Mom, Can My Voting Machine Spend the Night?

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/mom-can-my-voting-machine-spend-the-night/index.html?partner=MYPERSONAL&ei=5027&_LT=UNLC_HPNWR00M1_ONEWS

August 19, 2008, 1:59 pm
Mom, Can My Voting Machine Spend the Night?

By Anahad O'Connor

Ohio is an election battleground state with perennial problems at the polls. So what have election officials in some precincts of the state been doing to keep their voting machines safe from tampering?

Taking the machines home with them and stashing them in their garages in the days before a big election.

If it sounds like something pulled straight out of an episode of Saturday Night Live, or Borat for that matter, it’s not. The practice has become so widespread that it even has a nickname, “sleepovers.”

Ohio, you may remember, has plenty of reason to be particularly vigilant about the security of its voting machines. The state has been a frequent battleground not only for presidential candidates, but also for lawyers and party representatives who have tangled over accusations of election fraud and concerns about paperless voting machines that incorporate new technology. After the 2004 presidential election, in which Ohio narrowly went to President Bush, some inspectors said they found signs of tampering in a number of precincts throughout the state.