Local and federal authorities including the FBI are investigating an intrusion into a computer network at an e-vote software company, which suspects the hack was politically motivated. . . .

VoteHere, a 7-year-old company in Bellevue, Wash., on Tuesday confirmed reports that its network had been breached in October. The company identified a suspect and said it turned the case over to the FBI, the Secret Service and the U.S. Attorney's office for an investigation that is ongoing.

"This is a crime," said VoteHere Chief Executive Jim Adler. "This is about breaking and entering and stealing."

It's also, e-voting critics would say, about security.

The story of VoteHere's network breach, reported Monday by MSNBC and the Associated Press, is likely to play into a lively debate over the security and reliability of electronic voting systems. That debate has risen in pitch as federal deadlines loom for states to upgrade their voting systems, and e-voting systems provider Diebold has become a lightning rod for criticism for its own series of woes relating to security, partisan comments by its CEO and other issues.

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