The Votes That Won't Count

image courtesy of iflipflop.com

"Diebold, the e-voting-machine maker, has long sworn its systems are secure. Not so, says a new Princeton study. Converting votes from one candidate to another is simple."

-Brad Friedman, Columnist

If you are a Democrat or Black, Hispanic or poor and live in a voting precinct, or in a neighborhood that can be described as any of the above, there is a better than average chance that your vote will not count this November or any other November in the forseeable future. Sasha Abramsky of Mother Jones has written an excellent piece on the disenfrancised voters of the "10 Worst Places To Vote", it was posted on Alternet. This is the conclusion reached by the interpretations of a brand new Princeton University Study on the Diebold voting machines set for use in the upcoming elections.



The 'voting issue' has been covered to some degree but its not getting the 'bounce' it ought to considering it has the potential to change this and all future elections regardless of turn-out. I've heard it commented that what we need to do is have unprecedented turn-out and this will solve the problem of 'vote fraud'. But this study done by Princeton demonstrates succintly how ONE MACHINE can infect many others and change votes, all the while remaining UNTRACEABLE. This means that ONE corrupt person can change the outcome of an entire election. The demonstration video is frightening, but more frightening is that no one but bloggers is covering this breaking story. Brilliant Brad Friedman has done exhaustive research into this issue, please read his post, watch the video and see for yourself if this doesn't need to come to national attention:

Security Analysis od The Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine



The vote fraud problem has existed since the inception of voting but with today's technology it promises to be institutionalized and more far-reaching than ever before. The security on these machines is sorely lacking and they are imminentily, emergently in danger of being tampered with and changing the outcome of all future elections. I cannot state this strongly enough. The few who read at my site can contact a few more and the people who are posting about this many more, but unless the general public, the mainstream media, our elected officials and the rest of the world knows about this diaboldical plan it can and will go forward.

The long-term reprecussions can be devastating. Elections can be voided or postponed and tied up in legalalities for an undetermined period. Any number of 'dirty tricks' will not just pervade our voting futures, but become undetectably permanent. If you have been concerned about the trouncing of your civil liberties or BushCo's stomping of human rights, the shredding of the Constitution, the false flag war in Iraq, the exploding national debt, the decrease in real wages, the price of gas, the gap between the rich and poor, the unsecured borders, the national drop in public education test scores, the lies and corruption in Washington D.C., the unprecedented decline in our national reputation globally, the imbalance of power, the lack of any checks and balances in government, the torture meted out and sanctioned by this president, the rubber-stamp/do-nothing congress, the complicit judiciary, the negative shift in environmental policy, the absolute shame of Katrina and goverment failure to deal with it, the 'cronyism' of appointments to vitually every govermental office, the incompetence of these appointments (think FEMA), the unmitigated hubris of a leader that thinks he is a King, and the fast-asleep mainstream media that doesn't report in a comprehensive way on any of it, then write and call your Senator, Congressperson, the local newspaper, the national media and
do something about it
If this issue comes into the national spotlight, something can be done to change it. If it doesn't change, everything in our lives as we know them, will.

Of that you can be certain.

Posted comments by readers over at firedoglake agree with me:

Since voting machines are liable to malicious intrusion, this means election fraud should be of equal concern to both parties. In theory an election can be stolen by Republicans as easily as it can be stolen by Democrats.

So why are Democrats the only party showing concern about voting machine fraud?

The simple answer is that the Republicans enjoy a virtual monopoly on election fraud and have no fear of retaliation since their goal to become the permanent majority is close to realization. As far as the Republicans are concerned, their goal of there never again being a Democratic majority or president is well within reach.
Permanent one party rule is totalitarian whether you call it fascist, communist, conservative, rightwing, or just Republican. What the Republicans don’t yet realize is that they are on a path to destroying themselves along with the rest of the country.
The United States is all the weaker for being a one-party “democracy” and as such is ill-suited to meet the global challenges of the future.
With the ascendancy of George Bush, the days of the United States being the pre-eminent power in the world is gone, gone, gone.

Back in the spring of 2003, Discover magazine had a lengthy article on the diebold voting machines and how vulnerable they were from a very technical perspective. This article laid out the facts that they could be hacked without a trace, that diebold was a subsidiary of a bush family owned company. I blogged about the article. I yelled about the article. I told everyone I knew about the article and people just looked at me like I was nuts. The outcome of the 2004 election made me sick after having read this very well written analysis of the software and hardware. Why are people in such denial about this?? The information has been out there for a very long time. The facts are clear. This presidency was stolen from 2000 on. It doesn’t act like a democracy because of the means in which it was inacted. Not democratically. This president was not “chosen” by the people. It was hijacked the same way corporations have hostile take overs. Don’t expect this administration to do anything at the will of the people. They do not care.(emphasis mine)

For your viewing pleasure I post this report from Fox News (!)



In fairness, I am posting a link to The Chicago Tribune article where Diebold refutes the Princeton Study.

Mark Crispin Miller wrote a book called, "Fooled Again" about how the 2004 election was stolen by BushCo. Here's an interview with Miller done by Expanded Books.