Maryland House votes to oust Diebold machines
It would replace $90M worth of e-voting machines with
systems offering a paper trail
News Story by Marc L. Songini
COMPUTERWORLD
http://www.computerworld.com
Friday, March 10, 2006
March 10, 2006 (Computerworld) - The state of Maryland
stands poised to put its entire $90 million investment in
Diebold Election Systems Inc. touch-screen e-voting
systems on ice because they can't produce paper receipts.
The state House of Delegates this week voted 137-0 to
approve a bill prohibiting election officials from using
AccuVote-TSx touch-screen systems in 2006 primary and
general elections.
The legislation calls for the state to lease paper-based
optical-scan systems for this year's votes. State
Delegate Anne Healey estimated the leasing cost at $12.5
million to $16 million for the two elections.
Healey is the vice chairwoman of the Maryland House Ways
and Means Committee, which recommended the passage of the
bill.
The bill was sent onto the State Senate for a vote after
the House action, she said.
Healey said the effort was inspired in part by concerns
raised by officials in California and Florida that the
Diebold systems have inherent security problems caused by
technological and procedural flaws.
"We've been hearing from the public for the last several
years that it doesn't have confidence in a system without
a paper trail," Healey said. "We need to provide that
level of confidence going forward."
If the bill becomes law, the state's Diebold systems will
be placed in "abeyance" and the vendor will be required
to equip them so that they provide the requisite paper
trail, she said.
Healey said the law would require that the machines
provide a paper trail before the 2008 elections or
Diebold would risk losing its contract with the state.
The bill also requires that any leased optical-scan
system be equipped to accommodate the needs of
handicapped voters, to ensure compliance with the federal
Help America Vote Act statutes.
Healey said she expects the Senate to vote on the bill
sometime in the next few weeks, before the legislative
session ends.
A Diebold spokesman said the company will "certainly work
with the state of Maryland, as we always have, to support
their elections as they see fit."
The spokesman noted that Maryland has been using Diebold
machines for several years without problems. The state
first contracted with the company to provide the systems
in January 2002.
Maryland is following in the footsteps of several other
states in expressing concern over the lack of a paper
trail in the Diebold machines.
Earlier this month, Florida adopted a new set of security
procedures for users of e-voting systems from all
suppliers of e-voting machines.
The implementation of these new procedures in Florida was
largely a response to reports issued last month by
California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson that tests
of the Diebold systems found them vulnerable to external
access via hacking or bugs.
Nonetheless, McPherson has granted conditional
certification for the Diebold machines in California's
elections - with the proviso that supervisors adhere to
new security guidelines when using the gear.
The guidelines require that administrators reset the
cryptographic keys on every AccuVote-TSx machine from the
factory-installed default before every election.
Additionally, each memory card must be programmed
securely under the supervision of the registrar of
voters.
Over an unspecified long term, Diebold must fix the
security vulnerabilities to retain the California
certification.
In a statement, Diebold said it "wholeheartedly agrees"
with the proposed security procedures and said it plans
to improve the security of the optical-scan firmware in
its machines and create digital signatures to detect
tampering.
More at:
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legislation/story/0,10801,109436,00.html?source=NLT_PM&nid=109436Maryland
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