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Voting companies emphasize that their products undergo rigorous testing and independent review required by federal laws for certification.
“Judging from the majority of news coverage, one might think that companies just throw software together and start selling equipment and running elections, when the reality is just the opposite,” Mr. Charles of Sequoia said.
Some observers of the fight say it is having an effect beyond ones and zeroes and virtual forms of hanging chad. Bev Harris, who is writing a book on the electronic voting industry, was among the first people to place the Diebold files online.
She said that when she began her research, young people tended to tell her that voting was irrelevant to their lives. That is changing, she said; “What more important thing can we do so that we can get them involved, and see how important voting is?”
Correction Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2003
An article in Business Day yesterday about the online circulation by hackers of software from electronic voting systems developed by Diebold Election Systems and Sequoia Voting Systems misattributed a statement about the possibility of Sequoia's submitting its software to a computer security researcher. It was made by Alfie Charles, a Sequoia spokesman, not David Bear, a Diebold spokesman. The article also referred incorrectly to the source of the Sequoia software that was released. The source was a contractor used by one of Sequoia's customers, not one used by the company.
