EVIDENCE Computer Hackers Could Change Election Results +post

Can State Ignore Its E-Vote Law?

E-voting rules head to court this week in North Carolina, where election officials stand accused of ignoring a tough new state law designed to raise the bar on procedures to ensure machines are secure and accurate.

A hearing is set for Wednesday in the suit, filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, against two state agencies in North Carolina for certifying voting machines in violation of state law. Though it's limited to North Carolina, court watchers say the case is a critical test of one of the strongest laws governing how e-voting machines are scrutinized before they are used in elections.

"Everyone is watching this carefully," said David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and chair of California's Voting Systems Technical Assessment and Advisory Board, which advises the secretary of state on voting systems.

The case comes as e-voting-machine makers put on their best faces in advance of looming deadlines for states seeking to qualify for federal funds to replace aging voting systems.

In the suit filed last week, EFF says the North Carolina State Board of Elections -- working with the Office of Information Technology Services -- certified two vendors to sell machines in North Carolina although the vendors did not comply with a new law requiring them to place all source code for a system into escrow before the machines could be certified.

The suit also charges state officials with breaking the law in failing to review the source code before certifying voting systems of the two vendors, Diebold and Election Systems and Software.