12/03/03
Julie Carr Smyth
Plain Dealer Bureau
Columbus - Ohio's sweeping review of electronic voting machines turned up so many potential security flaws in the
systems that the state's top elections offi cial has called off deploying them in March.
The detailed findings confirmed what academics, computer scientists and voter advocates across the country have said for
months: Electronic voting systems are prime targets for manipulation by anyone from expert computer hackers to poll
workers to individual voters.
Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who ordered the review, said he and machine vendors are confident that all 57 problems
identified by investigators can be fixed.
He said his decision to detail each security flaw in a public report, and then to assure each one is addressed, will
provide vendors with a "Good Seal of Security Approval" and build confidence in electronic voting technology both in the
state of Ohio and around the United States.
"Their cooperation and collaboration in this process, which I think was laudatory, actually wins them competitive
advantage in the marketplace," he said.
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