Hacking Democracy: New Documentary Exposes Vulnerability of Electronic Voting Machines

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. Today, we spend the hour looking at the state of voting in this country.

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. We'll talk to Bev Harris in a moment -- But first we go to an excerpt from the documentary, "Hacking Democracy." This clip looks at a faulty vote tally from the two thousand Presidential election in Volusia County, Florida.

* Hacking Democracy - excerpt of documentary premiering on HBO on November 2nd.
* Bev Harris, publicist turned investigative reporter. She is author of the book "Black Box Voting." More information at http://BlackBoxVoting.org

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