A new report, released by the University of Connecticut's VoTeR Center and Department of Computer Science and Engineering, assesses the security of the Diebold optical scan voting terminals. We commend Connecticut for having requested the report. Wish the results could have been more encouraging. At this point, it's not surprising to hear that yet another type of voting machinery is not secure.

In fact, after reading Avi Rubin's blog post on the UConn report, I'm beginning to think that even someone with my rudimentary understanding of the technical aspects of computer security could hack an election. Now that's a scary thought for Halloween!

In a related story, Common Cause Tennessee and allies have been fighting to prevent vote-tampering in Shelby County (Tennessee's most populous county), which possibly occurred in Shelby County during the primary. Evidence from computer logs and other records suggest that software was inappropriately introduced into the central vote tabulator, and that vote manipulation occurred For more on this case, visit the VoteSafeTN.org website.

We've also heard rumors of a San Diego, California, server being found to have been linked to a Diebold office in Everett, Washington, during the Busby-Bilbray election there. Check with John Gideon at VotersUnite.org to follow the story.