Voting Machines

Despite doomsday predictions of machine meltdowns and the hijacking of votes via computer, the state's new $55 million electronic voting machines made it through their first major test on Election Day 2004 with what appeared to be only minor glitches. Still, a push to add a layer of security to the machines -- including a way to conduct meaningful recounts of ballots if necessary -- appears to be picking up momentum in Annapolis this year. "We just feel very strongly that our voters need to feel confident their votes have been counted, so we don't have an Ohio or a Florida," said Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, the Democratic chairwoman of the Education, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee.

Although the state's elections chief said this week that installing a new voting system to satisfy a legislative proposal would be impossible by this fall's elections, a manufacturer of voting machines said yesterday that the company could provide appropriate equipment in time. Linda H. Lamone, Maryland's elections administrator, said at a Senate hearing Thursday that a bill to require a voter-verified paper ballot would require abandoning the state's touch-screen voting system and that a manufacturer is no longer taking contracts to provide equipment by this fall.

The huge steel voting machines used by Baltimore County voters since paper ballots were abandoned after World War II may be headed for the scrap heap.County election officials are thinking about switching to a computerized tabulation system for the March 1992 presidential primary. They believe the computerized system would save hours in counting votes, storage space and moving and maintenance costs.At least five counties in Maryland, including Anne Arundel and Howard, already have converted to computerized ballot systems, said Marvin Meyn, deputy administrator of the state election board.

The Maryland General Assembly yesterday asked for its own analysis of the state's planned purchase of electronic touch-screen voting machines, including a review to determine whether an earlier study ordered by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was "free of outside influence." "We think we need an independent look at it," said Sen. Paula C. Hollinger, a Baltimore County Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over voting issues.

The electronic voting system selected by Maryland and several other states may harbor serious software flaws that could allow voters or poll workers to tinker with election results, a team of Johns Hopkins University computer security experts has reported. The touch-screen voting machines made by Ohio-based Diebold Election Systems are vulnerable to subversions ranging from multiple voting to vote switching, the Hopkins study concluded. It said some hacks could be accomplished with little expertise, using inexpensive, widely available equipment.

Maryland election officials ignored key recommendations for protecting a new electronic voting system in time for the November election, a state computer-security consultant testified yesterday in Anne Arundel Circuit Court. The consultant, Michael A. Wertheimer, said the state should receive a failing grade for what it has done with information he provided on how to fix the $55 million system's potential security problems seven months ago. Whatever improvements have been made, he said, "still leave [the system]

Results tallied by Maryland's 16,000 new electronic voting machines can be trusted in their first statewide test during the March 2 presidential primary, but only with some added security measures, a state official and a consultant told legislators yesterday. Even more extensive upgrades - including the creation of a paper trail to allow voters to feel sure their ballots are counted just as they cast them - need also to be added to ensure the new ATM-like machines can be relied on in future elections, said Michael A. Wertheimer, a Columbia-based consultant hired by the state.

TODAY, Maryland's 188 state legislators must, by law, complete work on the Glendening administration's $21 billion budget. That leaves hundreds of other bills in limbo, with one week to go. Four measures especially deserve final approval. Two others are best left behind. Payday loans. A legal loophole lets an out-of-state bank, working through check-cashing outlets, charge 390 percent on small loans. Such outrageous usury must end. A House bill would do that and set up a commission to suggest alternative lending practices for people in poor neighborhoods.

The morning after Marylanders made their first foray into the world of touch-screen voting, some local precincts had yet to report their vote tallies yesterday, while local election judges urged the state to streamline how data are collected from the new voting machines. State elections officials declared the new electronic system a success, but critics renewed their call for a paper trail to verify votes. In general, most agreed the voting machines performed as expected. But glitches, mostly human, slowed vote counts and raised doubts about the system's reliability.

An Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge rejected yesterday a challenge to Maryland's new electronic voting system, saying officials had done enough to "ensure each vote is counted and the security and secrecy of the ballots remain intact." Allowing voters the option of casting paper ballots - one of the plaintiffs' top requests - would "cause much confusion and is clearly against the public interest," Judge Joseph P. Manck said in a seven-page ruling. The state elections chief, Linda H. Lamone, hailed the ruling.