FOI #712 email]
The format of the e-mail address isn't correct. A correct address looks
like this: [email address]. Please check the recipient's e-mail
address and try to resend the message.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diagnostic information for administrators:

 

Generating server: PRD-EXHT-ACT20.prod.aec.gov.au

 

mailto:[FOI #712 email]
#550 5.1.3 STOREDRV.Submit; invalid recipient address #SMTP#

 

Original message headers:

 

Received: from PRD-EXMB-ACT20.prod.aec.gov.au ([168.130.180.8]) by
PRD-EXHT-ACT20.prod.aec.gov.au ([168.130.180.35]) with mapi id
14.03.0123.003; Thu, 17 Jul 2014 15:48:55 +1000
Content-Type: application/ms-tnef; name="winmail.dat"
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From: Owen Jones <[email address]>
To: "mailto:[FOI #712 email]"
            <[FOI #712 email]>
CC: Legal Services - NO <[email address]>, INFO
<[AEC request email]>
Subject: LS5097 Purported FOI Request by Peter Lawler about which version
of
VisualBasic software is used in the EasyCount Software [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Thread-Topic: LS5097 Purported FOI Request by Peter Lawler about which
version of VisualBasic software is used in the EasyCount Software
[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Thread-Index: Ac+hgsq9aXsUffBBTemoB4pXPBzu8g==
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 15:48:54 +1000
Message-ID:
<[email address]>
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show quoted sections

Dear Owen Jones,
Thank you for your reply. I must apologise for both being unclear that this really wasn't an FOI request but a request for clarification of statements by AEC officers both in FOI responses and elsewhere, as well as the transient errors you experienced in the unreliable MTA subsystems of the internet. I shall raise the latter issue with the help desk/s.

I appreciate your candidness in response and providing me with the answer to my question.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Lawler

Matthew Landauer left an annotation ()

The reason the earlier emails did not get through is because the email addresses were invalid. Email addresses don't start with "mailto:"

Peter Lawler left an annotation ()

'Email addresses don't start with "mailto:"'
Ah, glad to know it's not a RightToKnow problem, thanks!

Luke John left an annotation ()

Whilst scrutineering the aec gave the following additional information.

Developed in Visual Studio .NET C# for .NET Framework 3.5
SQL Server (Compact Edition)
SQL Reporting Services