Black Box Voting

This book is a meticulously researched investigation into the cryptic voting machine industry. The people who make the machines which count our votes are answerable to virtually no one. Some of these machines, which are literally trusted with our democracy, are the products of convicted felons working in almost complete secrecy for corporations with openly stated political agendas. From Diebold's CEO Wally O'Dell openly promising to "deliver" Ohio to George W. Bush, to Election.com's ownership by a private Saudi corporation, to ES&S counting the votes of a U.S. senator who owns stock in the company, these companies have an arrogant disregard for conflict of interest.

If we cannot trust out votes to be counted accurately, then our democracy is null and void.

This book started out as a simple look at ES&S and other voting machine companies and their curious ties to elected officials, foreign nationals, and political parties. Within a few months it morphed into an expose of bad software, criminal activity, and fraudulent use of taxpayer money.

Bev Harris and David Allen were a very unlikely "Woodward & Bernstein", she being a 53 year-old grandmother and he a 43 year-old comic publisher. Initially, David was simply playing the role of publisher. But as Bev's investigation became more technical, he was able to draw upon his 18 years as a computer systems tech and engineer to help Bev unravel the technical aspects of the story. Not that she needed much help. She was a quick study on techical issues and soon mastered many of the intricacies of the topic.

David would later wind up sitting in on a secret phone conference between the voting machine industry and the lobbying firm seeking to get itself hired.

Bev Harris has attacked this story with the tenacity of a terrier and refused to back away from the truth despite threats of legal attack from Diebold and ES&S. In one year the story went from an obscure topic in computer forums to a international discussion.