Expert maligns security of voting machines

Cox Washington Bureau, via ajc.com: "A leading information security expert warned Congress on Wednesday that federal standards for electronic voting machines have done little to prevent the possibility of errors or manipulation by computer hackers.

'Today, the state of electronic voting security is not good,' David Wagner of the University of California at Berkeley told two House committees holding a joint hearing on electronic voting machines.

With today's paperless voting machines, 'a single person with insider access and some technical knowledge could switch votes, perhaps undetected, and potentially swing an election,' Wagner said.

The hearing came on the heels of lawsuits filed by citizen groups in at least nine states, including Georgia, challenging various actions by elections officials in the transition to electronic touch-screen voting.

In general, the lawsuits maintain that the electronic machines are too susceptible to fraud and manipulation and that, because they do not produce a paper trail, it is more difficult to verify the accuracy of voting returns."