San Francisco - In response to today's release of research
about critical security flaws in e-voting systems, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged immediate passage
of e-voting legislation to prevent election fraud.
Security researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Rice
University announced today that they have discovered numerous
serious security flaws in what they believe is one of the
leading e-voting systems in the country -- the Diebold
Electron Systems' e-voting terminal.
Among the security flaws discovered were several ways in
which individual voters could vote multiple times in a
given election. The researchers also uncovered methods
permitting voters to "trick" the e-voting machines into
allowing them system administrator privileges or even
terminating an election before tallying all legitimate
votes.
"EFF supports electronic voting, but this report indicates
Diebold's e-voting system isn't ready for prime time," said
EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn, who advised the security
researchers. "This report describes how voters, election
officials, insiders at e-voting companies, and even
custodians at election locations could manipulate
elections and defraud the public."
"Only with open review, vigorous security testing, and a
voter verifiable paper audit trail can the public have
confidence that e-voting machines will provide an actual
accounting of the will of the people," said EFF Activist
Ren Bucholz. "We urge everyone who cares about democracy to
support effective e-voting legislation."
Concerned citizens can voice their support for
Representative Holt's bill to require open source e-voting
systems and voter verifiable paper audit trails.
Links:
- E-voting security research report [EFF mirror] (PDF)
- EFF action alert on e-voting legislation
- New York Times article on e-voting report
Contact:
Cindy Cohn
Legal Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
+1 415 436-9333 x108 (office)
Ren Bucholz
Activist
Electronic Frontier Foundation
+1 415 436-9333 x121 (office)
