Pen-Elayne on the Web

Little Black Box

Ever since before the Florida fiasco that characterized the 2000 election, Robin's kidded me, "Why can't they just check off marks on pieces of paper like civilized countries?" Or where, if they do go electronic, they at least have some sort of auditing system under consideration? Works a little differently here, apparently. Here's the deal - you'll want to go to this website, run by David Dilll, Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, who's trying to organize opposition to unauditable voting machines by the technology sector, but figureheaded by Bev Harris, author of the forthcoming book Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century (it doesn't look like Amazon offers it yet, or it'd be on my sidebar wishlist). This site is a must for anyone wanting to keep up with the folks (mostly Republicans from the look of it, surprise surprise) enabling the further theft of our democracy by continuing to interfere with the citizens' right to have a clear, above-the-board say in who governs them. The blogosphere has been all over this one too, as Harris acknowledges, reprinting this Ampersand strip from way back last August.