Reply #8: E-voting fraud is an American issue [View All]

[Wilms]

Article Last Updated: Thursday, Oct 06, 2005 - 11:44:08 pm PDT

E-voting fraud is an American issue

So many topics, so little column space. And yet soooooo much e-mail. In the media, we talk of a story having ”legs,“ meaning that it just keeps running. It seems the topic of electronic voting fraud is a centipede.

I've accumulated a mountain of studies and reports on Diebold's electronic voting machines since I wrote the Dieb-Throat columns, all pointing to the same conclusion: The software can be hacked - undetected - relatively easily by someone with the technology skills. I also received a ”rebuttal“ study done by the Caltech/Massachusetts Institute of Technology denying this conclusion, a sentiment echoed in a letter written by Diebold's president. It's become a case of software ”he said, she said.“ I'm not a software engineer. I won't even pretend to understand the software analyses littering my desktop.

I'm also not a mathematician, so I won't pretend to understand the detailed statistical study regarding the discrepancy between the exit polls and final tallies in the 2004 Presidential race. However, I understood this paragraph regarding that study just fine: ”The findings of the analysis are telling and thought provoking: In 40 states, the actual election results turned out to be more favorable to Mr. Bush than the exit polls. The probability of such discrepancies occurring by chance is less than one in 10 million.“

Why isn't the national media all over this topic like stink on a monkey? Why are we hearing about Brad and Angelina rather than a story that may shatter the foundation of American democracy if it's true? Maybe it's just not sexy enough. Maybe it won't move enough Viagra. Or maybe the grotesquely wealthy owners of the national media don't want this issue to come to light.

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http://www.dailyrepublic.com/articles/2005/10/07/opinion_columnists/opinloguerico.txt