Rep. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) last Wednesday asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct an investigation of electronic voting machines-especially those that fail to produce a paper receipt of the ballots cast. Feinstein, who chairs the senate Rules and Administration Committee, called on the GAO to complete the investigation before the 2008 presidential election.

Feinstein is asking that the GAO investigate claims by e-voting critics that some new machines are prone to error, can be easily hacked and altered, and can be secretly reprogrammed to change the outcome of a race detection.

In the Feb. 14 letter, Feinstein asked that GAO comptroller general David Walker review several specific models of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines, including the AccuVote TSX from Diebold Election Systems and AVC Edge System from Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. She asked the GAO to determine whether the machines exhibited irregularities or were subject to fraud, software bugs or malicious code insertion in the last two federal elections.

Feinstein asked that the GAO conduct a "top to bottom" review of the iVotronic touch screen systems used in the controversial 13th Congressional District race in Sarasota County, Fla. last year. In , 18,000 ballots did not cast votes in an election where Democrat Christine Jennings was beaten by Republican rival Vern Buchanan by a mere 369 votes for a House seat. Jennings has filed a lawsuit, alleging voting machine malfunctions caused the under-vote and threw the race to Buchanan. The iVotronic machines are manufactured by Election Systems & Software Inc. of Omaha, Neb.