San Francisco- Officials overseeing elections in three states have directed local authorities to take additional security measures with a popular type of electronic voting machine to prevent election fraud.
California, Iowa and Pennsylvania issued the voting directives in recent weeks after researchers discovered a feature that could allow someone to load unauthorized software on Diebold Election Systems computerized machines.
Diebold is a unit of Green, Ohio-based Diebold Inc.
A hacker theoretically could use the software to rig or sabotage an election or to perform some other unauthorized function, said Michael Shamos, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
"It's worse than a hole," said Shamos, who has been briefed on the vulnerability of the Diebold machines. "It's a deliberate feature that was added by Diebold that we all believe is unwise."
In the wake of the ballot-tabulating problems that plagued the 2000 presidential election, electronic voting has become a flash point for many people concerned about fair elections. Critics charge that electronic voting machines are too susceptible to fraud and error to be trusted and should not replace traditional balloting until proper safeguards are installed.
Diebold spokesman David Bear said there is no evidence electronic results have been subject to tampering. He added it would be hard for anyone to exploit the recently discovered flaw if officials follow security procedures already in place, but that Diebold is developing a permanent solution to address concerns.
And if officials know about the security hole and DON'T follow security procedures because they have been instructed by their party bosses (which in Ohio are Republicans) to make sure a certain candidate wins? Then all bets are off.
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