I got this in my email as well today.. I haven't had time to check all the links but........

Subject: Voting in case you care!


This is a worth read, not further verified, regarding something that seems quite alarming. In this text at least you will find lots of leads to learn more or verify facts. Sorry for the long it is, I just paste from another source:

["The use of paper ballots may be the only interim solution to assure a verifiable election.
I’m writing today to ask for your help because I’m very, very frightened.
My name is Eric Smith. I'm a journalist and IT instructor in Tokyo. And after three years of study I've come to a terrifying conclusion. As British security expert Scott Granneman put it: "the heart of American democracy is at risk."
The import of this threat cannot be overstated -- the issue is very real and very grave. The chilling, incontrovertible fact is that America's elections are being silently, deliberately and PERMANENTLY compromised. The problem lies in the rapid installation of unauditable, unverifiable DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) touchscreen voting machines in advance of the 2004 elections.
Just how vulnerable are these machines? Author Bev Harris's diagrammed analysis of the "hacking" of a Diebold "Accuvote" machine to reverse an election proves it's not just possible -- it's easy:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/
stories/HL0307/S00065.htm#password


These e-voting machines are being quietly installed across the country in preparation for the 2004 election, as per the characteristically disingenuously-named "Help America Vote Act" President Bush mandated in the wake of the 2000 debacle.
Alarming summaries of independent research by Johns Hopkins and Rice University, MIT, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and even Congress echo Harris's concerns:


http://www.eff.org/Activism/
E-voting/20030724_evote_research_report.pdf
http://www.vote.caltech.edu/Reports/ http://www.eff.org/Activism/E-voting...723_eff_pr.php
http://www.epic.org/privacy/voting/crsreport.pdf
http://www.verifiedvoting.org


2. Bev Harris is in immediate need of attorneys for coordinating legal injunctions to stop insecure voting machine use before the 2004 primaries:
Bevharriscontact@aol.com


3. Solicit the help of your organization’s members in lobbying Congress to support Rep. Holt’s Voter Integrity Act:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress
http://holt.house.gov/issues2.cfm?id=5996


Just in from VerifiedVoting.org:
DECEMBER 2nd - 8th IS HR2239 WEEK!!! One more week until the Congressional session is over (probably).One more week this year to make a huge difference.One more week to call Representatives at 1-800-839-5276 and urge support.Start today.


4. Lobby your state's elections boards to require verifiable, secure voting machines:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
htdocs/dcforum/DCForumID29/47.html


5. Contact your friends, family, associates and the media:
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/News/
http://newslink.org
http://www.cantufind.com/american_newspapers.htm
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Radio/Formats/Talk_Radio/Networks/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Radio/Formats/Talk_Radio/Stations/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/Networks/Cable/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/Networks/
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet
/Broadcasting/Information/


Act now -- your country needs you. And the time is getting very, very short. Tomorrow might be just one day too late.
Sincerely,
Eric A. Smith
Tokyo, Japan
81-03-3959-5371


RESOURCES
Congress:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/


State elections boards:
http://www.blackboxvoting.org/
htdocs/dcforum/DCForumID29/47.html


State Attorneys General
(party affiliations listed):
http://www.naag.org/ag/full_ag_table.php


Rep. Rush Holt:
http://holt.house.gov/feedback.cfm?c...Contact%20Rush


E-mail campaign links:
http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=2821
http://www.verifiedvoting.org


Alternative e-voting machines:
http://www.accupoll.com/
http://www.aitechnology.com/
avantetech/home.html
http://www.vogueelection.com/


Media Contacts:
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/News/
http://newslink.org
http://www.cantufind.com/american_newspapers.htm
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Radio/Formats/Talk_Radio/Networks/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Radio/Formats/Talk_Radio/Stations/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/Networks/Cable/
http://dmoz.org/Arts/Television/Networks/
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/B...g/Information/


BACKGROUND
Compelling evidence for the gravity of the situation can be found in the following "smoking gun" internal emails from Diebold. As you've no doubt heard, the company began a desperate attempt at suppressing the distribution of these emails on the Internet, in a series of gag lawsuits succesfully countered by the Electronic Frontier Foundation last month.
One of these emails -- from Lana Hires to Global Election Systems (now Diebold)
-- baldly states how 16 THOUSAND
e-votes for Gore were "disappeared" during the 2000 Presidential election. Hires frantically asks how she should explain this to an auditor:
"I need some answers! Our department is being audited by the County. I have been waiting for someone to give me an explanation as to why Precinct 216 gave Al Gore a minus 16022 [votes] when it was uploaded. Will someone please explain this so that I have the information to give the auditor instead of standing here 'looking dumb' "
Additional excerpts from the Diebold internal emails:


"For a demonstration I suggest you fake it. Progam them both so they look the same, and then just do the upload fro [sic] the AV. That is what we did in the last AT/AV demo."


"Right now you can open GEMS' .mdb file with MS-Access, and alter its contents. That includes the audit log. This isn't anything new."


"Elections are not rocket science. Why is it so hard to get things right! I have never been at any other company that has been so miss [sic] managed."


"Johnson County, KS will be doing Central Count for their mail in ballots. They will also be processing these ballots in advance of the closing of polls on election day. They would like to log into the Audit Log an entry for Previewing any Election Total Reports. They need this, to prove to the media, as well as, any candidates & lawyers, that they did not view or print any Election Results before the Polls closed. However, if there is a way that we can disable the reporting functionality, that would be even better."


"Diebold -- The face of modern ballot tampering"
http://www.bartcop.com/diebold.htm


"If You Want To Win An Election, Just Control The Voting Machines"
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0131-01.htm


'How George W. Bush Won the 2004 Presidential Election"
http://www.infernalpress.com/Columns/election.html


"Safeguarding the Vote"
http://www.yesmagazine.org./26courage/pibel.htm


"Electronic Voting Machines Blasted by Scientists, Hacked by Author
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason
/stories/HL0307/S00198.htm


Last month, California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley mandated that Californians be provided with a verifiable paper trail in future elections:
http://www.ss.ca.gov/executive/press...003/03_106.pdf
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