State to check counties' election systems (Seattle P-I)

Friday, February 4, 2005

State to check counties' election systems

By MICHELLE NICOLOSI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The Washington Secretary of State's Office is launching a statewide audit of county election offices to make sure that local election systems are secure and are using only state-approved software and voting machines.

The audit follows similar reviews in Maryland and California, which found that some election offices had used unapproved elections software, lacked basic security training, and had a number of other "high-risk vulnerabilities."

An audit done in California in 2004 found that Diebold Elections Systems -- which provides elections systems to King County and a number of other counties in Washington -- had illegally installed unapproved versions of election software in a number of California counties without telling the state.

And recent studies done in Maryland found that "the state of Maryland election system ... contains considerable security risks."

Two reports there found that local elections offices lacked "security awareness training ... well-documented procedures for maintaining the integrity of systems, and the ability to detect and recover from security breaches in a timely manner."

More:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/210734_vote04.html

not after the stolen 2004 election!!!