They've been sitting on it, but the truth is out: An independent assessment of electronic voting machines done for the State of Maryland has found a high risk of vote tampering.

The outside evaluation was ordered by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., shortly after a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins University concluded that the software behind Diebold Election Systems' AccuVote-TS voting machines was vulnerable to tampering that could skew election results.

The review released Wednesday paints a less-than-flattering picture of how an election would have been run in Maryland had the Hopkins study not drawn attention to problems. Several risks were deemed serious.

While some changes were required of Diebold, many more are to be made by the State Board of Elections. The study found problems not only with the technology behind the electronic machines, but in policies and procedures used by state and local election boards.

"The system, as implemented in policy, procedure and technology, is at high risk of compromise," the report said. "Any computerized voting system implemented using the present set of policies and procedures would require these same mitigations."

And from the New York Times:

Yesterday's report, by the Science Applications International Corporation, said that Mr. Rubin's conclusions about the company's software were "technically correct," but that the researchers "did not have a complete understanding" of Maryland's use of the system.

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Rubin said he was mystified to see that the state planned to use Diebold machines despite the report.

"It almost seems as though the people writing the Maryland action plan either did not read or did not understand the S.A.I.C. report," he said. "What they should say is, `We're going to put these systems on hold until they say that these things are safe to use.' "

James T. Smith, the Baltimore County executive, who has opposed the move to electronic voting, said the new report should stop the state from using the machines.

"For two years, Baltimore County has warned, `Iceberg ahead!' and now independent experts have warned that it's a gigantic iceberg," Mr. Smith said. "Maryland should not say, `Damn the iceberg, full speed ahead.' "

Let me put it this way: Voting machine companies have always been connected to voter fraud. Selling this big-ticket equipment requires greasing of palms and other lubricants (years ago, one national electronic voting machine salesman told me he provided coke and hookers if necessary to seal the deal).

So voters would do well to assume their local officials are looking for neither accuracy or value in these deals.

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