We've heard many noises from the government suggesting greater use of technology in the voting process, mainly aimed at encouraging a higher turnout amongst young voters. Technologies mooted include on-line voting and voting by mobile phone. In many states in the US, of course, the chosen technology is the electronic voting machine. After Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002, some $3bn was spent on voting equipment and other "improvements" in election administration. The company that has cornered this market, allegedly through its "special relationships" with certain well-known figures in the Republican Party, is Diebold. So how comforting to learn that a group of Princeton computer scientists have been able to demonstrate vote-stealing software that can be installed on a Diebold machine within a minute and can secure victory for Benedict Arnold over George Washington, despite the latter securing more votes. Now where have we heard a suggestion like that before?
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Welcome, President Arnold
We've heard many noises from the government suggesting greater use of technology in the voting process, mainly aimed at encouraging a higher turnout amongst young voters. Technologies mooted include on-line voting and voting by mobile phone. In many states in the US, of course, the chosen technology is the electronic voting machine. After Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in 2002, some $3bn was spent on voting equipment and other "improvements" in election administration. The company that has cornered this market, allegedly through its "special relationships" with certain well-known figures in the Republican Party, is Diebold. So how comforting to learn that a group of Princeton computer scientists have been able to demonstrate vote-stealing software that can be installed on a Diebold machine within a minute and can secure victory for Benedict Arnold over George Washington, despite the latter securing more votes. Now where have we heard a suggestion like that before?
If you have information about election fraud in Hackney, this is the place to blow the whistle. You can contact this website confidentially by clicking on "comments" below the most recent posting and sending a comment under an anonymous or fictitious name. Unlike email, this service does not transmit any address information from which you can be traced. The service is managed by the Blogger hosting service but moderated by me, so I will read your comments before publishing and will respect any request not to publish. Bear in mind that, as I will not receive any address information, the only way I will be able to respond will be via a follow-up comment.
A word about evidence. Most of what people think is material evidence of a criminal offence is in fact either hearsay evidence (asserted, but without any proof) or circumstantial evidence (suggests guilt but does not prove it). For an introduction to the subject of evidence, try: