Doubts swirl on security of electronic voting

DENVER — With the presidential race in full swing, Colorado and other states have found critical flaws in the accuracy and security of their electronic voting machines, forcing officials to scramble to return to the paper ballots they abandoned after the Florida debacle of 2000.

In December alone, top election officials in Ohio and Colorado declared that widely used voting equipment is unfit for elections.

"Every system that is out there, one state or another has found that they are no good," said John Gideon of the advocacy group Voters Unite. "Everybody is starting to look at this now and starting to realize that there is something wrong."

Despite those criticisms and moves away from electronic voting machines in other states, Utah officials say their Diebold electronic voting system is secure, accurate and well-audited with a paper trail. Utah began using electronic voting machines in 2006 and held a successful statewide election with the machines in November, said Joe Demma, chief of staff for Utah Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert.

"What we do here in Utah is in fact safe and secure," Demma said. "We are constantly pushing the envelope to ensure that each vote is counted safely and accurately."

The swing states of California, Ohio and Florida have found that security on touch-screen voting machines is inadequate. Testers have been able to disable the systems and even change vote totals.

One of the most notable tests, in fact, happened in Utah. In 2006, a study was done in Emery County, in Utah, that showed some flaws with the state's Diebold machines, including plugs that could be kicked out of electrical sockets and the possibility that a person could hack the system.

The hacking test, which was done by Black Box Voting with the permission of former Emery County Clerk Bruce Funk, did highlight some flaws and vulnerabilities in the machines. They did not change state officials minds about using the machines, however. Instead, they claimed that all of the vulnerabilities were known and secured — such as wireless modems, which the state disconnects before using the machines — or happened because the hackers were given access that is impossible to obtain in real elections.

Florida's "hanging chads" in the disputed 2000 Al Gore-George W. Bush election exposed the imperfection of paper ballot counting and helped lead to a $3 billion government initiative to bring voting into the digital age. The Help America Vote Act of 2002 effectively required that states have electronic equipment in place by 2010.