MUST SEE: "Hacking Democracy"

TONIGHT, ON HBO AT 9 PM Eastern Time.

(If you missed this, it's available "On Demand" on HBO.)
Watch the Trailer:


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Inside the Shocking HBO Film That Rocks the Voting Process
by Matt Webb Mitovich

HBO's Hacking Democracy (premiering tonight at 9 pm/ET) tells the story of Bev Harris, a grandmother and writer who started investigating the subject of electronic voting in 2002 after questioning her county's switch to electronic touch-screen voting machines. Unsatisfied with their explanation, Harris set out to learn about electronic voting systems on her own, and in doing so stumbled upon shocking revelations about the vulnerability of the software and hardware. Harris, who went on to form the watchdog group BlackBoxVoting.org, recently spoke with TVGuide.com about her illuminating, though unsettling, journey.

TVGuide.com: Have you read any of this week's news stories, about Diebold [a leading manufacturer of voting systems] asking HBO to slap a disclaimer on the documentary?

Bev Harris:They haven’t seen the real film at all.

TVGuide.com: Apparently they are taking issue with, among other things, the hacking demonstration which shows how central tabulators can be tampered with by modifying a single memory card [on which a single machine's votes are recorded].

Harris: It's interesting they would bring that up because the State of California commissioned its own independent study, Diebold was ordered to cooperate with the study, and all of the scientists said, "The hack is real, and it is dangerous." And they found 16 additional vulnerabilities. You have to sort of decide who it is that has more credibility — a manufacturer that wants to sell a system, or six independent scientists commissioned by the State of California.....

Read more.

ALSO SEE:

• Md. Democrats Say GOP Plans to Block Voters - washingtonpost.com

  "A recently distributed guide for Republican poll watchers in Maryland spells out how to aggressively challenge the credentials of voters and urges these volunteers to tell election judges they could face jail time if a challenge is ignored.Democrats said yesterday they consider the handbook, obtained by The Washington Post, evidence of a Republican effort to block people from voting Tuesday."

• Rebecca Abrahams: The Two Faces of Diebold

Technorati tags: HBO, Hacking Democracy, Vote Fraud, Voting, Election, Ballot Tampering, News, commentary, film