it's thursday so it's time for world view would dennis campbell dennis is
editor-in-chief of u_k_ progressive magazine also author of the blockbuster
new in book the vagina wars which is doing incredibly well congradulations on
that dennis i figured since it is election day in the u_k_ it's a good day
to talk about
paper ballots voting machines the bold scams voter id paging all of that stuff
so first talk a little bit about the election process in the u_k_ and what
type of ballot for you being used there
well today is the election day is on a national election although it goes
across the entire nation
is for all off the local county councils and some of the largest city councils
as well as uh... for several mares ships so
pretty much if you're involved in local government this is your one big day
in the song
uh... there's a number of folks here i live in something called the veil of the
morgan
there twenty s or counselors on thirty sconces excision all up for reelection
and uh... the ballot is set up in such a way that you can pick a number of
different people
the way we vote in this country is believe it or not we used old-fashioned
paper ballots
uh... the ballots are are the type that you would put
and affix x omar to to clearly indicate that that's the candidate you support
they then get put into a box that boxes in one of many polling stations across
the county
there are usually yell porta cabin type of trailers
they're locked in sealed in these little ballot boxes in the boxes at the end of
the voting day
at ten p_m_ one polls closer then transported
to a central counting facilities in the city of barry which is the larger seat
in this particular county
and uh... having watched the process is absolutely fascinating to see that at
the stroke of ten p_m_
the first few ballot boxes that are opened and counted right there before
your eyes of the absentee mail in ballots which is not always a guaranteed
thing in the united states my understanding is that
went back
so you watch these uh... pieces of paper being strewn out across tables and
there's a team of are young women and men
with the little film balls on their fingers that is sitting there referring
to in counting them into stacks of bisbee
they want to make certain that the couch squares with what the polling places
said with a number of people that voted for that day
then they go through the process of actually counting
and there's several steps along the process and basic inside of a horseshoe
ring of tables which any candidate can then go along the outside of and have
himself herself or sarah gets sit there and verify and washed the actual comes
and takes place is really a fascinating exercise in democracy and we are under
no illusion or deadline of an eleven p_m_ news hour
the comp takes as long as the count takes a look at the last part about that
but let's go to for the morning
yes alot thought about that in the u_s_ you you alluded to something in the u_s_
bridges this kind of proper urgency that's been created to get resolved by
certain amount of time that corresponds with the new cycle
do you think that that is mostly me driven as might be kind of the the
obvious uh... uh... explanation or do you think it may be more
candidate or corporation driven and therefore or how did that development
for the always the case
no it wasn't always the case but if you remember right and i don't know for many
people remember back to
the uh... the election of two thousand eight we note
that uh... at the stroke of eleven p_m_
based only on exit polling and a few preliminary results
they were able to determine the barrack obama was elected before before
president united states terranova people under the assumption that it was ohio at
eleven p_m_ called or obama was date eat do you have a higher
long in the bag at that particular happier was doing was one california and
hawaii and uh...
oregon and washington
and of course the the the big surprise uh... nevada
walking reported in his favor of that was what the law he was by the time they
got a lot of times and he was already pretty much there
but once they declare on the home of the western coast time zone battle stroke of
eleven p_m_ eastern
that was done
okay so it looks back a little bit that about
we've seen allot of voting uh... controversies in the u_s_ of course back
in two thousand with al gore and george w_ bush
in ohio and two thousand four and we see these kind of on an ongoing basis
we have been people voting machines which
builders ongoing discussion
candies be hacked how izzy how easy is it to hack them
have a little bit about the working about that
well ninety thousand six i was first approached by a group of people in
arizona because i knew
one of them very very well he it worked for the n_s_a_ for a number of years
and they were questioning in pima county which is the area around to some which
is the only democratic really county
in all of sona
the results of a election for a bomb bid
and when my friend said that if you're willing to take a look at this address
my my reaction was ok you know it really sounds like just a bunch of
conspirators conspiracy matters
but then the more i looked in the more i realize wait a minute what they're
talking about was real
and in the course of like the investigation talking to them talking to
the folks of black box voting talking to the
secretary of state dept a
uh... bowen in uh... in california and others i realize there was a systemic
problems with these voting machines
and there's a film called hacking democracy would you can still find a new
to has something called a kirsty h_ u_ r_ s_ t_ higher named after harry her
steven kirsty hack
where you can actually see
the two points of entry where
an actual action one of them
is in the new memory card that sits inside of the scanning machine
you can actually pre-programmed that to show
uh... what's called a full-scale
so you know what you come up with the number of ballots that a stand
you can say if yes subtract four so it will bomb a serb track four
and put them over onto the side
of wrongly and that's one of the things that that's been driving all of the
things that they've been talking about in arizona and my concern
is you have to get the machine
but more importantly you can't hack it
at the gems central tabulation computer
and at the spending seven figures
to buy adverts via a superpower
what's to say in and and all the siege of speculation here
but a large envelope of cash could not end up in county officials
our pocket to look the other way when somebody want to actually happened she
is
this is the biggest threat to democracy in america right now well one-person
one-vote promise and under which we will operated for years
you just don't know for certain with these machines causes no paper trail and
in some states is even illegal to keep a paper trail
and you're relying on technology
when the same people who have been at the polls for the last forty years
working
are still there
and you just have no certainty that your vote is actually going to be counted as
it was cast
well i was going to be my next question which is what kind of trail is there has
been created and and how can this be
uh... can you put potentially even prove that something like this was done but
you seem to have a proactively told me that it is very difficult to track this
down
it is that there are keys chrissy when you turn it on goes to assist in
checking it shows you approach ready stock
it scans the balance of anybody and car through and that says okay everything is
done
that these things that come out of the machine called the whole tapes
and those of where you could if you needed to go back to the actual ballots
and then compare one-to-one
buses several states the most notable being arizona
where guests who was the secretary of state when these machines came and none
other than current
governor jim breuer
uh... focus all this
you find yourself in a situation where everything just strains credulity
you would think that those that are working at the county in the government
level would want to assure transparency and want to ensure accuracy
but really the most the concern that someone is actually questioning them
so long i think it's get modest gets caught up in unneeded lawsuits
the rough five lawsuits filed in pima county alone
just trying to get to the bottom of this issue of and uh... brad uh... the brad
bloggers also got a lot of work in this area as well
trying to get to the bottom of these machines and expose them for what they
are right and florida in two thousand of course secretary of state katherine
harris and we had a long history of uh...
cacao incidental secretaries of state that we've been speaking with dennis
campbell he's editor in chief of u_k_ progressive magazine
also author of the hugely successful new you book the vagina wars the republican
more on women great to talk to you dennis and hopefully next week will talk
to you from d_c_
ended up coming to the states i look forward to hopefully this will work and
all the technology god's will
get us there from mother the capitol building itself