Did your vote count this time? Link to synopsis at HBO website, and here's an excerpt:
Electronic voting machines count about 87% of the votes cast in America today. But are they reliable? Are they safe from tampering? From a current congressional hearing to persistent media reports that suggest misuse of data and even outright fraud, concerns over the integrity of electronic voting are growing by the day. And if the voting process is not secure, neither is America's democracy. (…) HACKING DEMOCRACY exposes gaping holes in the security of America's electronic voting system.
The entire 90 minute documentary feature is available online for free via Google Video: Link. (Thanks Cheebs and others)
Reader comment: My friend John Parres says,
On CNN Jeffrey Toobin just reported that almost all of Virginia's
voting machines are electronic and do not have paper trails! This
means the recount will only be of each machine's totals printed out at
the end of the day. There is no way to audit each vote as you could
with, say, optically scanned ballots. So, unless numbers got
transposed or a few "missing" machine receipts magically appear, it's
over and the Dems will have a majority in both the Senate and the
House.
Stephen Pigott says,
A quite note concerning America's problem with voting fraud and/or incompetence when depending on "voting machines" for a result. In Australia we have an ingeniously simple voting system: a piece of paper and a pencil. The voter is given a ballot paper with the candidates' names, she goes into a little cardboard booth (of sorts), where there is a stubby little pencil. The voter votes, and puts the paper in a big box. When the polls close, the votes are counted and scrutinised — by hand — by thousands of people around the country. If there is a dispute in a closely-fought electorate, those votes are counted again.
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Simple, but almost 100% clean and effective. No power blackouts, no loose wires, no glitches. Maybe you guys should try it some time.
