ABC news: "Electronic voting machines could skew elections"

Over time, this is becoming less and less tin-foil hat territory:

ABC NEWS

Electronic Voting Machines Could Skew Elections

Researchers, Candidates Have Little Confidence in Machines Designed to Make Elections Easier to Call

By JAKE TAPPER, REBECCA ABRAHAMS and EDUARDO SUNOL

Oct. 22, 2006 -- Cheryl Kagan, a former Maryland Democratic legislator, was shocked when she opened her mail Wednesday morning. Inside, she discovered three computer discs. With them was an anonymous letter saying the discs contained the secret source code for vote-counting that could be used to alter the votes cast through Maryland's new electronic voting machines. "My understanding is that with these disks a malicious person could skew the outcome of an election," Kagan said.

It continues:

Diebold, the company that makes the voting machines, told ABC News, "These discs do not alter the security of the Diebold touch-screen system in any way," because election workers can set their own passwords. But ABC News has obtained an independent report commissioned by the state of Maryland and conducted by Science Applications International Corporation revealing that the original Diebold factory passwords are still being used on many voting machines. The SAIC study also shows myriad other security flaws, including administrative over-ride passwords that cannot be changed by local officials but can be used by hackers or those who have seen the discs.

I don't want to quote much more, for fear of copyright issues. If you want to read the whole article, it's here. Finally, here's a quote, towards the end of the article, by the GOP's Ehrlich:

Gov. Robert Ehrlich, a Republican running for reelection, advised residents to vote by absentee ballot because he had no confidence in the machines. "I don't care if we paid half a billion dollars or $1 billion," Ehrlich said. "If it's going to put the election at risk, there's no price tag for a phony election or a fraudulent election."

Can anyone else point to other coverage in the OSM (Old School Media)?