Voting systems 'can't be trusted'
Machines at risk for fraud, hacking

July 30, 2003
By Susan Greene, Denver Post Staff Writer

Dangling chads, nothing.

Florida's voting snafus during the 2000 presidential election pale in comparison to the vulnerabilities of high-tech voting machines counties throughout the nation are scrambling to buy in compliance with a new federal law, several top computer scientists are warning.

"What we know is that the machines can't be trusted. It's an unlocked bank vault ..., a disaster waiting to happen," said David Dill, a Stanford University computer science professor who has prompted more than 110 fellow scientists to sign a petition calling for more accountability in voting technology.

The researchers fear that problems with software systems will result in hacking and voter fraud, allowing people to cast extra votes and poll workers to alter ballots undetected.

--snip

Watchdogs grumbled about the aggressive sales techniques and close ties between voting machine companies and the officials they're trying to woo. In Colorado, for example, the executive director of the Denver Election Commission resigned in 1998 to work for Sequoia Pacific Voting Equipment, Inc., a company that received $6.6 million in contracts from his own department.

"There's quite a cozy relationship between election officials and salesmen," Dill said.

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