If a person did what you do, and they were not honest, how would anyone know?
- Bev Harris, Moonshine Elections
The question above is the driving force behind Black Box Voting. I’d like to highlight their efforts in anticipation of tomorrow’s election. This is a group of citizens who work together via the internet to ensure transparency and honesty in our elections process. I hope you’ll indulge my interest in this topic – the themes of community and information sharing are central to both this blog and to BBV.
Their major focus is identifying places where individual votes are entered into “black boxes” which then release tallied results. This can mean a voting machine programmed by a private company with no oversight to their software engineering process. This can also mean a “middleman” who tallies votes in private and releases vote counts.
Why does this happen?
Black box voting situations are more likely to be the result of poor planning than an intent to subvert the electoral process. All the same, the public has no real way to know whether or not their votes are being accurately tallied. If this topic interests you, head over to the BBV site to see stories submitted by voters around the country detailing problems in their local elections. There’s also a documentary featuring BBV founder Bev Harris called Hacking Democracy. My favorite piece is a 2007 article called Moonshine Elections that investigates problems in rural areas with powerful families controlling local government.
Black box voting affects each party
Hacking Democracy painted a grim picture of voting machine maker Diebold and their voting machines. While the documentary seemed focused on uncovering Republican misdeeds in the recent presidential elections I believe that the principles of open and verifiable voting should be important to everyone regardless of party affiliation.
Protect your vote
If you’d like to ensure that your vote is counted accurately and that the citizens of your area get the accurate election they deserve then you’ll want to see BBV’s Pocket Guide to Election Protection. This is a printable e-book that will tell you what to watch out for at your polling location. Knowing your rights can be your foundation for protecting democracy tomorrow.
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