Dit nieuws ontdekten we dankzij een lezer van DeepJournal die ons een documentaire toestuurde van de ons bekende journalist Daniël Hopsicker, genaamd The Big Fix 2000, over de laatste presidentsverkeizingen in de VS. Naar aanleiding van dit programma trokken we ons waterdichte zwempak aan om eens even wat te surfen over de woelige baren van het onderwerp stemfraude. Journalist Lynn Landes was ons al voorgeweest met haar artikel Elections In America - Assume Crooks Are In Control.

Een kwestie van vertrouwen
'"The concept is clear, simple, and it works. Computerized voting gives the power of selection, without fear of discovery, to whomever controls the computer," wrote the authors of VoteScam (1992), James & Kenneth Collier (both now deceased). It's a 'must read' book about how elections have been electronically and mechanically rigged in the United States for decades, and with the knowing and sometimes unknowing support of media giants and government officials [...].

Only a few companies dominate the market for computer voting machines. Alarmingly, under U.S. federal law, no background checks are required on these companies or their employees. Felons and foreigners can, and do, own computer voting machine companies. Voting machine companies demand that clients sign 'proprietary' contracts to protect their trade secrets, which prohibits a thorough inspection of voting machines by outsiders. And, unbelievably, it appears that most election officials don't require paper ballots to back up or audit electronic election results. So far, lawsuits to allow complete access to inspect voting machines, or to require paper ballots so that recounts are possible...have failed.
As far as we know, some guy from Russia could be controlling the outcome of computerized elections in the United States.'

Ik wil niet dat je iets overkomt
'In fact, Vikant Corp., a Chicago-area company owned by Alex Kantarovick, formerly of Minsk, Belorussia (also known as White Russia, formerly U.S.S.R.), supplies the all-important 'control cards' to Election Systems & Software (ES&S), the world's largest election management company, writes reporter Christopher Bollyn.  According to ES&S, they have "handled more than 40,000 of the world's most important events and elections. ES&S systems have counted approximately 60% of the U.S. national vote for the past four presidential elections. In the U.S. 2000 general election, ES&S systems counted over 100 million ballots." Getting back to Kantarovich, he would not disclose where the control cards are made, except they aren't made in America, writes Bollyn. Nor would he discuss his previous employment. Bollyn says he got some not-too-thinly-veiled threats from Kantarovich. Kantarovich sounds more like the Russian mafia, than a legitimate businessman.' In de video van Hopsicker vertelt Bollyn dat hem door Kantarovich te verstaan werd gegeven dat hij niet wilde dat zijn bedrijf zou worden geschaad of dat de onderzoeker zou worden geschaad...

Homo ex machina
'But the really big deal is this....all of ES&S's touch screen machines contain modems, "allowing them to communicate—and be communicated with—while they are in operation," reports Bollyn. That communication capability includes satellites. "Even computers not connected to modems or an electronic network can still be manipulated offsite, not during the election, but certainly before or after," says voting systems expert Dr. Rebecca Mercuri.

ES&S supplied the touch screens for Miami-Dade and Broward counties where the worst machine failures occurred. But the debacle was nothing new for ES&S. Associated Press (AP) reporter Jessica Fargen wrote in June 2000, "Venezuela's president and the head of the nation's election board accused ES&S of trying to destabilize the country's electoral process. In the United States, four states have reported problems with equipment supplied by the company. Faulty ES&S machines used in Hawaii's 1998 elections forced that state's first-ever recount."'

Over de beruchte hertelling in 2000 staat een eigenaardig citaat in dit interview met de 82-jarige uitvinder van de stemmachine, William Rouverol. '``I can see why there's a pretty good reason why the Republicans are so concerned about the hand recount,'' he said. ``It sounds to me that the glitch is in the programming, not the butterfly ballot. Whether it's purposeful or accidental, I'm not prepared to say.'' [...] Rouverol said the machine's basic design has changed little since its introduction nearly 40 years ago. The standards for manufacturing the ballots also date from the 1960s.' Hij is dus niet bereid te zeggen of er een opzettelijke programmeerfout zit in de machines waardoor de Republikeinen ongerust zijn voor een handmatige hertelling...