Issues And Ideas

    

Expert Says E-Voting Is 'Terrible'

Wednesday May 5, 2004 7:16 PM
By HOPE YEN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A computer science expert criticized electronic voting systems planned for the November election as highly vulnerable and flawed, saying on Wednesday a backup paper system is the only short-term solution to avoid another disputed presidential election.

"On a spectrum of terrible to very good, we are sitting at terrible,'' Aviel D. Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University, told the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. "Not only have the vendors not implemented security safeguards that are possible, they have not even correctly implemented the ones that are easy.''

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The first public hearing by the commission came as many states consider legislation to require a paper record of every vote cast as a backup to technology they consider potentially faulty or vulnerable to attack.

About 50 million Americans this fall are expected to use the ATM-like voting machines, which states rushed to get to replace paper ballots after Florida's hanging-chad fiasco in 2000. Critics say the touchscreen machines can't be trusted because they don't leave a paper trail.

Phil Singer, a spokesman for the presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry, said Wednesday, ``After what happened in Florida in 2000, making sure that there is a reliable paper trail in place to account for every vote is just common sense.''

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told reporters no printers for making receipts have been manufactured for the electronic voting machines in his state, but he suggested he is not concerned about using the machines in November.

"I'm afraid a lot of the concerns about this are really to try to create a cloud of controversy during the election to motivate people to vote and there's got to be a better way to do that,'' Bush said. "You can talk about issues and ideas, maybe, instead of scaring people.''

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