Election Reform Resources

Election Reform Resources

Video

http://avirubin.com/vote/60minutes.mov
This is a 14 minute clip from "60 Minutes - Wednesday" This is an incredible piece, aired a few weeks before the Nov, 2004 election. It includes footage of Connie McCormack, Los Angeles Registrar, saying you don't need to do recounts, just trust the machines, and Theresa Lapore, Palm Beach, Florida, of Butterfly Ballot fame saying how there aren't any problems with the new equipment. Then there are David Jefferson, Prof. Avi Rubin, and everyone else saying there is no way to tell if there is a problem, and this is less secure than the average PC.

A transcript, with a few ommissions, is available at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/25/60II/main651229.shtml But see the video if you can; it is much more powerful.

http://www.votergate.tv
This is a 30 minute video featuring Bev Harris, Andy Stpehenson, Prof. Avi Rubin, Prof. David Dill, and others. It shows how Bev Harris stumbled on Diebold source via Google, traveling with Andy to follow up on leads, including scanning the trash at Diebold, Inc., in Texas! It even show her teaching Howard Dean how to fix an election on the central tabulator. Also available via http://www.publicinterestpictures.org/

Slide Show

http://electionfraud2004.org
A great slide show outlining the issues. Show this to your unconvinced friends.

10 Reasons NOT To Buy DRE Machines (slide show/frames version)
This graphics-packed webpage by a Georgia activist focuses on Diebold (GA is 100 % Diebold DRE), but its lessons apply to all blackbox voting systems regardless of maker. It shows the multiple security problems and also that the true operating costs of these systems are very high. There are about 25 slides illustrating illegal, possibly or probably fraudulent behavior in Georgia in Nov., 2004. Some slides are a little confusing; skip them and keep going.

Comics

Farley by Phil Frank, SF Chronicle, July 26, 2005.

Books

"Black Box Voting - Ballot-tampering in the 21st Century", Bev Harris, Tallon Publishing, March, 2004, ISBN 1890916900, 268 pages, $19.95. This is the classic; also available online at http://blackboxvoting.org for free.

"What Went Wrong In Ohio: The Conyers Report On The 2004 Presidential Election" Anita Miller (Editor), Gore Vidal (Introduction), Academy Chicago Publishers, May 1, 2005, ISBN: 089733535X, 142 pages, $10.95. This is the report by Rep. Conyers and the Democrats of the House Judiciary Committe on the problems in Ohio. It is also available online - as "Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio", see below.

"Did George W. Bush Steal America's 2004 Election?", Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld, Harvey Wasserman, Columbus Alive, May, 2005, ISBN: 0971043892, 772 pages, $40. This series of essays includes the Conyers Report plus much more.

"The Mezonic Agenda - Hacking the Presidency", Dr. Herbert H. Thompson and Spyros Nomikos, Syngress Publishing, Oct. 30, 2004, ISBN 1-931836-83-3. 360 pages, $34.95.
A novel plus 120 pages of tutorial material on DREs, reverse engineering, cryptograph, buffer overflows, and steganography.

"California Elections Code 2006", DFM Associates, 2006, about 550 pages, $45. This version is available only from http://www.dfmassociates.com/CEC.asp. It includes the entire Elections Code except the sections telling which census blocks are in each district. It does not include the complete history as legal editions do, so it is small enough to carry and cheap enough to buy. The Elections Code is also available online officially at http://leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html, and an unofficial scannable version is available at http://election-reform.org/laws/,

"Steal This Vote: Dirty Elections and the Rotten History of Democracy in America", Andrew Gumbel, Nation Books, July 10, 2005, ISBN: 1560256761, $15.95. This is a good history of election theft in the United States.

"Fooled Again", Mark Crispin Miller, Basic Books, Oct. 18, 2005, ISBN: 0465045790, $24.95. The first few chapters area about the philosophy of the cheaters; after that it gets into the details.

"Censored 2006: The 25 Top Censored Stories", Peter Phillips, Project Censored, Seven Stories Press, Sep. 1, 2005, ISBN: 1583226923, 432 pages, $18.95.
Censored #3 is "Another Year of Distorted Election Coverage".
Chapter 3 is "No Paper Trail Left Behind: The Theft of the 2004 Election".

"The Best Democracy Money Can Buy", Greg Palast, Plume Books/Penguin Group, Revised edition April, 2004, ISBN 0-452-28567-4 (Expanded Election Edition), 408 pages, $14.00.
Chapter 1: "Jim Crow in Cyberspace: The Unreported Story of How They Fixed the Vote in Florida", about the 2000 election.
Chapter 9: "Oil Slick Jim, The Third Ring and One Million Missing Ballots". In anticipation of the 2004 election.

"Armed Madhouse: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf?, China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War" Greg Palast, Dutton Adult, June 6, 2006, ISBN: 0525949682, 384 pages, $25.95.
Chapter 4 is titled "The Con, Kerry Won, Now Get Over It", and discusses the 2004 elections and how the Republicans are preparing to do it again in 2008.

"Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?: Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count", Steve Freeman, Joel Bleifuss, Seven Stories Press, June 19, 2006, ISBN: 1583226877, 224 pages, $17.95.

Papers and Articles Available via the Web

Aviel D. Rubin, et al., "Analysis of an Electronic Voting System", http://avirubin.com/vote/analysis/index.html, 2004, 23 pages.
Rubin and other computer security experts from John Hopkins University, Rice University, and UC San Diego describe the lack of quality and lack of security in Diebold voting software. The Diebold software was discovered by Bev Harris of BlackBoxVoting on an ftp site via a Google search.

Avi Rubin, "Testimony, U.S. Election Assistance Commission", http://avirubin.com/eac.pdf May 5, 2004, 4 pages.
This describes in non-technical language the folly of the present approach to security for using electronic voting machines in our elections.

"ACM Recommends Integrity, Security, Usability in E-Voting; Cites Risks of Computer-based Systems" Sep, 2004. The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) is the main computer society for academics.

"No Paper Trail Left Behind: The Theft of the 2004 Presidential Election" Sep, 2005(?), Dennis Loo, Ph.D., Cal Poly Pomona.

VotersUnite!, "Myth Breakers, Facts about Electronic Elections", www.VotersUnite.Org/MB2.pdf, VotersUnite!, 2005, 62 pages.
A rebuttal to the claims of the electronic systems vendors.

House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff, "Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio", http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohiostatusrept1505.pdf, Jan. 5, 2005, 102 pages.
A very detailed report on the problems in Ohio by Rep. Conyer's House Judiciary Committee staff. (Also available as a book, see above).

VerifedVoting.org, "Poll Monitors' and Poll Workers' Guide to Electronic Voting", http://verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=5171, 2004, 48 pages.
Includes information sheets on 8 different E-Voting systems. 10 Reasons NOT To Buy DRE Machines (scrollable) This is a scrollable, non-frames version of the slide show (see above).

Maryland Impounds Diebold Machines in Post-Election Investigation
Maryland experienced election meltdown on Diebold machines in Nov. 2004 and is subjecting Diebold to tough examination, tending toward decertification.

Florida Op-Scan Systems Hacked Three Ways by BBV Investigators
It's not just the DREs we have to worry about. The proprietary optical scan ballot counting and tabulating software that counts the majority of American votes is just as prone to vote-rigging hacks.

Diebold Problems in the News
This is a 20 page list of problems with Diebold systems during elections, compiled by by VotersUnite.org

ES&S Problems in the News
This is a 39 page list of problems with ES&S systems during elections, compiled by by VotersUnite.org ES&S is also up for certification June 16, 2005, and this shows a history of many problems.

Voting Technology Costs and Considerations
Handcounting paper ballots is still the safest, most accurate and cost-effective voting technology. In the meantime, precint-counted op-scan balloting is the next best, low-cost, high-accuracy, safer alternative to DRE systems and it is available in every county now. Don't waste HAVA and Prop 41 hundreds of millions of dollars on blackbox junk.

"How Can We Ensure the Accuracy of Vote Counts?, Kathy Dopp, US Count Votes. General comments plus why Diebold DREs are worst choice for Utah.