Check eBay.

That's where several obsolete e-voting encoder machines and an assortment of magnetic-striped voter access cards from DeKalb County, Ga. wound up in December -- before being snapped up by Diebold Elections Systems Inc. and returned to county officials.

Diebold workers, who regularly scan the Web looking for such unauthorized sales of e-voting hardware to keep it out of the wrong hands, bought the items for an undisclosed price and returned it to DeKalb County officials. They eventually figured out that the encoders and cards had been removed from drawers in old county office equipment by a furniture liquidator, and then listed separately for sale online.

Now, Georgia officials are working to prevent similar incidents in the future.

"While this equipment was not used in elections, this nonetheless underscores how important inventory control is, and we're going to undertake extra measures to ensure security," Karen Handel, Georgia's new secretary of state, said in a statement. Handel took office on Jan. 8.