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'Hacking Democracy': Tonight on HBO

HBO airs a documentary tonight, "Hacking Democracy," that explores the potential manipulation of electronic voting machines. For obvious reasons, electronic voting machine manufacturer Diebold thinks HBO shouldn't blow the whistle on its hackable machines, leading Keith Olbermann to declare Diebold yesterday's Worst Person in the World.

One reviewer, criticizing the documentary as "torpid," argues that HBO should have made a different documentary focusing on other voting problems that surely merit attention:

Such as: [Ohio's] misallocation of voting machines, which led to long lines at the polls; restrictions on provisional ballots; the rejection of thousands of voter-registration forms by the Republican secretary of state (who happened to be chair of Bush's statewide campaign); Democrats alleging voter "intimidation" by Republicans; and the existence of tens of thousands of "spoiled" ballots.

Covering all of the problems in the 2004 elections, just in Ohio, would take far longer than 90 minutes. This reviewer finds the documentary worthwhile even if it doesn't address a broader spectrum of ways that elections might be stolen.

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    by PeterAtLarge on Thu Nov 02, 2006 at 01:16:09 PM EST
    Can't wait for this one. I'm bored with hearing myself talk about it. It's time this real threat to Democracy got a national hearing.