Electronic voting still vulnerable

Got this message recently from Common Cause:

Dear Inside Dope,

Last week The New York Times and others reported on new concerns about Diebold touch screen voting machines. According to The Times:

Computer scientists who have studied the vulnerability say the flaw might allow someone with brief access to a voting machine and with knowledge of computer code to tamper with the machine's software, and even, potentially, to spread malicious code to other parts of the voting system.

How many times do elections officials need to be warned about the serious problems with these machines? This is unacceptable. It is clear that all voting systems must produce a voter verifiable paper record. It is vital that audits which compare the paper records to the computer tallies be mandatory. If the machine malfunctions or there is tampering, we need to know.

What is Congress doing? Nothing. Right now HR 550, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act the bill, which would take care of these problems, is languishing in committee. The bill has 186 cosponsors, more support than most bills voted on in the House.

Please call Rep. Lane Evans today at (202) 225-5905, and urge him to let the House vote on HR 550.

Thank you for all you do for Common Cause.

Chellie Pingree
President
Common Cause