Extreme Election Hacking: Vatican Edition

Bruce "Security-Machine" Schneier is doing some thought experiments on the possibility of manipulating the results of the papal election.

As the College of Cardinals prepares to elect a new pope, people like me wonder about the election process. How does it work, and just how hard is it to hack the vote?

Of course I'm not advocating voter fraud in the papal election. Nor am I insinuating that a cardinal might perpetuate fraud. But people who work in security can't look at a system without trying to figure out how to break it; it's an occupational hazard.

Bruce makes it sound like the process they're using is a lot more trustworthy than the one we're stuck with. Rule of thumb: if the new Pope turns out to have shadowy ties to the Bush family, the fix may have been in.