Report: Ohio needs new voting machines

[cal04]

JULIE CARR SMYTH
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071215/ap_on_re_us/ohio_voting_machines_1

The state's top elections official recommended Friday that Ohio counties replace their touch-screen voting machines because the devices — in use for roughly two years — are vulnerable to manipulation.

A report released by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner found a host of ways in which the machines could be manipulated: When empty, a portal in the electronic machines can be manipulated with a magnet or personal digital assistant; ballot-creation programs are either not password-protected or use a universal password; and invasive computer messages could be introduced by a voter and spread easily.

Touch-screen machines have been purchased across the nation to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act. Nationally, $3 billion was spent to replace the punch-card voting system that faltered in the 2000 election.

(snip)
Brunner, a Democrat, initiated the review when she took office, and state House Speaker Jon Husted, a Republican, joined her at the report's release to signal that its findings were not partisan.