Elections used to be rigged. In the future they may also be hacked, warn computer experts who believe America's new touch-screen voting machines, to be used in this year's presidential election, are vulnerable to computer fraud.
The machines are supposed to replace the punch-card voting machines that failed so spectacularly during the 2000 presidential election, that ended up in Florida courts and took five weeks of legal argument before George Bush was declared the winner.
About 50 million Americans, 29 per cent of registered voters, will use the touch-screen machines when they vote for a president in November.
One of the main suppliers, Diebold Inc, said its machines were virtually hack-proof and a "dramatic improvement" on the old punch-card machines. But when the state of Maryland asked computer experts to hack its Diebold machines, they did so with ease.
One tester took just 10 seconds to hack a machine and change the results. Off-site hackers needed less than 60 seconds to gain access via a modem and insert fictitious numbers.
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Diebold has also come under fire for its links to Mr Bush. The company's head, Walden O'Dell, has pledged to raise $US100,000 ($A126,000) for his re-election campaign and recently told a group of Republicans in Ohio that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President".
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http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/16/1076779903589.html.....