Q & A with Abbe DeLozier and Vickie Karp (Editors of "HACKED! High Tech Election Theft in America")
After nearly a year of effort, editors Abbe Waldman DeLozier and Vickie Karp have compiled an astounding and weighty treatise on the issue of electronic vote fraud, its implication to the loss of our democratic process, and why Americans must start TODAY to reclaim their elections.
Q: The thing that is most remarkable about your backgrounds is that neither of you are what one might consider political animals, but rather just truly concerned citizens who chose to bring this book to the forefront. Why was it so important for you to get this word out?
Abbe: I've been a Realtor for over 20 years and have become very concerned about my country. I love America and value so much the freedoms we have here - that's why I've become so concerned that our elections are not safe. Our whole tenet of freedom (deleted "and fair elections") has been shattered because we no longer have fair elections: Something so cherished by all of us in America.
Vickie: I've also been a Realtor for over 20 years, (which is how Abbe and I met,) and was not working on anything political lately. But when I learned about electronic vote fraud something struck me in my core: The whole essence of our country is supposedly built on the foundation of fair elections. The implications of those elections being stolen rocked my perception of our democratic republic and I knew I had to do something. And the more I've learned about it, the more fearful I've become. One of the most alarming things I've learned is that the average American still has no idea that elections are likely being stolen with these electronic voting systems.
Q: And was that what compelled you to tackle this issue, because you felt it wasn't being talked about and people were not getting the real information?
Abbe: Absolutely. We both realized that if elections are being stolen it doesn't matter what other areas of political activity we worked on or were (delete: being) passionate about because elections are central to everything else. So it was the best place to put our energy. Most people don't even understand the gravity of what is going on and they don't believe this information when they hear it. We realized that there just has not been enough coverage and we wanted to educate people.
Q: Who are some of the experts who contributed to your book?
Abbe: We were quite fortunate to receive for the book the works of some of the most dedicated and knowledgable people in the country on this issue: Bev Harris of Black Box Voting, who has helped deliver to the public the most clear-cut evidence backed by computer experts that these voting systems can be hacked; Lynn Landes, a journalist from Philadelphia who has been studying and writing about the issue for years; Victoria Collier, daughter and niece of James and Kenneth Collier who documented over 25 years of election fraud history in their book, Votescam: The Stealing of America; Kathleen Wynne, Associate Director of Black Box Voting who has helped Bev Harris with research and investigations and videotaped many incriminating moments of their findings; Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman, who have been researching what happened in Ohio in the 2004 election and have already written dozens of articles on vote fraud (freepress.org) and compiled two books on the topic of stolen elections, including the threat of electronic voting; Jeremiah Akin, a computer programmer from California who discovered the software of the Sequoia voting systems and details many of its vulnerabilities in his chapter; we also have a chapter from Rep. Cynthia McKinney about why the current attempts at legislation to fix this issue will not work; and a chapter from a 30-year election worker named May Schmidt about why hand-counted paper ballot elections worked so much more smoothly and efficiently than electronically executed elections. Vickie and I each contributed a chapter also.
Q: What is the most misunderstood thing about this issue?
Vickie: Two things. FIRST: The idea that computers are the solution to our election process. Computers are fallible and crash and lose data every day. And that is true even if no one is TRYING to hack them. Because we are in the computer age, everyone assumes that high-tech is the logical solution to everything. But in the case of elections, nothing could be further from the truth! SECOND: That adding printers and conducting 2% audits will solve election fraud. It's just not going to happen!
Q: What do you hope people will do after reading this book?
Abbe: We hope that they will take action. We hope they will understand that it is not a partisan issue and all of us on both sides of the aisle, and of all political persuasions are losing if we continue using the electronic voting systems. We must go back to hand-counted paper ballots. While not a perfect system, the potential for fraud is much lower than any electronically executed election.
Q: Why on earth would anyone consider going back to hand-counted paper ballots?
Abbe: The answer is clearly detailed in our book. May Schmidt, a 30 year veteran election judge, describes how easily and effectively paper ballots are hand-counted throughout the day at the precinct level with bipartisan teams of election judges. It is called citizen oversight, an important part of our democracy taken away with the use of computerized voting. A well-designed paper ballot can be accurately counted, and election tallies posted at the precinct levels. We need a return to this simple, cost-effective, accountable way to vote in America.
Vickie: Millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent and are still being spent on computerized voting equipment that requires expensive maintenance contracts, special storage facilities, and replacement. Counties could go bankrupt supporting these systems!
Election Day should be a holiday. Like jury duty, we should develop a system to have ample bipartisan citizen participation to volunteer on election day to work the election and count the votes. Cameras should record the hand-counting at the end of the day, shown to the public on community access channels to ensure public scrutiny. We need a return to citizen run elections, and according to an August 2006 Zogby poll, 92% of Americans support their right to view vote counting and obtain information about it.
Q: What do you expect the book will impact or initiate?
Vickie: People must understand this, as one of the Founding Fathers said: The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. This is not a quick fix. And yet we're in a very real race, because of the upcoming election, to help people totally "get" that their votes are likely being stolen. WE, the PEOPLE, have to get up off our couches, turn off "American Idol", and DO something!
Abbe: We want this issue to become front page news as it should be. We're on a limited timeframe for people to take action and we want our readers to understand that. It's a very serious situation-- it took a book of this depth to explain what is really going on and how all the various components have brought us to this point.
Q: What comments have you heard on the book?
Abbe: We've really kept the book under wraps until completion, but we've had early readers already say that though they had seen stories here and there on this issue, this is the first book that really puts all the pieces together for a comprehensive understanding. We've heard people of all political persuasions say they are truly alarmed at this potential permanent loss of everyone's right to have their votes accurately counted. Electronic voting systems have taken away that right.
Q: What about naysayers that will claim this is a partisan issue?
Vickie: Not true. People of all parties are losing their right to accurate elections. Why wouldn't everyone be concerned that hackers can easily tamper with election results? We see the vulnerability of our computer systems every day in the news as Microsoft and others release ongoing patches for their software. Electronic voting systems are no different. Consider what's happened with hackers who have accessed the Veterans Administration data, and the data of major banks and credit card companies.
Abbe: We welcome those who make the "partisan" claim. We invite them to go out and investigate beyond the information in our book. They will find evidence that speaks to the devastation of what the electronic voting push has created. Anyone who is concerned about having fair elections restored should be very interested in this book.
Vickie: We simply ask people to read "HACKED!" before they claim we are making unrealistic accusations. We printed the facts as relayed by foremost experts on this issue. Even the GAO (Government Accountability Office) released a scathing 107 page document last October (2005) detailing the dangers of electronic voting. The Brennan Center for Justice issued a report this past June (2006) stating that electronic voting was highly vulnerable to fraud. Unfortunately, they believe that the fix is regular audits. We strongly disagree with that solution, as we detail in our book. We are quite certain that the solution is HAND COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS, all the way!
Q: And is time running out for this? Why is it so important to get this out now?
Abbe: We know we're in critical mass right now. This is the boondoggle of the century: Taxpayers are paying for the very systems that are likely stealing their votes! Over 80% of the votes in the 2004 election were electronically recorded or counted, and this is going to increase in upcoming elections. We're already seeing on the local, state and national level how these electronic voting systems are being corrupted-- misreporting votes and creating havoc.
Vickie: Unfortunately, states are still rushing to purchase these electronic voting systems utilizing, as Abbe says, millions of taxpayer dollars through the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Many computer experts have issued reports detailing the dangers and vulnerabilities of this equipment, while it is operating with secret software which only the private vendors can access. We, the citizens, are voting on computerized equipment and we have no idea how it's being programmed nor how our votes are being recorded. This is totally unacceptable!!
Q: Can people hit your site for information on how to order the book? And things to do to take action?
Abbe: Absolutely, they will find actionable steps to take today to help fight this loss of our voting rights. The web site address is http://www.hackedelections.com, and we offer 2 ways to order the book at the site.