Avi Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins, posted a recap of his day as an election judge in Maryland on Tuesday, and it’s enough to make you wonder how a first-world democracy like the United States can behave like a banana republic when it comes to our election methodology. Avi’s precinct used the hideously insecure Diebold Accuvote-TS systems, and between technical problems, false security mechanisms, and a Diebold tech who had less than 24 hours of job experience and less than eight hours of training, Avi’s experience was disastrous. Given how fundamental voting is to the American way of government, it’s hard to concieve of a reason why Diebold and its machines are still present in elections. It’s pretty clear that an intermediate-level computer science student could develop a more reliable and secure system…