veiled4allah: electronic voting machines

Whatever your political affiliation, you should be concerned about the integrity of the vote. The strength of our democracy rests of the foundation of a secure voting process.

Unfortunately, electronic voting machines, as the technology currently exists, may pose a threat to this intregrity. Dennis Kucinich has created a large new section of his campaign website devoted to the issue of electronic voting machines. This section starts with an introduction and continues with ten more pages detailing the nature and scope of the problem, legislation currently pending in Congress to try and fix it, and what you can do right now to help ensure the integrity of the 2004 elections.

In particular, Kucinich advises people to contact their local Board of Elections and ask the following questions. Share the information with others in your community, or submit it to Kucinich's database on voting systems at elections@kucinich.us:

• What kinds of voting systems are you currently using?
• If using electronic voting machines, what kind?
• Do you expect any changes in your voting system before the 2004 election?
• When was the equipment purchased?
• Where/from who did you purchased your voting equipment?
• What are the costs of these technologies?
• Who is the supervisor in charge of voting technology at the Board?
• How often is the technology tested?
• Do they permit public inspection?
• Who made the source code for each machine?
• What have been the results of this technology in election so far?
• Are you aware of the research in the field which shows significant security flaws in DRE [direct recording electronic] voting machines?

One of the reasons that I support Kucinich is that he has the courage to raise these questions when none of the other candidates are doing so. My time, money, and efforts in support of his campaign will help enable him to continue speaking up on this and many other issues of importance to me and I will continue to provide those things as long as he is in the race. Progressives who care about these issues should consider doing the same, whether or not they think Kucinich is "electable".