Brennan Center for Justice reviews e-voting vulnerabilities

[babylonsister]

I thought this might brighten your day.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-06-26-e-vo...

Analysis finds e-voting machines vulnerable

WASHINGTON — Most of the electronic voting machines widely adopted since the disputed 2000 presidential election "pose a real danger to the integrity of national, state and local elections," a report out Tuesday concludes.

There are more than 120 security threats to the three most commonly purchased electronic voting systems, the study by the Brennan Center for Justice says. For what it calls the most comprehensive review of its kind, the New York City-based non-partisan think tank convened a task force of election officials, computer scientists and security experts to study e-voting vulnerabilities.

The study, which took more than a year to complete, examined optical scanners and touch-screen machines with and without paper trails. Together, the three systems account for 80% of the voting machines that will be used in this November's election.

While there have been no documented cases of these voting machines being hacked, Lawrence Norden, who chaired the task force and heads the Brennan Center's voting-technology assessment project, says there have been similar software attacks on computerized gambling slot machines.

"It is unrealistic to think this isn't something to worry about" in terms of future elections, he says.

more...

[wisteria]

1. Thanks for the updated information.

Paperless, electronic voting machines have replaced the old lever machines in my state. I attended a meeting thats purpose was to calm our fears about the new machines and the issue of tampering can up time and time again. Of course, we were assured our machines were safe from tampering, but I still feel uneasy about using them.

[babylonsister]

2. You have EVERY right to fee uneasy; I think those of us

who are even vaguely aware feel the same way.