From ArsTechnica:
The bad news just keeps on pouring in for advocates of electronic voting. In the latest turn of events, election officials in Leon County, Florida, hired computer experts to successfully hack an optical-scan voting machine manufactured by Diebold, Inc. Hugh Thompson and Harri Hursti were able to affect the outcome of the “election” by altering the software on a removable memory card central to the machine’s operation.
Users were asked to use the Diebold machine to vote on the question of whether or not it could be hacked. Thompson and Hursti voted “yes,” while six other users voted “no.” The final result tallied seven “yes” and one “no” votes.[...]
The scary part of all this is that the hacked machine was an optical-scan design, wherein a user is required to vote on paper which is then scanned into the machine. Many experts prefer the optical-scan method to touch-screen designs: If there is any concern that election results may be inaccurate, the paper votes can be compared to the electronic outcome for verification.
And we’re supposed to be trusting our new electronic election overlords, yes?
I think I’m going to be revising my opinion of computerized voting — I want a method that produces a paper trail, has audited security measures, and has a requirement for a random partial recount.