With the 2006 midterms over, the impetus for fixing security vulnerabilities with electronic voting machines may be shoved to the back burner. But now’s the time for both parties to admit they have a problem and do something about fixing it — well before the 2008 presidential election.

Thousands of problems with e-voting machines were reported last week. Data is still being collected, so nobody knows for sure how many computer malfunctions and other glitches occurred — such as cutting off a candidate’s name (Virginia), an entire race (Kentucky), electronic activators that didn’t work (Florida), machines that couldn’t be zeroed out (Pennsylvania) and pre-marked electronic ballots (New Jersey). In some states, voting hours had to be extended because technical malfunctions forced harried election officials to resort to paper ballots.