Two reports commissioned by Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell have found serious security issues in four major electronic voting systems that must be promptly resolved before Ohio and other states plunge into the new technology.

Otherwise, we could see a rash of election errors, missteps, manipulation and fraud that could make voters hanker for the good ol' days of Florida 2000.

Blackwell deserves voters' thanks for the reviews, which found 57 security problems in the four largest systems, and for canceling plans to use such systems in Ohio's March primary.

Most important, the reports (online at www.sos.state.oh.us) took the unprecedented step of making the flaws public - meaning that Ohio will lead the way with a de facto national security standard for electronic voting.

"Why should manufacturers and hackers be the only ones who know what the risks are?" argued Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo. "Put sunshine on the problem and find solutions."

While electronic systems hold much promise as a means for simple, accurate polling, the reports make it clear we're not there yet. Software flaws discovered in high-tech systems could leave them vulnerable to computer hackers, who could alter or obliterate election results. Built-in security can be suspect - supervisors' access cards for one system all had the same PIN code of "1111," for example.

The results confirm suspicions that have been growing nationwide. Some localities have gotten obviously ridiculous vote totals from electronic systems, which at least alerted officials and allowed them to double-check election results. Flaws that produced vote counts just inaccurate enough to tip a close race would be difficult to detect.

Although all four systems have problems, Ohio-based Diebold Election Systems has been under the most public scrutiny. Researchers reported bugs that would let voters or poll workers cast multiple ballots or change other voters' choices. The firm's software was inadvertently made public on the Internet, and internal Diebold memos were posted on the Web by hackers.

Unreliable, vulnerable vote systems simply won't do. Electronic voting software and hardware must be held to the strictest security standards. Anything less invites political chaos.

To their credit, the four firms cooperated with Blackwell's project and endorsed the findings.

Blackwell will ask the federal government for a waiver under the election-reform Help America Vote Act, giving Ohio more time to put such systems in place. "I will not place these voting devices before Ohio's voters until the identified risks are corrected and system security is bolstered," he said Tuesday.

The Ohio General Assembly will be happy to hear this. Last summer, county election officials persuaded lawmakers to order Blackwell to request a waiver. But that would have undercut his constitutional authority to oversee elections, so Gov. Bob Taft vetoed it. Blackwell has handled that authority well, making the right call at the right time.

Other states would be wise to adopt Ohio's security standards. Voters' confidence in the fairness and integrity of the election process is vital to the continued success of our political system.