A very important story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYIezJyhGWY
(INSERT: in the October 2012 municipal election in Saskatoon, the electronic voting system was the same as demonstrated in the documentary where a black marker is used to fill in the oval to mark the voter’s choice. The page is then run through the reader/computer.)
“The mid-term elections are one week away–will your vote be counted? A new HBO documentary exposes the vulnerability of electronic voting machines. The film follows investigative journalist Bev Harris as she investigates the security and accuracy of electronic voting systems. Harris joins in our firehouse studio.
There is a week to go before millions of voters cast their vote in the mid- term elections. Many are calling this the most high-stakes election in recent years with the possibility of a Democratic takeover of Congress. But since the contested Presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, more people have been raising concern about the integrity of our voting system.
We start by looking at electronic voting machines. There have been widespread reports of malfunctions and security lapses even though these machines count 80 percent of the votes cast in America today. Last month, Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich called for the state to scrap its electronic voting system and revert to paper ballots in the upcoming election. He cited technical glitches that occurred during the state’s primary election. In that election, electronic voting machines that were built by the Diebold corporation, repeatedly crashed. Ehrlich said that the voting situation is “approaching crisis proportions.” But the problem is not limited to Maryland–a report released earlier this year by the group Common Cause found that Maryland was only one of 17 states nationwide whose voting system is at “high risk” for a compromised election.
Well a new documentary airing on HBO on November 2nd exposes the vulnerability of computers that are counting our votes. The film follows Bev Harris, a Seattle grandmother and writer as she investigates the security and accuracy of electronic voting systems. Her investigation takes her from the trash cans of Texas to the secretary of state of California, and finally to Florida.
Bev Harris, publicist turned investigative reporter. She is author of the book “Black Box Voting.” More information at BlackBoxVoting.org ”
The official website for Hacking Democracy: http://www.hackingdemocracy.com/
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The Results are In: Online Voting Still Too Risky, by Michael Geist, April 2012 following the NDP leadership convention http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6400/135/
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting_in_Canada
“It is a common misconception that there is no electronic voting in Canada. While the federal elections still use paper ballots, electronic voting technology has been used since at least the 1990s at the municipal level in some cities, and there are increasing efforts in a few areas to introduce it at a provincial level. Some municipalities provide Internet voting as an option.
There are no Canadian electronic voting standards.”
Electronic voting has even been used in Ottawa municipal elections. It’s very popular in Alberta.