What would make e-voting systems more trustworthy, he said, are requirements for voter-verifiable paper trails so that accurate, secure records could be kept of each vote. "I've read the studies that came out after 2000 and 2004 ... about all the difficulties, Madonna said. "My own belief is I'd rather have a paper trail ... in any of the computer-assisted voting devices."
"We can do it for an [ATM] machine," he said. "Many states already have it. I'm a strong supporter of that."
Madonna said he's not worried about someone switching integrated chips and hacking machines. "I'm not a conspiracy guy," he said. "It's possible to remove a chip and replace it. I don't necessarily think that that's the problem. But I do think that with all the money we put into government problems, we put too little time and money into voting systems."
He's not worried about the results of Tuesday's elections, he said. "Do I think an election this year hinges on it? I would say no. But I think we've not thought hard enough to remove all doubt."
Computerworld's Mike Barton and Heather Havenstein contributed to this report.