| I found the report “Lamone: Don't scrap voting machines“ quite amusing (The Gazette, Jan. 25).

Linda H. Lamone must have scouted far and wide to find a “computer science professor“ to agree with her that the Maryland voting machines are error proof and tamper proof.

Further, as everyone should understand, it's not the addition of a printed record that ensures accuracy, but rather the use of that printed record to perform random spots checks to verify machine totals. We don't want to lose 18,000 votes here as they did in Sarasota, Fla., in November.

Your readers should know that Diebold included a “back door“ in its software, allowing anyone to change or modify the software. There are no technical safeguards in place to ensure that only authorized people can make changes. The same professor Michael I. Shamos has said, “It's the most severe security flaw ever discovered in a voting system.“

It's not difficult to understand why Ms. Lamone doesn't want any changes to the existing machines. As it is, she has the ability to single-handedly determine the results of any and all elections in Maryland.

Richard Tatlow, Marriottsville