Here, the authors effectively offer point and counterpoint for the traditional arguments brought by proponents of electronic voting.
Many say that it's too late; electronic voting machines have been purchased all across the county, and now we have to use them.
We say: Citizens get what they settle for. We refuse to settle for electronic voting machines or optical scan counters. Period.
Many say it's the computer age, that's how we have to conduct elections.
We say: Computers have their place, and they have no place running the elections.
Many say it takes too long to hand count paper ballots.
We say: In certain cases, it can even be faster to hand count paper ballots than to wait days for uncertain results from highly suspect electronic voting machines. But even if it did take longer, what is more important? Speed? Or accuracy?
Many say we will not be able to win the battle of trashing these machines and going back to hand-counted paper ballots without incremental victories. Thus, amendments such as HR 550 and the other proposed legislative "solutions" covered in Rep. McKinney's chapter have value.
We say: How many more years, how many more elections will we allow to be compromised or stolen before we say, conclusively: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! NO MORE COMPUTERS! NO MORE MACHINES RUNNING OUR ELECTIONS! We will settle for no less than elections held with hand-counted paper ballots! (Hacked!, pp. 192-3)
I didn't need to be convinced. Now, I'm throwing the question back to you. Read the book and judge for yourself. Kathleen Wynne gave up her job to become a full-time voting activist. That's a lot to expect from any "normal" person. Realistically speaking, what can you do? What will you do?
Victoria Collier puts it well: "Do you support democracy?... If you do, then you must believe in the vote and you have the responsibility to fight for it right now. You have no right to turn away from that fight, or expect someone else to fight it for you" (70). That's it, in a nutshell.
Five years ago today, when the planes struck the World Trade Center, I was getting a massage, an unusual treat. We sat and watched the television in stunned silence. I felt like I was suddenly speaking a foreign language. I just didn't get it. It didn't sink in. It was too weird. It was too new and raw.
It's been a long five years. I'm a lot older now. Another dubious election and its aftermath have aged me. But, I know what I know. I'm not so na??ve anymore. What I now know is that we're under attack, only it's from the inside, and it's striking at the core of who we are and what we'll be in an even more fundamental way than 9/11 did. My challenge is to wake people up, without burning out or going mad in the interim. I'd like to keep my hair. I could use some help. Won't you join me?
***
Breaking news: Germane and timely! "Ari Feldman, Alex Halderman, and Ed Felten of Princeton's Center for IT (Information Technology) Policy have just released a paper and video that demonstrate a series of serious attacks against the Diebold AccuVote-TS (use statewide in Maryland and Georgia). They were able to, with one-minute of physical access to this machine, inject "vote stealing" code that would completely erase all evidence of its presence after an election. They were also able to "infect" memory cards such that the malicious program could be distributed to a wide population of machines (given enough time.)" This is the "first public study encompassing the hardware and software of a widely used DRE" which is used for nearly 10% of all registered voters nationwide. (OpEdNews, Princeton's Center for IT Policy press release, September 13, 2006). http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/
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