Remember the 2000 Election in Florida, hanging chads, etc.? That episode prompted states to upgrade their voting machines to electronic and now, with the 2004 Elections only 14 months away, computer security experts are saying the new voting machines are vulnerable to errors and tampering. Just Great!
According to experts at a computer security symposium sponsored by the Advanced Computing Systems Association, flaws have been found in hardware and software.
One basic problem widely discussed at the symposium was the difficulty of voter verification and how to secure an audit trail. There are many concerns that local officials could skew the machines to record votes falsely.
Jim Adler, of VoteHere, a developer of technology for voting machines, said the major problem was that the voter had to be able to know his vote was cast. Another problem is that insiders are not trusted.
"The nightmare scenario," he said, "is the election that goes against the polls, and there is no proof of the outcome."
Boy, I just don't have a warm feeling about how this may play out. American history is fraught with occurrences of voter fraud and this sounds like the door is wide open for new and creative cheaters.
[Update at 1655 EDT, 8/11/03]
Apparently the news of the voting machine problems has risen to the attention of the major media. The Drudge Report is pointing to an article in the Washington Post by Brigid Schulte which states:
Since being released two weeks ago, the Hopkins report has sent shock waves across the country. Some states have backed away from purchasing any kind of electronic voting machine . . . .
As I mentioned earlier, I don't have a warm feeling about this.
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