More Security Sought for Electronic Voting

The head of a federal voting commission called Tuesday for tougher security measures for electronic voting by the November elections, but said the issue of requiring paper receipts as backup needs further study. DeForest B. Soaries, chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, said he wants election officials to be able to analyze software source code in the electronic systems they pay for, which some vendors have resisted.

"The increased use of electronic voting devices has created security concerns that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission must address," he said in remarks prepared for delivery at a Maryland conference of election officials.

In an interview before the speech, Soaries said the issue of paper ballots that voters can verify _ perhaps the most-debated aspect of the controversy over electronic voting _ requires more study and that calling for such receipts by November would be unrealistic. He said it was possible the panel would recommend paper ballots in the future.

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