The Triangle

Issue date: 10/8/04 Section: Sci-Tech
Originally published: 10/8/04 at 1:10 AM EST
Last update: 10/8/04 at 12:12 PM EST

Media Credit: The Triangle [Click to enlarge]

There are only about four weeks left until the Presidential election and probably only four weeks and a day left until the recount begins. We all remember the voting debacle that occurred in Florida during the 2000 election. One citizen, one vote? - Clarence Thomas certainly cast a few more votes than most. Judicial partisanship aside, no one wants a repeat of 2000. There is, however, a dark cloud looming on the voting front, and it comes in the form of electronic voting (e-voting) machines.

Many districts across America have been modernizing their voting process through the use of e-voting machines, but many skeptics doubt that this will lead to more accurate vote counting. In an age of computer viruses, security glitches and system exploitation, the impenetrability of the e-voting systems currently being sold is questionable at best. State election divisions are busy trying to decide if these systems will be ready in time for elections, or whether the dimpled and hanging chads will have to be dealt with yet again.

One major producer of e-voting systems is Diebold Election Systems which will count tens of millions of votes in November. Analysts warn that this system can be easily exploited. Diebold software runs on the Windows platform, which has a long list of security flaws.

When votes are cast in a certain voting precinct, voting data is stored in a standard database format. This is all integrated into what Diebold calls its Global Election Management System, which does not include password protection for voting result databases. Moreover, the format of these databases allows them to be easily opened and altered using Microsoft Access. A security firm produced a simple 6-line Visual Basic Script that quickly altered the totals in a Diebold generated database.

Diebold claims that a standard system of checks and balances is implemented along with their system that makes any of the scenarios cooked up by analysts next to impossible, though many government officials remain unconvinced.

Diebold's machines, along with other e-voting machines from other manufacturers, have been banned in many states including California and Ohio. Perhaps more troubling is the fact that e-voting machines will be used in key battleground states including Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, New Mexico, Louisiana and Tennessee.

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