SOUTH BEND — The clock is ticking toward election day. But when the polls open, how can you be sure your vote will count?

Experts agree: there's no question that technology has already played an unprecedented role in this year's presidential race. It will also play a bigger part at polling places across the country.

But can it be trusted to deliver accurate results, or is your vote at risk of being hacked?

It's a new question on a lot of voters minds as they prepare to head to the polls on election day, following the new buzz "sounds" of Campaign '08. From text alerts to email, it's clear things like the popular social networking site Facebook is now as important as face time.

Technology is even being found inside polling places in things like touch screen voting machines and optical ballot scanners.

But websites can be hacked. Emails can be falsified. Votes can be intentionally or accidentally revealed or discounted.

So can we be sure it's all safe?

Voters WSBT spoke with weren't overly confident.

"It's something that's in the back of your mind, what kind of checks and balances are actually there to make sure your vote gets counted," said Jim Imes of South Bend.

"It's tough to say," said Maria Zimmerman of South Bend, who will be voting this November for the first time. "I would be very upset if it didn't count."

"[I don't trust that my vote's being counted every time,] no," said Rose McAleer of South Bend. "Look at all the problems they've had in the past with these electronic voting machines."

Experts say when it comes to technology like touch screen voting, there's good reason to be cautious.

"We don't know for sure that those votes are counted," said Indiana University-South Bend Political Science Professor Dr. Elizabeth Bennion. "And, in the case of a close race, it would be very difficult to do any kind of a recount. So, I think there is real reason for concern."

That "touch screen" technology is used to "automark" specialized ballots filled out by those with special needs in St. Joseph County. But the actual ballots aren't tallied or counted until the paper ballot marked by the machine is fed into the same optical scanner used by all other voters, said St. Joseph County Clerk Rita Glenn.

Computer tallied touch screen voting is used in some other Indiana counties, including Marshall, Allen and Lake counties in our area, according to Glenn.

But even when technology isn't used in the final tally, Bennion says there's always room for error.

"Unfortunately, the answer is no when voters ask if their vote is always counted. There's some lack of proper counting that's always expected. People mark their ballots incorrectly and those votes are thrown out. There are people that don't fill out a provisional ballot, even though they are registered to vote, and should be allowed to vote."

In St. Joseph County, and many other local counties, pen is still put to paper. Even though the ballots are read and tallied by an optical scanning system, there is a paper trail to follow if there are any disputes.

"We can actually pull out those ballots and prove that vote was either counted, or it wasn't counted. The technology of the optic scan has definitely proven itself in St. Joseph County," said County Clerk Rita Glenn.

But Glenn says election officials aren't simply "hoping" things work out the way they're designed.

"After the presidential [election] last time, we did a little test in St. Joe County and pulled 12-14 precincts and check the accuracy of the machines. I think we were off by a difference of two votes, that were filled out incorrectly. So 99.9% I feel very confident in the [system] we have, that people's votes do count and are registered," Glenn said.

How can you be sure you're not part of the 0.1%?

Notre Dame Information Security Program Manager and Computer Applications Professor Mike Chapple says the threats to the system are everywhere.

"The risks we're facing change as we change the technology we're using to cast ballots," he said. "We can see that in three distinct areas: hacking the campaign itself, hacking the idea of a secret ballot and hacking the results of the vote itself."

While it may be rare, attacks on each campaigns' technology can and do happen.

"It is possible for someone to attempt to influence the outcome by somehow gaining access to a candidate's website and changing their message. There are also what's become known as "typo-squatters" who will register similar website domain names with similar spellings or keywords, and try to disguise them as the real thing," he said.

Ballot secrecy is also something afforded to voters by federal election law. But that too can be "hacked," says Chapple.

"It could be an intentional attack. They could be honest mistakes or failures of technology. That's why it's very important, from a process perspective, that we insure that safeguards are put in place," he said.

The best, and easiest step, he says?

"There's a technology called voter verified paper trails, where the voter can actually see on paper the results of the ballot they've cast electronically, and compare it to how they've cast their to vote to make sure it's accurate," Chapple said.

There's never been a publicized case of technologically based election fraud on a massive scale, according to Chapple and Bennion. But that doesn't mean it can't happen, and technology can and does fail.

That's one big reason why all write-in ballots will be counted by hand in St. Joseph County this election, said Glenn.

A federal election law passed two years ago also now requires a paper trail to be kept on every type of voting machine, including touch screens, says Chapple. But most states, including most counties in Indiana, don't require voter verification to be used.

That's left some voters relying on something else, and hoping big risks also bring big rewards.

"I think you just got to have faith in the system," said Imes.

IU South Bend is hosting a "Safeguarding Your Vote" forum in the cafeteria Thursday night at 6. It will take a look at past problems in St. Joseph County. It's open to the public.