This talk about Romney ties to voting machines is alarming to me and is incompletely assuaged by election officials in Ohio who say, since they own the Hart intercivic machines and the maintenance, that all is OK.
I found a youtube video of testimony on the Hill by a computer expert who testified that it all comes down to the source code. The only way to be absolutely sure that there is no intentional manipulation is to have bipartisan expert scrutiny of the source code in the machines and in the more central data collection devices. If this is denied by the manufacturer, you should be suspicious. These codes are apparently easy to write, so claims of proprietary secrets in the source code ring hollow.
Also helpful if there is a paper copy of the ballot that is approved by the voter that is collected and saved for recounts. Be very suspicious also if exit polls vary significantly from the voting results.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Is bipartisan scrutiny of the source code now allowed? Is it now law that there has to be a paper trail?