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Thursday, Oct. 9, 2003

Though he had no evidence, Coffey was suspicious that the touch-screen voting computer could have been rigged to vote "yes" on the recall while recording the Democrat as voting for Republican winner Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"I have no confidence at all in electronic voting," the 54-year-old real estate investor said. "I have no confidence in any voting system after what happened in Florida."

Coffey had a chorus of company this week in Alameda County, one of the nation's largest to swap paper ballots in favor of touch-screen terminals. His cynicism may resonate with voters nationwide as some computer scientists cast doubt on popular touch-screen systems.

"The companies that run this software aren't smart enough to compete against an 8-year-old hacker," said Shawn Taylor, a 31-year-old writer in Oakland. "As soon as my vote leaves the screen, someone with an agenda can manipulate it."

Counties nationwide are switching to touch-screens to comply with new federal law requiring upgrades from punch-card systems to get federal money.

Elections officials and vendors say the systems are safe, speed lines at the polls and save hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But new research from computer scientists on the theoretical dangers of electronic voting seemed to fan emotions over the recall despite no reported cases of fraud and no demand for a recount in California's recall election.

"They're unfairly eroding people's faith in voting," Mark Radke, director of the voting industry division of Ohio-based Diebold Inc., said of the scientists. Diebold sold Alameda 4,000 touch-screens and has installed 50,000 nationwide.

Sharon Golden, 45, a floral designer from Riverside, said the electronic voting system gave her confidence her vote was being counted instantly.

"I thought it was a lot better than the punching," Golden said Wednesday. "After you voted it plugged everything in, your whole ballot, and then it said push this button and your vote will be counted, so your vote was counted right away."

But Bev Harris, author of "Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century," which debuted last week online, has documented more than 100 incidents of computer miscounts from Georgia to Washington state.

Harris said voters shouldn't presume their votes are cast properly. According to a study in July by Johns Hopkins and Rice universities, any clever hacker could break into Diebold's system and vote multiple times. Researchers also found that hackers or insiders could fix the outcome.

David Dill, a computer science professor at Stanford University and a leading skeptic of electronic voting, last week urged voters in Alameda and three other California counties using touch-screen terminals to vote with paper absentee ballots counted by an older method known as optical scan.

Numerous voters said Tuesday they'd feel more comfortable if the computers spit out receipts confirming that paper results match their touch-screen choices.

"I'd love it if the computer could give me a piece of paper," said Berkeley resident Carol Jacobson, 46. "I wonder where the votes go once you touch the screen and if it's possible to mess with the vote." ___

© 2003 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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