You can call it capitulation to local election officials likely to be called on the carpet if it turned out they had wasted tens of millions of dollars. You can call it practicality, assuring that California counties can put the most modern election equipment into use this year.
But the undeniable fact is that millions of voters in as many as 21 counties will be voting this year on machines that can be hacked to alter election results. This became certain when Secretary of State Bruce McPherson the other day conditionally certified the newest machines made by Diebold Election Systems Inc. for use in this year's elections, starting with several local votes in the early spring. Although an evaluation by University of California, Berkeley computer experts concluded that hackers can easily change election results on them, thousands of Diebold machines will be in place for the June primary. |