There is a real danger that elections could be stolen by nefarious computer code.

"Independent" testing labs are selected and paid by the voting machine companies, not by the government. It is difficult to determine what, precisely, the labs do. "We don't discuss our voting machine work," said a spokesman for one.

When Georgia's new voting machines were not working weeks before the 2002 election, uncertified software that was not approved by any laboratory was added to every machine in the state.