This is the question being posed by Democrats, as more and more evidence mounts up of the vulnerability of electronic voting systems to fraud and manipulation. The systems most insecure and prone to rigging are touch-screen systems known as DRE (Direct Recording Electronic), in which there is no paper trail, and no ability to audit or verify the results. There is not even any way to conduct a recount!

To make it worse, the company which is most prominent in marketing DRE machines, Diebold, is closely tied into Republican circles. Its chief executive, Wally O'Dell, is a frequent visitor to the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas, and he hosted a $600,000 fundraiser for Dick Cheney last June. He is both a Ranger and a Pioneer--the designation for top fundraisers for the Bush-Cheney campaigns.

The second-biggest company, Election Systems and Software, has ties into Nebraska Republican circles around Sen. Chuck Hagel, as well as ties to financier and Schwarzenegger backer Warren Buffett.

The third major company, Sequoia, boasts that its parent company works closely with the FBI, Homeland Security, and Interpol.

Georgia touch-screen voting results questioned

Where touch-screen systems have been used, just one example being the Georgia 2002 elections, not only were there numerous irregularities, but the overall results came out very differently from pre-election polls and forecasts.

Was it fraud? There is no way to tell, because with touch-screen systems, you can't do a recount. In fact, local election officials don't even know how the machines work; it's the voting-machine companies that program the machines and run the elections.

Touch-screen systems have been mandated to be installed in all states, and are being subsidized by the Federal government, under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) passed by the Republican-dominated Congress in 2002--but also with a lot of Democratic support.

The pretext for HAVA, was to "modernize" the nation's voting system, after the Florida fiasco in the 2000 elections.

But what is now being set up, is a much greater fiasco for 2004--with the probability of vote-rigging and tampering being facilitated by the widespread use of electronic voting, and with absolutely no way of verifying or double-checking the reported vote tallies.

Computerized voting must be stopped, to protect our Constitutional right to fair elections.

For an earlier report on the subject of electronic voting, click here.

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