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Hacking Democracy: New Documentary Exposes Vulnerability
of Electronic Voting Machines
Vote Suppression in 2006: Rule Changes Threaten to Disenfranchise
Hundreds of Thousands of Eligible Voters
Will a Shocking New GOP Court Victory and Karl Rove's Attack
on Ohio in 2006 Doom the Democrats Nationwide?
Green Party Senatorial Candidate in Penn. Defends Receiving
GOP Funding in Failed Ballot Drive
Hacking Democracy: New Documentary Exposes Vulnerability
of Electronic Voting Machines
The mid-term elections are one week away - will your vote
be counted? A new HBO documentary exposes the vulnerability
of electronic voting machines. The film follows investigative
journalist Bev Harris as she investigates the security and
accuracy of electronic voting systems. Harris joins in our
firehouse studio. [includes rush
transcript]
There is a week to go before millions of voters cast their
vote in the mid- term elections. Many are calling this the
most high-stakes election in recent years with the possibility
of a Democratic takeover of Congress. But since the contested
Presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, more people have
been raising concern about the integrity of our voting system.
Today, we spend the hour looking at the state of voting in
this country.
We start by looking at electronic voting machines. There
have been widespread reports of malfunctions and security
lapses even though these machines count 80 percent of the
votes cast in America today. Last month, Maryland Governor
Robert Ehrlich called for the state to scrap its electronic
voting system and revert to paper ballots in the upcoming
election. He cited technical glitches that occurred during
the state's primary election. In that election, electronic
voting machines that were built by the Diebold corporation,
repeatedly crashed. Ehrlich said that the voting situation
is "approaching crisis proportions." But the problem
is not limited to Maryland - a report released earlier this
year by the group Common Cause found that Maryland was only
one of 17 states nationwide whose voting system is at "high
risk" for a compromised election.
Well a new documentary airing on HBO on November 2nd exposes
the vulnerability of computers that are counting our votes.
The film follows Bev Harris, a Seattle grandmother and writer
as she investigates the security and accuracy of electronic
voting systems. Her investigation takes her from the trash
cans of Texas to the secretary of state of California, and
finally to Florida. We'll talk to Bev Harris in a moment --
But first we go to an excerpt from the documentary, "Hacking
Democracy." This clip looks at a faulty vote tally from
the two thousand Presidential election in Volusia County,
Florida.
- Bev Harris, publicist turned investigative reporter.
She is author of the book "Black Box Voting."
More information at BlackBoxVoting.org
Vote Suppression in 2006: Rule Changes Threaten to
Disenfranchise Hundreds of Thousands of Eligible Voters
Experts say new computerized voter lists and new rules regarding
voter registration and ID requirements have the potential
to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters. We speak
with the Brennan Center for Justice that has a new report
detailing the ways in which the vote could be suppressed in
several states next week. [includes rush
transcript]
It is not just electronic voting machines that are raising
concern. Experts say that new computerized voter lists and
new rules regarding voter registration and ID requirements
have the potential to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands
of voters.
The Brennan Center for Justice has a new
report detailing the ways in which the vote could be suppressed
in several states next week. In an Op-Ed
published in the New York Times on Monday, they write that
some of the changes were "engineered by mischievous partisans
who have passed laws and rules that would block many eligible
citizens from voting."
Will a Shocking New GOP Court Victory and Karl Rove's
Attack on Ohio in 2006 Doom the Democrats Nationwide?
On Sunday in Ohio, a judge put on hold a decision that suspended
the state's new voter identification law. We speak with political
science professor Bob Fitrakis and independent journalist
Harvey Wasserman who say this law imposes a series of draconian
requirements for voter ID that are more difficult to fulfill
by the poor, homeless and elderly - all constituents who tend
to vote Democratic. [includes rush
transcript]
On Sunday in Ohio, a judge put on hold a decision that suspended
the state's new voter identification law. Our next two guests
write that this law imposes a series of draconian requirements
for voter ID, including the demand for certain documents.
These documents are more difficult to obtain by the poor,
homeless and elderly - all constituents who tend to vote Democratic.
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are with us now from Columbus,
Ohio -- Bob Fitrakis is a Political Science Professor at Columbus
State Community College and an independent candidate for Governor.
Harvey Wasserman is an independent journalist based in Columbus.
He is a senior editor for Freepress.org.
Bob and Harvey co-authored the book "What Happened in
Ohio: A Documentary Record of Theft and Fraud in the 2004
Election."
You can find their latest article on the Free Press website
-- it is titled "Will a shocking new GOP court victory
and Karl Rove's attack on Ohio in 2006 doom the Democrats
nationwide?"
- Bob Fitrakis, political science professor at Columbus
State Community College. He is the co-author of "What
Happened in Ohio: A Documentary Record of Theft and Fraud
in the 2004 Election." He is also an independent candidate
for Governor endorsed by the Green Party.
- Harvey Wasserman, an independent journalist based in
Colombus, Ohio. He is a senior editor for Freepress.org.
Along with Bob Fitrakis and Steve Rosenfeld, Harvey is co-author
of the book, "What Happened in Ohio: A Documentary
Record of Theft and Fraud in the 2004 Election."
Green Party Senatorial Candidate in Penn. Defends
Receiving GOP Funding in Failed Ballot Drive
We speak with Green Party senatorial candidate Carl Romanelli
about his failed attempt to get his name on the ballot in
Pennsylvania. The state's restrictive ballot access laws required
Romanelli to get over 67,000 signatures on his nominating
petition compared to just 2,000 for the major party candidates.
We also ask about the funding Romanelli received in his ballot
drive, which came from an unlikely source - prominent Republicans.
[includes rush
transcript]
As the battle between Republicans and Democrats for control
of Congress dominates the country's attention, independent
and third party candidates are being increasingly marginalized
- both in the media and at the polls. Nowhere is this more
true than in Pennsylvania. Due to the state's restrictive
ballot access laws, Pennsylvania will be one of only four
states having state-wide races without any third party candidates.
The senatorial race pits incumbent Republican Rick Santorum
on the ballot against Democrat Bob Casey. It was relatively
easy for either major party candidate to get his name on the
statewide ballot - they needed just 2,000 signatures each
on their nominating petitions. By contrast, any other candidate
this year needed over 30 times that much - or about 67,000
signatures.
Carl Romanelli is the Green Party candidate who had hoped
to run against Casey and Santorum. His name will not appear
on the ballot next week. Romanelli is among the speakers at
a forum tonight for state-wide write-in candidates held by
the Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition. Carl Romanelli joins
us now from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
- Carl Romanelli, Green Party Senatorial candidate in Pennsylvania.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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