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October 20, 2008, 03:34 PM ET
Want Your Vote to Count Twice? It's Possible, Professor Says
Dan Wallach, an associate professor of computer science at Rice University, held a fake election with his students that demonstrated the vulnerability of electronic touch-screen voting machines, according to an MSNBC report. Mr. Wallach said the machines can be easily hacked by a tech-savvy person with enough access.
To prove his point, Mr. Wallach had his computer-science students play the role of “unethical programmers” who altered codes and set PIN numbers to allow themselves or others to vote multiple times on touch-screen ballots. The students, who split into six small groups, used an in-house machine to conduct their sabotage, and the device later underwent an audit by two other groups. One student group hid their bug so well that it could be traced only by running the whole program and went undetected during two audits.
Some studies have suggested that touch-screen machines can be manipulated, but Michelle Shafer, a spokeswoman for Sequoia Voting Machines told MSNBC that there has never been evidence of such fraud.
“While well-intentioned, this type of exercise may only drive fear for the voting public,” Ms. Shafer said.—David DeBolt
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