Maryland balloting beset with doubts, vulnerability

Maryland is on track to repeat the chaos of the 2000 election in Florida.

Even without “butterfly” ballots and hanging chads, Maryland faces several elections-related problems that threaten the accuracy and promptness of Tuesday’s results.

Uncertainty looms about the state’s electronic voter rolls, the number and training of poll workers, and anticipated challenges in the aftermath of Election Day.

“I am very concerned,” said U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland Democrat. “I don’t want anything to undermine this democracy.”

• Electronic voting

The security and reliability of the state’s electronic voting machines have been questioned for months, and the machines’ performance in September’s primaries have reinforced doubts about Tuesday’s balloting.

“We’re setting ourselves up to become another Florida. … How can you have confidence in the outcome of the election?” said the Rev. Bobby Henry, an attorney and associate minister at Jericho City of Praise in Landover. “Have we gotten these voting machines fixed?”

According to a recent study by Princeton University, Diebold Election Systems Inc.’s electronic voting machines — which are being used in Maryland and other states — are “vulnerable to a number of extremely serious attacks that undermine the accuracy and credibility of the vote counts it produces.”

The Princeton report echoes the findings of several other studies that have found the machines vulnerable to hackers and viruses.

Two weeks ago, a 2004 version of the computer code used in Diebold’s machines was mailed anonymously to a former delegate.

Many officials have railed against the machines’ lack of a paper trail to verify votes. The Democrat-controlled legislature this year killed a bill that would have set up machines to scan paper ballots.

In September’s primary elections, faulty electronic voting machines, some of which rebooted continually after 40 votes had been cast, caused extensive delays. Many voters were turned away from the polls.

Diebold officials say they have fixed the problem, and state elections Administrator Linda H. Lamone has said each local board will use paper voter rolls as a backup, but computer science specialists are skeptical.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican seeking re-election, and Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, a Democrat, have criticized the reliability and security of the machines and have encouraged voters to use absentee ballots.

• Absentee ballots

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