DEMOCRACY: Government & Politics | May 5, 2005

DEMOCRACY: AUDIT OR LOSE IT

(EXAMINING VOTING MACHINE COMPANIES)

A Guest Appearance on "NewsRap with Barry Gordon"

Topics during the hour included:

* Discussing the politics of that day's re-election of Tony Blair as British Prime Minister

* Comparing voting procedures and exit polling in other nations with those in the U.S.

* Presenting a newly released study of exit polling and voting irregularities in our last Presidential election

* Debunking the commonly advanced explanations for the irregularities

* Examining possible sources of error -- both unintentional and intentional -- in exit polling and voting

* Considering the lack of a "paper trail" in many automated voting systems as well as the lack of accountability of voting machine companies

* Identifying the major voting machine companies and their executives and board members

* Presenting the personal, professional, and political relationships between the executives and board members as well as the primarily Republican Presidential and Senatorial candidates they support