With the excitement building over the upcoming Presidential Election on November 4, 2008, I decided to give
Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections a viewing last night.
Here's the brief description I read before I sat down to watch it...
Filmmaker David Earnhardt
takes a close look at the state of America's electoral process and presents unnerving evidence that fraud at every level is disenfranchising voters across the nation. Featuring candid interviews with election officials, journalists, statisticians, computer programmers and others, this persuasive documentary also examines the scandals surrounding the 2004 presidential election.
All I knew going into it, was that the documentary was about elections, and the counting of votes using electronic voting machines.
If you are unfamiliar with the controversy surrounding electronic voting machines, the company
Diebold, and the 2004 election, you really should check this one out. Diebold received so much negative publicity regarding the voting machines bugged with problems, they have since changed their company name to:
Premier Election Solutions Inc.
I understand why the country has begun moving towards electronic voting machines, however, I do not understand why there is no paper trail. The company behind the machines, in this DVD, is Diebold, the same company who makes ATM machines. ATM Machines keep an internal auditable log and can be traced. Why should our voting machines, made by this same company, be unable to be audited or counted if there is an issue. Essentially, once votes are cast, there is no proof of them and no way to verify or count them afterward in the event of a problem.
Electronic voting machines should print out a paper, showing all your votes, you should be able to look that over, and then drop that in a ballot box. Not have it all stored in memory on a machine, that has proven to fail. I am concerned more than ever that the Republican ties to the companies who make these voting machines, has in fact, been used to "flip votes" in favor of Republican politicians. Why would I think that?
The man,
Clint Curtis is in the documentary, who was employed to write software for these voting machines blows the whistle in this DVD. He became aware something was wrong when his employer wanted him to make the "vote flipping" part of the software source code to be hidden or non-traceable. He voiced his concern, and was told, "you don't understand, this is to flip the election in Florida." Now, if you remember Florida was the state that basically gave George Bush the 2004 election. If he had not won Florida, there is a chance the entire election would have come out differently.
Other examples of clear vote fraud, is shown in a town where only 800 or so people voted, yet Bush was given 4,200+ votes from that precinct. Something a little strange going on? Certainly, and this DVD will open your eyes to the blatant voter fraud taking place in our modern elections.
Why do electronic voting machines not give us a paper trail? Something we can count afterward? Voting machines are built to the exact opposite of standards that ATM machines are manufactured to. ATM machines can be audited and every bit of info or transaction leaves a record so someone can analyze the machine and its numbers if there is ever a problem. Why would a company, that builds such systems, go out of their way, to make voting machines hold no record, keep no trace or trail of events? There is only one reason, to hide what is going on inside.
In this documentary, you see public officials who have been fired for making inquiries into these voting machines, and you can see many of the connections between certain politicians and the company who makes the machines and more. Bruce Funk is locked out of his office, an elected official, while Diebold denies him access to the machines so they can edit the software and remove the "flip virus." This is an amazing inside look into what is going on in America regarding the vote counting process.
I will leave you with the description from the box:
UNCOUNTED is an explosive documentary that shows how the election fraud that changed the outcome of the 2004 election led to even greater fraud in 2006 - and now looms as an unbridled threat to the outcome of the 2008 election. This controversial film examines in factual, logical, and yet startling terms how easy it is to change election outcomes and undermine election integrity across the U.S. Noted computer programmers, statisticians, journalists, and experienced election officials provide the irrefutable proof.
UNCOUNTED shares well documented stories about the spine-chilling disregard for the right to vote in America. In Florida, computer programmer Clint Curtis is directed by his boss to create software that will 'flip' votes from one candidate to another. In Utah, County Clerk Bruce Funk is locked out of his office for raising questions about security flaws in electronic voting machines. Californian Steve Heller gets convicted of a felony after he leaks secret documents detailing illegal activities committed by a major voting machine company. And Tennessean entrepreneur, Athan Gibbs, finds verifiable voting a hard sell in America and dies before his dream of honest elections can be realized.
UNCOUNTED is a wakeup call to all Americans. Beyond increasing public awareness, the film inspires greater involvement in fixing a broken electoral system.
You should watch this
before the upcoming election if you have concerns regarding electronic voting machines.
Get your copy of
UNCOUNTED: The New Math Of American Elections before the election.
Labels: Crime, Current_Events, DVD, Education, Entertainment, Government, Law, Politics, Presidential_Election, Technology
