I have no interest in write-protection of a high tech device. My interest is in keep-it-simple-stupid! Paper ballots and human counters with sufficient observers all done in public.
Human counters have a motive to cheat. Computers have no care to favor one side over the other.
There is no “write protection” when the chip has no capability to be changed. The chip would be hardwired to the board.
As it is now, these chips in most every device can be updated with firmware changes by diskette, email, etc. There is no reason it has to be that way.
There are CD-Rs that employ write-once technology just as there are non-eraseable ROMs. And the parts are cheaper.
All other manners of vote HAVE been tampered with in the past. It is foolish to believe that they are “safe”.