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Experts voice doubts about voting machines
As Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller considers which electronic voting machines to buy for the state, two national computer experts said their tests show the devices are unreliable and should not be bought until questions about security and accuracy can be answered.

But the manufacturers disagree, and Heller said he plans to enlist the expertise of the Nevada Gaming Control Board to ensure the machines are secure and accurate.

Avi Rubin, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, said he found major security flaws with the system used by one of the companies that is in the running for a contract to provide voting machines across Nevada.

“No one really knew what was going on in those machines,” he said. “I don’t think what we saw was fixable. They can’t plug all the holes.”

Rubin said voting-machine companies could learn a security lesson from slot machine manufacturers, which follow stringent procedures to prevent tampering.

“They do background checks on all of the programmers. They have outside auditors monitor the code. These (voting machine) companies are just building them in secret.”...