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Bev Harris

Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century Paperback – July 1, 2003

by Bev Harris (Author)

29 ratings

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This book is a meticulously researched investigation into the cryptic voting machine industry. The people who make the machines which count our votes are answerable to virtually no one. Some of these machines, which are literally trusted with our democracy, are the products of convicted felons working in almost complete secrecy for corporations with openly stated political agendas. From Diebold's CEO Wally O'Dell openly promising to "deliver" Ohio to George W. Bush, to Election.com's ownership by a private Saudi corporation, to ES&S counting the votes of a U.S. senator who owns stock in the company, these companies have an arrogant disregard for conflict of interest.

If we cannot trust out votes to be counted accurately, then our democracy is null and void.

Print length

268 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Elon House/Plan Nine
Publication date

July 1, 2003
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

192946245X
ISBN-13

978-1929462452
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book started out as a simple look at ES&S and other voting machine companies and their curious ties to elected officials, foreign nationals, and political parties. Within a few months it morphed into an expose of bad software, criminal activity, and fraudulent use of taxpayer money.

Bev Harris and David Allen were a very unlikely "Woodward & Bernstein", she being a 53 year-old grandmother and he a 43 year-old comic publisher. Initially, David was simply playing the role of publisher. But as Bev's investigation became more technical, he was able to draw upon his 18 years as a computer systems tech and engineer to help Bev unravel the technical aspects of the story. Not that she needed much help. She was a quick study on techical issues and soon mastered many of the intricacies of the topic.

David would later wind up sitting in on a secret phone conference between the voting machine industry and the lobbying firm seeking to get itself hired.

Bev Harris has attacked this story with the tenacity of a terrier and refused to back away from the truth despite threats of legal attack from Diebold and ES&S. In one year the story went from an obscure topic in computer forums to a international discussion.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Elon House/Plan Nine; First edition. (July 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 268 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 192946245X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1929462452
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,152,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,118 in Democracy (Books)

Customer Reviews:
29 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		66%
4 star		6%
3 star		12%
2 star		4%
1 star		12%

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Top reviews from the United States

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John F. Herbster

Should be required reading for election administrators and auditors, as well as state legislators.

Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

I cannot imagine how one person could be so educated from Thomas Jefferson, to voting machine mechanics and to election software as Bev Harris. She is amazing. The book is mostly about salesmen, politicians, democracy, bribes, cons, and ex-convicts running election machinery and software companies, and software mis-management, and naturally stealing elections. But, there are a few honorable heroes mentioned and lots of advice for what makes voting systems audit-able and capable of assuring our confidence. Even though it was published in 2004, we are seeing the same problems now, in 2020. The book is well written, with a good index, and lots of references to sources that can be easily traced.

Helpful

Courageous

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2004

Verified Purchase

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.

70 people found this helpful

Helpful

Donna J. Pemmitt

Voting made stealable!

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2012

Verified Purchase

Unfortunately, this book is clearly well-researched and does not offer any hope for true democracy in this country even if we didn't have the spoiler electoral college to contend with. Tag Romney owning a vote-counting system? Guess the fox is guarding the hen house and the fix is in!

4 people found this helpful

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Robin

Great book to get your mind thinking!

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

Great book and delivered when expected.

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Votes switched on computer voting machines!

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2017

Verified Purchase

Every American who votes should read this book. America needs to vote on paper ballots. Computers are hackable & this book explains it all. Do you want your vote to count? Be totally informed! Read this book. Its interesting & easy to read.

Helpful

ScottP

A truly important issue

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2004

Verified Purchase

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!

46 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Excellent!

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2019

Verified Purchase

Tells the real story about modern voting systems.

Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2004

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 [...] 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.

15 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Charles Reid

A dated but Critical read.

Reviewed in Canada on October 1, 2017

Verified Purchase

This was a jaw-dropping read! The detail presented to prove that the many and horrific failures of these Voting devices and their Controllers, is well beyond accidental and all the way to collusion. This should be on every American's reading list. Sadly, this deals with the state and ownership of these critical Voting systems, at the turn of the Millennia; we can only imagine where this grand deception has led, in the intervening dozen or more years that have passed since.

Read this before 2018!

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