A New Way to Raise E-Voting Security Awareness: Do It Yourself Videos

An idea struck me while reading and looking at the demos about how easy it is to hack some of the electronic voting machines, like Diebold, which requires only a screwdriver to get to the switch which you throw to change the system completely. Programs like Countdown have avoided the SCARY :scared: topic of election theft through e-vote fraud because they think viewers will tune off. However, Countdown recently broke its e-vote silence with the tale of the Diebold machine and the screwdriver. Why? Stories about vast conspiracies to steal elections are frightening. They make people want to hide their heads until they go way. Stories about how dumb machines are make people feel smart in comparison, and that makes people feel good.

I am not going to take credit for this idea. I am not just pointing out what savy social marketers on the west coast (bless their Hollywood trained little hearts) are already doing. They are putting out internet documents and videos that show step by step how to reprogram E-voting machines. Take the mystery out this process and suddenly it becomes as simple as putting a Mentos in Diet Coke, something everyone can understand and enjoy.

However, why limit yourselves to the Internet? According to a recent poll, people who read the internet for their news (about 30% of Americans) already distrust the Administration. It is the ones who watch TV that need educating. Therefore, I suggest videotapes to be aired on TV which show just how easy it is for ANYONE to reprogram an electronic voting machine. Get a child to do it. A blind person. Make it a race. See who can do it fastest. Use whacky tools. The videos will be in the Internet first, on YouTube or some other site, but stuff like this gets picked up by TV, especially if it is off the wall. Oriental women in bikinis hacking Diebold machines with American Express Gold Cards. My favorite idea is to get a bunch of children and a bunch of businessmen, give them both verbal instructins and see who wins.

Be ready to move your production on a moment's notice, because I suspect that Big Brother Al Gonzales will be all over you like a teenaged boy on a Girls Gone Wild video.

the press release is here
<http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/blog/2006-jul-31/worst_flaw_ever_in_diebold_touch_screen_voting_machine_revealed>

the video is on HuffPo sorry I don't have the link handy.