Computer security researchers in the US have claimed that flaws in some electronic voting software could result in major fraud.
Researchers at John Hopkins University, Maryland and Rice University, Texas, analysed a computer code which allegedly came from Diebold Election Systems, one of the US's main suppliers of electronic voting equipment.
Diebold said that the "software code they evaluated, while sharing similarities to the current code, is outdated and never was used in an actual election".
The researchers said the software's vulnerabilities could allow someone to create a new smart card and to use the card for multiple votes, according to reports on msnbc.com.
It was claimed the computer code had originally been downloaded from an unprotected Diebold website.
Mr Ron Loudon, director of Powervote Ltd, the British company supplying the Irish electronic voting system, explained that the software that smart cards generate "could be interfered with and we don't allow them to be used".