A ONCE-PROMISING innovation in voting -- the touch-screen computer terminal -- may be over. Voters are doubtful, glitches are evident, and a federal panel thinks the tech devices aren't secure.

States across the country, which once embraced the ATM-like machines, are turning away. Next year Congress could impose tough conditions on voting technology that could greatly change the way touch screens run.

Americans by the millions use similar screens to grab cash at banks or tickets at airports. But the voting booth is a different matter. A federal panel that advises Washington on elections says the software inside ballot-counting touch screens could be hacked.

So far, there's no clear evidence of vote tampering. But electronic vote machine critics worry it could still happen -- and a presidential election looms in 2008.

Not all electronic voting machines are alike. San Francisco, for example, uses optical-scan technology: a voter marks a paper ballot that is counted by a machine.

The advantage here is that the paper ballot exists as a record that can be recounted if necessary.

Touch screens used elsewhere in California and the country often don't print a record. One suggested reform: a printed record that can be kept for a recount, though this step can produce snarls.

Touch screens were meant as a reform after the Florida butterfly ballot fiasco of 2000. Now it looks like the country needs to rewrite this reform.

In California, the incoming Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, campaigned as a critic of electronic voting. As the new overseer of state elections, the tech-savvy Bowen should follow through in making reliable, modern voting machines a priority.