Customer Reviews

Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Voting is a right that has been denied to many throughout U.S. history, but author Bev Harris makes clear in the book "Black Box Voting" that electronic voting machines open up massive new possibilities for mischief that could make past indiscretions seem small by comparison.

On the whole, the evidence collected by Ms. Harris suggests that the machines in use today are unreliable. In fact, the book's appendix details hundreds of documented instances of largely unexplained voting irregularities. However, problems that may at first glance be explained away as merely examples of isolated system malfunctions comprises only part of the story.

Ms. Harris tells us how she aggressively researched the voting machine industry and learned how it works. Far from working solely for the public interest, she found that these privately-owned companies have their own special interests and political agendas in mind when they are not seeking to maximize sales and profits. The author makes clear that these companies have much to gain from placing their own representatives in office, opening up what would appear to be an almost overwhelming temptation to use the technology to engage in fraudulent activities. Indeed, it was interesting to see how many of these corporate roads lead to the state of Texas, individuals who identify themselves as Christian Conservatives, oil industry consultants, and supporters of the Republican Party.

Ms. Harris dedicated a great deal of time and effort researching Diebold, whose questionable business practices and unsecure voting machines have been exposed in the media largely due to her efforts. Her discussion with Diebold programmers and others about the mysterious rob-georgia.zip file that appeared on the company's ftp site just prior to the Georgia election in 2002 is fascinating. Along the way, the author has remained courageous in the face of intimidation by Diebold and others by refusing to back down and to publish her findings so that everyone can see just how flawed these systems really are.

Of course, Ms. Harris discusses the 2000 election debacle in Florida. Explaining that all of the software used in electronic voting machines are supposed to be certified by the state, the author goes on to explain that the loading of an unauthorized card into the Diebold machine that relayed a negative vote for Al Gore "calls into question the competence and integrity of the programmers, the company and the certification process itself".

Ms. Harris concludes with a number of recommendations for correcting this abysmal situation and restoring public confidence in the U.S. voting system. She discusses the industry's efforts to lobby Congress and influence public opinion and suggests ways that readers can become involved in this issue.

A quick read, this book is highly recommended for everyone concerned about how we might restore democracy in the U.S.

This book does an excellent job of bringing to the public the insecurity of the bulk of the commercial electronic voting machines, and their threat to democracy. We in the computing industry have been pleading for someone to pay attention to this issue for years, and the world's two leading computing professional associations (ACM and IEEE) have both blasted these machines repeatedly. As an engineer since the 1970's, having worked on high security DOD and high reliability NASA projects, I'm appalled by the blemish on our profession that companies like ESS and Diebold are. Critics claim that the book is partisan, but if defending democracy has become a partisan issue, so be it, I won't desert democracy simply because I'm called partisan. And to those who support election fraud when it produces the desired result, shame on you! Thanks to Bev for having the courage to write the book, and thanks to you for reading the book and passing it to a friend when you're done!

The "one star" reviews here are from DRE shills hoping to discredit this very frightening -- and bang-on -- expose. Don't listen to them.

This is the one book they hope you never read, and which you absolutely must if we are to keep America alive.

The book has been available for download for several months, and much of Ms. Harris' work was drawn from internal emails from the voting companies themselves; employee emails that reveal, among other lightning bolts, how Diebold "lost" 16,000 Gore votes in the 2000 election.

The e-vote corporations fought for -- and lost -- suppression of Harris's work in a historic Internet battle in which the Electronic Frontier Foundation and several university students saved the day by refusing to knuckle under to legal pressure.

With nearly half of Congress and virtually every computer programmer that has examined them repeatedly warning that these paperless machines are a huge threat to free elections, Ms. Harris has been a pioneer in exposing how the theft of America's democracy is one push of a button away.

As a journalist with over 20 years' experience, I commend Ms. Harris on her courage, integrity and investigative skills.

Read it, and join the fight to save your country -- while you still can.

The two largest Voting Machine companies in the United States have been trying to shut down this author's websites!

Read her book to find out why! Remember Florida and those hanging chads? A human can make mistakes, but it takes a computer to really screw things up and the new voting machines are basically computers. This book reveals how badly those voting computers have been programmed. How, in many instances in the 2000 elections they failed to count votes correctly.

Most importantly of all, the security against vote tampering is totally inadequate as demonstrated by many different computer scientists.

To make it worst, politically active owners known to be strong conservatives with ties to the Bush Whitehouse own all these companies!

This book should be REQUIRED reading for all state election officials and for all of the members of congress.

Bev Harris's is a must read for all American voters. If you value your Democracy, you will value this major breakthrough book!

Remember Florida and don't be snookered again!

I downloaded the free internet version of this book (I suggest buying it, as the binding process was time-consuming) several months after hearing this great American, the author, Bev Harris on Coast2Coast with George Noory, Art Bell's successor. Thank God he got her on and got the word out. Her story about how we are on the brink of having our vote, hence our government, stolen on such a huge scale as to dwarf the "anomalies" of the Florida vote is the most important story of the year, or decade (OK, our nation's history). Folks, the plan to manipulate electronic voting machines, BOTH touch-screens AND scanners is a story that is now exploding, like an atom bomb in cyberspace, all over the Web. Just put in various search words and you'll see. However, don't look for it in mainstream media, as it is hugely downplayed. Get the point? A bill in Congress to mandate a secure method of voting, with paper receipts and so on, HR 2239, is currently stalled in committee and would federally mandate a secure election, but the "usual suspects" are blocking it at every turn. Don't settle for this America: read this great patriot's book, and just tell me if her facts don't check out. Update: Lynn Landes has filed a suit in court against John Ashcroft, et al., to ban electronic machines AND absentee votes (which are scanned by easily riggable machines)and wrote an article several months ago "Two Companies and Two Brothers Will Count 80% of the Vote" that reveals how Bob and Todd Urosevich are the ones who oversaw programming of both ES&S and Diebold and that the machines cannot be reprogrammed securely because they have embedded "firmware". It was her landmark scoop: "Electronic Voting: Assume Crooks are in Control" two years ago that first inspired Bev Harris to look more deeply into this problem and has unleashed a firestorm of controversy that may make our elections this November even completely untenable. No wonder Tom Ridge yesterday, July 8, warned of "unspecific information" of possible terrorist attacks disrupting our elections. Guess who the "terrorists" are, folks. Just follow the money. And while you're at it, ask yourself just how credible (or incredible) it is that Scwarzenegger went from 19% in a September poll to 50% of the vote a few weeks later??? A bit of a switcheroo. Voter "turnout" no doubt. Sheesh, talk about machines time-travelling from the future to terminate us. (And in the likeness of Arnold, no less. God help us.)

I have been writing letters and calling public officials about this issue for months now. This book is exactly what's needed -- I will be ordering 10 of them, so I can give them to the people in decisionmaking positions who just don't "get it."

I've now had two public officials tell me that by the time they were halfway through the book, they were converted: We must have paper ballots, not some time in the future, but BEFORE the fall elections.

I congratulate Harris on her meticulous research and very readable book -- she manages to put a sense of humor into this, and at the same time, eviscerates the dumb arguments against auditing elections and public counting of the vote.

Be Afraid - Be Very Afraid

Bev has been on the trail of the voter fruad since the 2000 elections. She has ruffled & is still ruffling the feathers of the masters of these corrupt machines.

Today if you visit www.BlackBoxVoting.org you will see her post on the front page regarding her harassment at the hands of the Secret Service. All we are asking for is honest elections. Why should this bother the Secret Serice?

Democracy is under attack like never before. The stolen election in 2000 was the beginning of the most serious attempt yet on Democracy & if we don't wake up it will be too late.
Read this excellent book and get angry. Get angry enough to call your elected officials and demand end to this insanity.
Demand that they rescind the obscene Patriot Act & enforce the laws for honest elections in this country immediately.

It's amazing how easy it will be to hack in and rig an election in 2004! You would think that with the world at its disposal, a country like the U.S.A. would be able to protect every citizen's vote, but the Bush Administration chooses not to and consistently puts out the message that "everything will be okay with these paperless voting machines." Bev's un-relenting research and countless sources prove that the U.S.A. is headed towards a catastrophic disaster come November 2, 2004. Read it and find out exactly what will happen!

Bev is a featured expert on the newly released video Invisible Ballots. The DVD has two versions for using in public presentations depending on your time slot. The producer is Academy Nominated William Gazecki. You can buy Black Box and Invisible Ballots for $35.56 at http://www.realityzone.com/ballots.html. Definately worth it.

I'm not kidding. This one deserves a Pulitzer. It's the most important book I've read in years -- and I have not met one person who read it that was not blown away. I literally could not put it down -- read 100 pages the first day. If you know someone who isn't convinced yet, they need this book. I guarantee it proves the case. And even if you are convinced, this book has a whole bunch of activism, and also talking points you can use to persuade other people. Get one for yourself and two for the world, and give them to organizations.