Sunday, September 05, 2004

Yahoo! News - Problems Abound in Election System: "But in Ohio, election officials delayed deployment after a consultant found serious security flaws in the technology offered by four of the nation's top vendors. The study found that anyone with a security card and access to voting terminals made by Diebold Inc. could take control of the machines by typing a universal password of 1111. Security consultants hired by Maryland officials reported earlier this year that they were able to hack into that state's electronic voting systems to corrupt vote counts and delete election results. Maryland is sticking with the system, with officials saying they have tightened security procedures. Advocates of the electronic machines say security concerns must be weighed against statistics showing that the machines prevent voter mistakes that led to many ballots being canceled. Critics, however, point to places such as Raleigh, N.C., where 294 votes were lost in 2002 because of computer glitches. The critics' biggest concern is that the machines offer no independent record for a recount, meaning that it is impossible to detect whether there has been tampering".

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