13 Election Protection Experts on How to Prevent E-Voting Problems

But there is one other problem with taking on the machines. "Candidates are incredibly vulnerable to allegations of being a poor loser or conspiracy theorists if they challenge," says Ardizzone. "Many candidates who want a political career often choose not to challenge, but to keep their credibility for the next election. It's just unrealistic to ask them to sacrifice their political career for a completely non-vote-winning issue like election reform." Despite that, he recommends candidates ask as many questions as possible when discrepancies occur, and they should make the answers public.

Ardizzone raises one more intriguing point: "There are certain candidates who don't stand a chance of being elected and so have nothing to lose by rocking the boat. There is one candidate on the presidential ballot who is incredibly well-versed in the issue and who I am sure would participate in any investigation, because we filmed her extensively during the 2004 election cycle in Georgia (she's in one of the extra features on the 'Hacking Democracy' DVD). That candidate is Cynthia McKinney. Cynthia has rights to a recount almost anywhere in the country. Interesting thought."

What can you do? Get active. Get in your candidates' faces. Forward this report far and wide -- to candidates and their staff, friends, neighbors.

And wake people the hell up. "How do you break through the sleep of the American electorate?" ponders Sancho. "In my opinion, they simply don't want to question elections simply because it's too difficult, too untidy, and causes problems." Friedman adds, "There is a school of thought which I find bizarre and twisted and totally without merit, that if you talk about these issues, people will give up and not vote at all. I have found absolutely no evidence of that, and in fact, the contrary is true." He notes that in 2006, Democrat Debra Bowen ran for Secretary of State in a year that Schwarzenegger was very popular. "Her big issue was election integrity and concerns about the voting machines. She shouldn't have won that election, but she did because she spoke about these issues of electoral integrity that nobody else is speaking about. So the people get it, but the media and the politicians don't. The politicians need to start talking about it."

Jefferson says that election officials need to step up. "They have the responsibility to demand better voting systems and, in the meantime, create and enforce strong security procedures. And it is federal officials who need to have their consciousness raised about standards, certification, and the need for meaningful auditability requirements." And that means we need to force them to do just that.

Swanson concludes, "All of us should make clear ahead of time that we will denounce and shame any candidate who either wins or loses a questionable election and does not seek to find answers to those questions."

Be the media. That means every one of us.

Jim Cirile is a freelance screenwriter, musician and journalist living in Los Angeles. This report was produced on behalf of VelvetRevolution.us.