NEW ELECTION VIDEO  (Oct 2008)
Watch the free new 20 minute elections film "Protecting Democracy" (by Hacking Democracy creators Simon Ardizzone & Russell Michaels) which reveals the secret "MANUAL ENTRY SCREEN" on the Diebold/Premier voting system that allows vote totals to be easily switched.

The film also includes:

  • Sarasota citizens' battle for better audits in the Florida Supreme Court, including an attorney for the state arguing that election problems should be kept secret.
  • Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning explaining why Florida has chosen to have "post-certification" audits and why elections should not be "disruptive."
  • The Volusia County Canvassing Board voting to disobey Florida law.
  • Election reform candidate Susan Pynchon, who is running for Volusia County Supervisor of Elections, sparring over citizens' rights with her political opponent, incumbent Ann McFall.

The film is in 2 parts:    Click here for Part 1      Click here for Part 2
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Hacking Democracy DVDDVD
The DVD of Hacking Democracy was released on March 27th 2007, and is available from Docurama. The DVD includes a number of extras including footage from Georgia and California never seen before. The extras chronicle some of the struggles that didn't make it into the final version but should be of interest to anyone interested in democracy.
Play the trailer
CLICK HERE to buy the DVD if you live in the US or Canada.

If you live outside the United States or Canada, then please e-mail us via the Contact Us page

 
National Academy of Television Arts & SciencesHACKING DEMOCRACY NOMINATED FOR AN EMMY®
Hacking Democracy was nominated for an 2007 EMMY' Award in the category OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM - LONG FORM

The full list of nominations for The 28th Annual Emmy Awards for News & Documentary can be seen here, and the winners are here

 
The Documentary
The documentary, first broadcast on HBO throughout November & December 2006, exposes the dangers of voting machines used during America's mid term and presidential elections. Electronic voting machines count approximately 90% of America's votes in county, state and federal elections. The technology is also increasingly being used across the world, including in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Latin America. Filmed over three years this expos' follows the investigations of a team of citizen activists and hackers as they take on the electronic voting industry, targeting the Diebold corporation.

"Hacking Democracy" uncovers incendiary evidence from the trash cans of Texas to the ballot boxes of Ohio, exposing secrecy, votes in the trash, hackable software and election officials rigging the presidential recount.

Ultimately proving our votes can be stolen without a trace "Hacking Democracy" culminates in the famous 'Hursti Hack'; a duel between the Diebold voting machines and a computer hacker from Finland - with America's democracy at stake.

"Hacking Democracy" was Executive Produced by Sarah Teale & Sian Edwards of Teale-Edwards Productions LLC

 
News
Diebold Attacks "Hacking Democracy"
Two days before HBO's premier broadcast of "Hacking Democracy", Diebold issued an outraged letter to the channel's Chairman, demanding that HBO "pull the documentary" from the schedule. While Diebold had not even seen "Hacking Democracy" their error filled letter also contained this extraordinary statement about the film:

"Harri Hursti is shown attacking a Diebold machine in Florida. But his attack proved later to be a complete sham."

Download the complete letter from Diebold President, David Byrd. The quote is on page 2

The 'Hursti Hack' forms the climax of the film and proved for the first time that votes stored on Diebold's memory cards can be changed undetectably. In fact our ground breaking hack was scientifically proven to be completely true. California's Secretary of State commissioned a special report by scientists at UC Berkeley to investigate the Hursti Hack.

Page 2 of their report states:

"Harri Hursti's attack does work. Mr. Hursti's attack on the AV-OS is definitely real. He was indeed able to change the election results by doing nothing more than modifying the contents of a memory card. He needed no passwords, no cryptographic keys, and no access to any other part of the voting system, including the GEMS election management server."

Download the report from the University of California, Berkeley
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Watch the 'Hursti Hack' on the DVD and decide for yourself who is telling the truth and who is a sham.

The two Ohio election staff who feature in "Hacking Democracy" were sentenced on March 13th 2007 for rigging the 2004 presidential recount. Incriminating footage from the documentary was used in their court case as evidence.

Criminal Investigation into Board of Elections
(Fox 8 News)
A special prosecutor launched an investigation into the Cuyahoga Board of Elections finding that staff had rigged the 2004 presidential election recount, so that it would not match the original election night count, conducted on the vote counting computers. Watch the video on YouTube.

 
Feedback
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If you have comments about the film, e-mail us at email AT hackingdemocracy.com

 
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