Hacking Democracy

FRIDAY. If you care about democracy in America, you owe it to yourself to watch "Hacking Democracy," a new documentary that premiered last night on HBO. Here's a synopsis from the HBO website:

Is American democracy safe in the age of computers? This cautionary film looks at the very real risk of hackers altering vote counts in public elections--and exposes the vulnerability of computers which count approximately 80% of America's votes in county, state and federal elections. Filmed in 2004-05, this documentary tells the story of Bev Harris, a Seattle publicist/writer whose watchdog group uncovered evidence of mishandled voting records and suspicious voting machine malfunctions. Harris' crusade took the group--consisting of computer experts, activists and political candidates from both parties--from her home computer (where she found a computer system blueprint accidentally made public) to Tallahassee, FL for a "mini-election" that proved just how easy it is to hack the vote. (TVPG) (AC)

I don't know about you, but I long for the days of mechanical voting booths. You remember--the kind with the heavy curtains (always red or blue) and that big lever that not only opened and closed the curtains, but recorded your vote. I want to flip those small toggle levers and hear them snap into place when I say "yes" to the candidate of my choice. I yearn to hear the turning of gears verifying that my vote was indeed counted.

Unlike some of my friends, I have always exercised my right to vote. The 1972 presidential election was my first opportunity to flip the mechanical levers. Though a passionate supporter of George McGovern's anti-war platform, and emotionally unprepared for Nixon's landslide victory (he won every state but Massachusetts), I overcame my disappointment and continued to find satisfaction in the voting process. The truth is, I've almost never voted for winners, though my political affiliations have vacillated over the years. Unfortunately, as a chronic supporter of the underdog, I've never gotten used to losing. I still grieve when my candidate doesn't win. But I get over it...eventually.

The best system I've found in almost 40 years of voting consisted of a piece of paper, a pencil to mark an "X," and a locked wooden box. I folded my vote and handed it to the Tamworth Town Moderator, who dropped it through the slot in the top of the box. There it remained until the polls closed and several people hand-counted the votes, several times. It's probably the only time in 20 years I've felt confident my vote was counted. It's likely that Tamworth is still using that oak box.

As in many other states, paper ballots are used in New Mexico. This is all fine and well until they're fed into the optical scanner for counting. "Hacking Democracy" examines how easily these machines yield false results, changing election outcomes. Even I could hack the numbers. And, there's no trail--there's no way to know if or when the numbers were hacked. The potential for election fraud in the U.S. is enormous.

Ballot stuffing and miscounts are as old as time. There is no foolproof system: both humans and machines are subject to tabulating errors. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I sure do miss those mechanical voting machines. Though the Tamworth system is utterly impractical in a nation of 295 million, I'm convinced there's a better way to vote than electronically, or worse yet, by touch screen--even if it means waiting for the results. I know this is the computer age, but sacrificing ballot integrity for speedy vote tabulation is unacceptable, immoral and dangerous.

I urge you to watch "Hacking Democracy," airing this Saturday and Sunday on HBO. Oh, and one more thing: VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!