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Critics say hole created for upgrades could be exploited by someone with nefarious plans by Ian Hoffman

Computer scientists say a security hole recently found in Diebold Election Systems’ touch-screen voting machines is the “worst ever” in a voting system.

Election officials from Iowa to Maryland have been rushing to limit the risk of vote fraud or disabled voting machines since the hole was reported Wednesday.

Scientists, who have conferred with Diebold representatives, said Diebold programmers created the security hole intentionally as a means of quickly upgrading voting software on its electronic voting machines.

The hole allows someone with a common computer component and knowledge of Diebold systems to load almost any software without a password or proof of authenticity and potentially without leaving telltale signs of the change.