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Assurances on security of voting are sought |
By Kelly Brewington
Sun reporter
Originally published January 26, 2006
Soon after California elections officials ordered testing on that state's Diebold electronic voting machines last month, Maryland's top elections official raised questions about the state's similar system.Advocates for changes in Maryland's voting system point to the Dec. 23 letter from elections administrator Linda Lamone to Diebold's top executive - made public yesterday - as evidence that Maryland's electronic voting machines are vulnerable to hackers and prone to mistakes.
They urged Lamone to decertify the entire system.
"It signifies to me that our state elections administration realizes this has serious implications for Maryland," said Linda Schade, executive director of TrueVoteMD. "Maryland voters need to know if we are going to have an election system that is going to work in 2006."
Lamone wrote the letter after California's secretary of state declared that some of that state's voting machines were prone to errors and would not be certified for use. In an interview yesterday, Lamone said that Diebold touch-screen machines used here are secure and that she anticipates smooth fall elections.
"I sent the letter simply so Maryland is kept in the loop on the issue," she said.
In her letter to Diebold Chief Executive Officer Thomas Swidarksi, Lamone requested daily telephone briefings with company officials, copies of California test results and documentation showing whether California's technology is the same as that used here.
"Since these systems are used statewide in Maryland, this matter is of great concern to elections officials in the State and Maryland voters," the letter says.
Lamone said yesterday that she has spoken with Diebold regularly but has not received documents from the vendor on the tests.
Late last year, an elections supervisor in Leon County, Fla., announced the jurisdiction would no longer use Diebold machines after computer experts hacked into it. The highly publicized hack intensified debate over the security of electronic voting machines.
Lamone said the Maryland system has safeguards to prevent the kind of tampering that occurred in Florida.
"If I gave you the combination to my alarm system at home and left the door unlocked, you would be able to get into my house without setting the alarm off," she said.
Diebold officials stand by their products, which are used statewide in Maryland and Georgia.
"The Florida situation has no bearing on the election down there, let alone what happens in Maryland," said David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold. "It was blatant, unfettered access to the system that is not reflective of what would happen in a real election."
kelly.brewington@baltsun.com.
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