SlashNOT

Michael writes: Diebold’s touch-screen voting machines, slated for use in the 2004 election, have been recently criticized for being insecure and for not keeping up with their paperwork, and more recently for being outsmarted by a monkey. Now the machines’ behavior has apparently taken a turn for the worse. According to the Associated Press, Diebold voting machines have been spotted hanging around in bars and on street corners in Maryland, apparently up to no good.

Although the machines are already being investigated for fraud in California, the government of Maryland and the US government have declined to comment on the situation. A State Department spokesman would only say that the machines “are entitled to a fair trial before we judge them.”