Thursday, November 02, 2006

Hacking Democracy: New Documentary Exposes Vulnerability of Electronic Voting Machines

I just finished watching the documentary Hacking Democracy which was shown on HBO tonight.  Although it confirmed what I already knew from having read the Bev Harris Black Box findings in articles in various magazines, it was still hair-raising to realize for certain that we have a president who was not fairly elected EITHER TIME, and that our votes have been so easily manipulated.  There are MANY flaws in the Diebold machines, which are hackable even by novices who know nothing about software coding.  The memory cards are hackable even before voting begins, by putting in positive votes for one candidate and negative votes for another, bringing the starting vote number to an apparent zero, so the voting workers do not have a clue that the votes are already skewed when they insert the memory cards into the machines.  This insures that the totals will still match the number of people who voted, although the votes themselves will be what the hacker wants, not what the voters wanted. This has been done in elections in Ohio and Florida, New Mexico, and God knows where else.  Anyway, the wrong man is president, and look at the havoc that has created in our country and the world.

I do not understand and will never understand why Kerry did not contest the vote in 2004, because, as this program made evident, he KNEW there had been hackers, and votes had been changed in Ohio, Florida, and New Mexico.  Yet he conceded the election, even though he had promised he would contest it if there were any signs of vote fraud.  This makes me wonder if, despite all of his rants at them, he was at that time in cahoots with the neocons. Are they all just part of the same big cabal?  Why else would he have refused to go forward with a protest?  Below is a URL that will give you links to see some of the documentary, as well as read a Bev Harris interview by Amy Goodman.  God bless Bev Harris and all those who helped her to prove the fraud that is being perpetrated on the American people.

If you have HBO, this presentation will be shown again.  Look in your TV guide for your area to find out the time you can see it.  One of the workers who helped Bev Harris actually broke down and cried when she saw how easily hackable the machines are--and the realization sank in that we have been denied our true votes.  The voting authority in whose machine they demonstrated this hackability was visibly shaken when he saw how easily the votes can be skewed in favor of any candidate the hacker may want to see in office.  These machines are going to be used in many states across our country in the election 5 days from now.  I am now seeing why Rove and Bush are so certain of a Republican victory.  I only hope if the election results do not match the pre-voting polls and exit polls that there will rise up a hue and cry from the nation's citizens and a storming of the gates at Congress and the White House.  Our democracy has been taken from us, and only we the people can get it back.  This is not a partisan issue, folks!  We Americans are ALL being deprived of the Constitutional rights we were guaranteed by our forefathers.  The right to vote and have our votes fairly counted has now been proven to have been taken from us.  WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?


EXCERPT from the interview:

And the public records, I can't emphasize enough how important they are. In San Diego in the June 6 election, the event log, the audit log that was obtained by a citizen named Bruce Sims, shows the voting machine dialing out to Diebold at 9:31 p.m. during the count on election night. These are the kinds of things that show up.

AMY GOODMAN: Wait, explain that.

BEV HARRIS: Yes. It's difficult to explain.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean, the machine dialing out?

BEV HARRIS: The machine dialed out and made a remote connection to Diebold at 9:31 p.m. during the count. And when you say, "Explain it," I don't know of any legitimate explanation.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what happened in that case?

BEV HARRIS: Interestingly enough, as we find citizens out there gathering these, public officials are in many cases -- and San Diego is one -- not following the law, not following the regulations. The first thing we have to do is find out if they even are following them -- they aren't there -- and then we need to take action to enforce the law and get them taken out of office. It's very difficult, because there's very little will to enforce and there are very few consequences for election officials who fail to follow the law.

AMY GOODMAN: The significance of Governor Ehrlich saying no electronic voting machines in Maryland?

BEV HARRIS: Very interesting. And we are noticing -- I know everybody wants to say this is Republicans against Democrats, and so forth, but we are noticing that in the states with touch screen voting where the Democrats are in control, it is the Republicans that are calling for paper. That's the case in Georgia, in Maryland, and in my state, in Washington state.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/31/150212
I just finished watching the documentary Hacking Democracy which was shown on HBO tonight. Although it confirmed what I already knew from having read the Bev Harris Black Box findings in articles in various magazines, it was still hair-raising to realize for certain that we have a president who was not fairly elected EITHER TIME, and that our votes have been so easily manipulated. There are MANY flaws in the Diebold machines, which are hackable even by novices who know nothing about software coding. The memory cards are hackable even before voting begins, by putting in positive votes for one candidate and negative votes for another, bringing the starting vote number to an apparent zero, so the voting workers do not have a clue that the votes are already skewed when they insert the memory cards into the machines. This insures that the totals will still match the number of people who voted, although the votes themselves will be what the hacker wants, not what the voters wanted. This has been done in elections in Ohio and Florida, New Mexico, and God knows where else. Anyway, the wrong man is president, and look at the havoc that has created in our country and the world. I do not understand and will never understand why Kerry did not contest the vote in 2004, because, as this program made evident, he KNEW there had been hackers, and votes had been changed in Ohio, Florida, and New Mexico. Yet he conceded the election, even though he had promised he would contest it if there were any signs of vote fraud. This makes me wonder if, despite all of his rants at them, he was at that time in cahoots with the neocons. Are they all just part of the same big cabal? Why else would he have refused to go forward with a protest? Below is a URL that will give you links to see some of the documentary, as well as read a Bev Harris interview by Amy Goodman. God bless Bev Harris and all those who helped her to prove the fraud that is being perpetrated on the American people. If you have HBO, this presentation will be shown again. Look in your TV guide for your area to find out the time you can see it. One of the workers who helped Bev Harris actually broke down and cried when she saw how easily hackable the machines are--and the realization sank in that we have been denied our true votes. The voting authority in whose machine they demonstrated this hackability was visibly shaken when he saw how easily the votes can be skewed in favor of any candidate the hacker may want to see in office. These machines are going to be used in many states across our country in the election 5 days from now. I am now seeing why Rove and Bush are so certain of a Republican victory. I only hope if the election results do not match the pre-voting polls and exit polls that there will rise up a hue and cry from the nation's citizens and a storming of the gates at Congress and the White House. Our democracy has been taken from us, and only we the people can get it back. This is not a partisan issue, folks! We Americans are ALL being deprived of the Constitutional rights we were guaranteed by our forefathers. The right to vote and have our votes fairly counted has now been proven to have been taken from us. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? EXCERPT from the interview: And the public records, I can't emphasize enough how important they are. In San Diego in the June 6 election, the event log, the audit log that was obtained by a citizen named Bruce Sims, shows the voting machine dialing out to Diebold at 9:31 p.m. during the count on election night. These are the kinds of things that show up. AMY GOODMAN: Wait, explain that. BEV HARRIS: Yes. It's difficult to explain. AMY GOODMAN: What do you mean, the machine dialing out? BEV HARRIS: The machine dialed out and made a remote connection to Diebold at 9:31 p.m. during the count. And when you say, "Explain it," I don't know of any legitimate explanation. AMY GOODMAN: So, what happened in that case? BEV HARRIS: Interestingly enough, as we find citizens out there gathering these, public officials are in many cases -- and San Diego is one -- not following the law, not following the regulations. The first thing we have to do is find out if they even are following them -- they aren't there -- and then we need to take action to enforce the law and get them taken out of office. It's very difficult, because there's very little will to enforce and there are very few consequences for election officials who fail to follow the law. AMY GOODMAN: The significance of Governor Ehrlich saying no electronic voting machines in Maryland? BEV HARRIS: Very interesting. And we are noticing -- I know everybody wants to say this is Republicans against Democrats, and so forth, but we are noticing that in the states with touch screen voting where the Democrats are in control, it is the Republicans that are calling for paper. That's the case in Georgia, in Maryland, and in my state, in Washington state. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/31/150212


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