“GAO Report on Electronic Voting Systems (September, 2005)
This report detailed flaws in voting system security, access, and hardware controls, weak security management practices by vendors, and identified multiple examples of failures in real elections.
Voting system vulnerabilities and problems found include:
Cast ballots, ballot definition files, and audit logs could be modified;
Supervisor functions were protected with weak or easily guessed passwords;
Systems had easily picked locks and power switches that were exposed and unprotected;
Local jurisdictions misconfigured their electronic voting systems, leading to election day problems;
Voting systems experienced operational failures during elections;
Vendors installed uncertified software;
Some electronic voting systems did not encrypt cast ballots or system audit logs, and it was possible to alter both without being detected;
It was possible to alter the files that define how a ballot looks and works so that the votes for one candidate could be recorded for a different candidate.”
http://www.md-eic.org/INFO1.HTM
See also:
http://www.md-eic.org/Documents/GAOReport_ElectionSecurity_102105.pdf
Ah, new stuff to read! Thanks. I’ll get to it when I’m off the road and have some time.
Looks like the 2007 report found much fewer problems than the 2005 report.
I guess things are getting worse! :)