Sent to and published at MediaWhoresOnline.com:
This is a tale of not only Media Whoredom, but of cronyism and partisan politics. And, sadly, it involves the Democratic Party elite in the state of Georgia and senior writers and editors at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You see, Cathy Cox, Georgia's Secretary of State, is a Democrat, and is considered the Golden Girl in Georgia politics, and will most likely be the Democratic nominee for Governor in 2006. Ms. Cox is responsible for bringing Touch Screen Voting to Georgia; therein lies the rub.
I have been researching DRE (Direct Record Electronic) Voting ever since the November 2002 election. You know, the one in which Georgia "elected" our first Republican Governor since Reconstruction, and sent war veteran Max Cleland packing. I contacted the Georgia Secretary of State's office and was given misleading and incorrect information, which added to my concerns. In addition, the touch screen voting machines' internal memory were scrubbed clean, making any independent review of the vote tabulation impossible.
I contacted Jay Bookman, a Senior Editor at the AJ-C and asked him why his paper was not covering the story. Jay assured me that he'd "looked into" the issue and was convinced that the DRE machines were just fine and dandy. I contacted two political writers at the paper, Tom Baxter and Jim Galloway on many occasions. Neither wrote back. Later last summer, group of five computer science professors at Johns-Hopkins and Rice Universities published a report listing serious security flaws. "Given that these voting terminals could communicate over insecure phone lines or even wireless Internet connections (to transmit end-of-the-day election results), even unsophisticated attackers can perform untraceable man-in-the-middle attacks," they wrote. So I wrote to Jay Bookman again. "Still no story here?" I asked. I received a two word reply from him: "No story."
Next it was Martha Ezzard's turn. Ms.. Ezzard is an associate editor at the AJ-C, and fairly Left-leaning. Ezzard decided to chime in on DRE in light of the California Recall Election. "Georgia's vote system a keeper" she headlined her piece, which ran on November 7th. This piece was riddled in flaws and misinformation; it seems to have been written by Diebold's PR department. Ezzard blames the criticism of Cox on "Georgia Republicans" and dismissed those who are concerned as "crazies and skeptics".
I contacted Ms. Ezzard, first by email, then phone, to express my dismay and to try to enlighten her and urge her to correct some of the more blatant errors in her piece. The very first thing I asked her is if she considered the HUNDREDS of Computer Experts who signed Dr. David Dill's petition protesting these machines to be "crazies". She was unaware of Dr. Dill or his petition. Ezzard maintains that she is an "Opinion" writer and that her main goal was to "poke a little fun at California". Ezzard wrote "One Conyers woman claimed she could crack the new system in minutes. So Cox offered her a machine and a computer server -- but she was never heard from again after she learned it was illegal to be given the source code." I pointed out to her that this was erroneous: The offer to crack the system still stands, but Cathy Cox would not only NOT allow her access to the software that runs the machine, but also would not allow her to have access to either a GEMS (tabulating) computer OR a modem. Basically Cathy Cox offered an empty computer; a shell. Ezzard feels that since she didn't use the woman's name she is not obliged to correct this false story, no doubt fed to her by her good friend Cathy Cox.
She suggested I contact the paper's political writers... the same ones I had written, to no avail, so many times previously. She refused to issue a public correction for the outright errors in her piece.
Both Maryland and Ohio are currently looking at buying DRE voting machines from Diebold. In light of the Johns-Hopkins/Rice report, Maryland hired the defense contractor SAIC to do their own study. SAIC concluded that there were literally hundreds of security concerns, including several dozen they deemed "serious". And still, even in light of these TWO major studies, both of which are highly critical of Diebold and which both conclude that there are serious security flaws, Cathy Cox remains mute, and is hiding behind her good friends at the AJ-C. Cox even cancelled the remaining "dog-and-pony shows" her office was holding to address "voter concerns". At the last meeting, we were told by SoS officials that they would NOT be addressing, nor answering any questions, concerning the "Controversy" surrounding DRE voting and were remaining "neutral".
In the case of Georgia election officials, they work for US, the voters and citizens. In ignoring these concerns, and in some cases actually lying about the machines, they are derelict in their sworn duties. In the case of the AJ-C, Bookman and Ezzard, Baxter and Galloway, they are failing in keeping their readers properly informed, misleading Georgians both in print and by omission.
Contact the AJ-C and tell them you want them to assign a writer to cover this story, and ask Martha Ezzard to issue a correction for her misleading Op/Ed.
mezzard@ajc.com
jbookman@ajc.com
tbaxter@ajc.com
jgalloway@ajc.com
Related links:
(The Ezzard piece is now in their paid archives.)
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/6545045.htm>Study raises concerns about electronic voting machines
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,60563,00.htmlDid E-Vote Firm Patch Election?
<snip>
Now a former worker in Diebold's Georgia warehouse says the company installed patches on its machines before the state's 2002 gubernatorial election that were never certified by independent testing authorities or cleared with Georgia election officials.
If the charges are true, Diebold could be in violation of federal and state election-certification rules. The charges also raise questions about the integrity of the Georgia election results and any other election that uses patched Diebold systems that have not been re-certified.
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http://www.countthevote.org
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