Study: Fla. Voting Machines Still Flawed
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By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida's optical scan voting machines are
still flawed, despite efforts to fix them, and they could allow poll
workers to tamper with the election results, according to a government-
ordered study obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
At the request of Secretary of State Kurt Browning, a Florida State
University information technology laboratory went over a list of
previously discovered flaws to see whether the machines were still
vulnerable to attack.
"While the vendor has fixed many of these flaws, many important
vulnerabilities remain unaddressed," the report said.
The lab found, for example, that someone with only brief access to a
machine could replace a memory card with one preprogramed to read one
candidate's votes as counting for another, essentially switching the
candidates and showing the loser winning in that precinct.
"The attack can be carried out with a reasonably low probability of
detection assuming that audits with paper ballots are infrequent," the
report said.
Browning asked Diebold Elections Systems to address the problems by
Aug. 17, and expressed confidence that the company will do so before
next year's primary election.
"To Diebold's credit, they have come to the table and been willing to
get these changes made and get them made timely," Browning said.
A company spokesman said the deadline would be met.
"These are not major changes, and we are confident we can meet the
deadline," said Mark Radke, who also said the company has worked well
with the state. "We look forward to continuing this relationship and
to continuing to improve the security of our elections systems."
Browning said that the memory cards are locked in machines and that
only a few people have access to them in a setting where others
wouldn't see them unscrewing machines, breaking seals and switching
cards.
"It is not where you just walk up to a machine and pop out a card," he
said.
Tampering with the software is much easier in a laboratory than trying
to carry out the same actions during an election, Browning said.
Still, he said, his office will advise county elections supervisors on
steps that should be taken to ensure machines won't be tampered with.
Florida's voting system drew national attention in 2000, when dimpled,
pregnant and hanging chads on punch card ballots held up a final count
in the presidential election. Florida was eventually decided by 537
votes after the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in, handing the election to
George W. Bush. The state has since banned the punch cards.
Currently, 15 of Florida's 67 counties use paperless touch-screen
voting machines, while the rest use optical scan machines where a
voter marks a paper ballot with a pencil and it is electronically
scanned. Touch-screen machines are being scrapped because of a newly
signed state law that requires a verifiable paper trail for all voting
machines.
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