|
Voting Machines Will Be Scrutinized |
|
By Garance Burke, Washington Post
August 14, 2003 Montgomery County officials this week expressed concern about the findings of a report questioning the security of new electronic voting machines and said the state must make sure the machines are tamper-proof before using them throughout Maryland. "It's important for us to resolve any questions or doubts that might have surfaced," said County Council member Marilyn Praisner (D-Eastern County). "We need to ensure that voters have confidence that when they go to the polls, the machines that they use will accurately reflect their intent." Montgomery was chosen as one of four counties to participate in a pilot program for the touch-screen voting machines before the state puts the new technology in all Maryland jurisdictions. Montgomery used them in elections last November. But after a study released three weeks ago by Johns Hopkins University raised concerns that even amateurs could hack into the machines, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) ordered an independent review of the machines. State officials signed a $55.6 million agreement with Ohio-based Diebold Election Systems Inc. for 11,000 voting machines just days before the Hopkins report came out. Last week, San Diego-based computer software investigation firm Science Applications International Corp. was hired to do a comprehensive study of the touch-screen machines' hardware and software. Several Montgomery elections judges and poll workers are expected to be interviewed about their experiences with the machines in November. Gilles Burger, the chairman of the Maryland State Board of Elections, said SAIC may ask questions about whether poll workers were adequately trained on the touch-screen machines. They will also respond to queries about the machines' setup procedures, whether elections officials were able to carry out "logic and accuracy" tests, and whether they were able to accurately tally votes before and after opening polling stations. "The information from the respective counties will be taken into consideration," said Shareese DeLeaver, spokeswoman for the governor. "The state will review all options available, including the cancellation of the contract. Our ultimate goal is to ensure voter confidence." Burger said that some of the allegations in the Hopkins report that suggested the machines were vulnerable to cyber-attacks might not bear out once tested in the field. "The Johns Hopkins authors didn't do any simulation of the election environment," Burger said. "They just loaded the software onto a laptop that was hooked up to the Internet in their office and starting playing with the source code." Council member Howard A. Denis (R-Potomac-Bethesda) said that while the independent review may be a step in the right direction, it is important not to play down public concerns about election fraud. "I don't want to have this thing whitewashed and have a lot of happy talk, and have people trying to mollify us and blow off these charges," said Denis, who will convene a public hearing next month to bring together the Hopkins scientists, state election officials and the County Council to discuss the issue. "The electronic machines were forced down our throats by the state. We were used as one of the guinea pigs for this, and on top of it we had to pay for it." Montgomery County split the cost of purchasing the electronic machines with the state last year. If the council is not satisfied with the review, Denis said, he would consider sponsoring a resolution to request a waiver from the state to return to the punch card system, even if it means money lost. "The integrity of our democracy is really at stake here," Denis said. "What I want to do is have a point-counterpoint session and listen very closely to what people have to say about this, whether it's positive or negative." Council member Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) said that she is not convinced that the issues cannot be addressed, "but what we need is good and reliable insight and information into what the problems are and how widespread they can be." "Running an election is a tremendous job and having made the investment once, I'd like to be satisfied that that's been the right investment before I make a move to switch to another system," Floreen said. |
