e-voting: Search for secure tech gets $7.5m boost

The National Science Foundation (NSF) plans to supply $7.5m over the next five years for a project investigating techniques to create a more secure and trustworthy electronic voting system.

Researchers said they will focus not only on hardware and programming - including cryptography and safeguards against tampering - but also legal and public policy questions involved in the transition.

Johns Hopkins University computer science professor Avi Rubin will lead the centre, which will be called Accurate - short for 'A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable, and Transparent Elections'.

Four other universities and the not-for-profit research institute SRI International will also participate through the grant, part of the $36m NSF awarded through its 2005 Cyber Trust programme, earmarked for cyber-security research.

Anne Broache writes for CNET News.com