Bev Harris is a writer and an American activist and founder of Black Box Voting Inc., a national nonpartisan, nonprofit elections watchdog group. She helped popularize the term Black Box Voting, while authoring a book of that title. David Chaum Election People This box:      David Chaum is the inventor of many cryptographic protocols and has contributed to the advancement of electronic cash. ... Brad Friedman is a US journalist, blogger, actor, director and comedian. ... Rop Gonggrijp is a Dutch hacker and he was one of the founders of internet service provider XS4ALL. Gonggrijp was editor in chief of the Internet magazine Hack-Tic. ... Election People This box:      Richard L. Hasen is a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles[1] . Professor Hasen has a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA, JD, and PhD from UCLA[1]. He has clerked for the Honorable David R. Thompson of the Ninth... Gracia Hillman Election People This box:      Gracia M. Hillman is one of four commissioners of the Election Assistance Commission. ... The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). ... Rush Dew Holt, Jr. ... Election People This box:      R. Doug Lewis has served as Executive Directer of the Election Center since 1994. ... Rebecca Mercuri is among the foremost experts on electronic voting. ... Greg Palast is a New York Times-bestselling author[1] and a journalist for the British Broadcasting Corporation[2] as well as the British newspaper The Observer. ... Election People This box:      Professor Ronald Lorin Rivest (born 1947, Schenectady, New York) is a cryptographer, and is the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Computer Science at MITs Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (CSAIL). ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private, coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Election People This box:      Rosemary E. Rodriguez is a commissioner serving on the Election Assistance Commission, previously of the Denver City Council of the City and County of Denver, District 3, Colorado. ... The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). ... Avi Rubin speaking at the Voting Systems Testing Summit in October 2005. ... Ion Sancho in front of the Leon County Courthouse on Nov. ... Ted Selker (Edwin Joseph Selker [1]), is an American computer scientist who as of 2005 heads the Context Aware Computing Group at the MIT Media Lab and is the MIT director of The Voting Technology Project and Design Intelligence. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private, coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Bradley A. Smith is an American political scientist. ... The Federal Election Commission (or FEC) is an independent regulatory agency created in 1975 by the United States Congress to administer and enforce campaign finance legislation in the United States. ... Reverend DeForest B. Soaries is an American Baptist minister, politician, author, and public advocate, from Franklin Park, New Jersey. ... The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). ... Election People This box:      Hans A. von Spakovsky is a Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the United States federal agency charged with enforcing campaign finance laws. ... The Federal Election Commission (or FEC) is an independent regulatory agency created in 1975 by the United States Congress to administer and enforce campaign finance legislation in the United States. ... David Wagner David A. Wagner (1974) is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley and a well-known researcher in cryptography. ... Britain J. Williams is a Professor Emeritus at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, and is director of the schools Center For Election Systems. ... A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Auditable, and Transparent Elections ACCURATE was established by a group of computer scientists, psychologists and policy experts to address problems with electronic voting. ... The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) was created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). ... The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) administers the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act for the United States Secretary of Defense. ... FairVote - Center for Voting and Democracy is a non-profit organization based in Takoma Park, Maryland that provides information to the public about the impact of voting systems on political representation, proportional representation, and voter turnout. ... NIST logo The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, formerly known as The National Bureau of Standards) is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce’s Technology Administration. ... The Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) is a U.S. based 501(c)(3) public charity that works to facilitate voter participation in federal elections for American citizens whose voting programs falls under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA). ... Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ... Black Box Voting is voting on electronic machines which dont print paper ballots. ...

She first gained national prominence in 2002 when she discovered that Senator Hagel of Nebraska owned a large share of ES&S, a major voting machine manufacturer of the machines that counted the majority of votes in Nebraska. In 2003, she discovered the source code of another voting machine manufacturer, Diebold, which now operates under the name "Premier Election Systems." Charles Timothy Chuck Hagel (born October 4, 1946) is the senior United States Senator from Nebraska. ... Official language(s) English Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Largest metro area Omaha Area  Ranked 16th  - Total 77,421 sq mi (200,520 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 0. ... Election Systems & Software (ES&S) is an American company that provides voting services. ... Diebold Election Systems, Inc. ...

After examining these files, Harris wrote an article on July 8, 2003 detailing how to bypass passwords and manipulate election results on the Diebold GEMS central tally system^[1]. The information in Harris's article was subsequently confirmed by internal memos written by Diebold's own engineers.^[2].

Researchers at Rice University and Johns Hopkins University also studied the programs she obtained and found security weaknesses which afforded opportunities for abuse^[3] Diebold officials and state election officials disputed the findings of the Rice and Johns Hopkins researchers.^[4][5] Lovett Hall William Marsh Rice University (commonly called Rice University and opened in 1912 as The William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Letters, Science and Art) is a private, comprehensive research university located in Houston, Texas, USA, near the Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. ... The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ...

Original investigative work by Harris has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC, as well as by the Associated Press, NPR, and many other mainstream news outlets.

Hacking Democracy

Main article: Hacking Democracy

Harris's organization, Black Box Voting, was invited by Ion Sancho, Leon County, (Florida) Supervisor of Elections to conduct a series of tests election of Diebold's GEMS central tabulator and Diebold's optical scan voting machines. The tests took place Feb. 14, 2005; May 2, 2005; May 26, 2005 and Dec. 13, 2005 and resulted in in proof that Diebold machines were not secure and could be hacked and results altered. ^[6] Hacking Democracy is a 2006 documentary film by Simon Ardizzone and Russell Michaels, produced by Simon Ardizzone, Robert Carrillo Cohen and Russell Michaels, shown on HBO. It documents anomalies and irregularities with e-voting (electronic voting) systems that occurred during the 2004 election, especially in Volusia County, Florida, and investigates... Ion Sancho in front of the Leon County Courthouse on Nov. ... Leon County is a county located in the state of Florida. ... A hack in progress in Lobby 7 at MIT. Hack is a term in the slang of the technology culture which has come into existence over the past few decades. ...

Her work to expose security weaknesses in electronic voting systems was assisted by Kathleen Wynne and is featured in an HBO documentary, Hacking Democracy. The film follows a series of investigations, many of them captured live on videotape by Kathleen Wynne. Hacking Democracy is a 2006 documentary film by Simon Ardizzone and Russell Michaels, produced by Simon Ardizzone, Robert Carrillo Cohen and Russell Michaels, shown on HBO. It documents anomalies and irregularities with e-voting (electronic voting) systems that occurred during the 2004 election, especially in Volusia County, Florida, and investigates...

Harris discovered that counterfeit audit records^[7] had been provided to Black Box Voting in a public records request. Harris subsequently found some of the original records in the garbage at a Volusia County warehouse. Florida Fair Elections Coalition^[8] founder Susan Pynchon and Broward Election Reform Coalition^[9] founder Ellen Brodsky found more original poll tapes in the garbage behind the Volusia County elections office.

Harris, Wynne, and Andy Stephenson audited the originals against those given out by Volusia County in public records requests. Data on several of the poll tapes found in the garbage did not match data on the tapes provided in public records; many key audit items were missing, and unusual errors (such as a date-stamps 16,000 years in the future on one tape) indicated the alterations appeared to be due to alterations in programming the device that produces the poll tapes. Harris, Wynne and Emmy-nominated Hacking Democracy Researcher/Producer Russell Michaels, arranged for a series of hacking demonstrations on the "GEMS" central tabulator and also the hacking of memory cards. The finding of the records in the trash, along with the hacks, can be viewed in the HBO documentary "Hacking Democracy," which premiered November 2, 2006. ^[10][11]

Other investigations

In March 2006, Harris's organization, Black Box Voting, was contacted by elections official Bruce Funk, from Emery County, Utah. Black Box Voting again secured the services of Harri Hursti and Dr. Herbert Hugh Thompson and examined the Diebold TSx touch-screen (DRE) system. Hursti, Thompson, and a member of the Black Box Voting board of directors, Jim March, found flaws which prompted emergency warnings and last minute corrective actions in Pennsylvania, California, and other states.^[12][13][14] Emery County is a county located in the state of Utah. ... Harri Hursti in the documentary Hacking Democracy Harri Hursti is a computer programmer and former CEO of F-Secure PLC, a software company based in Helsinki, Finland. ... Dr. Herbert Hugh Thompson is a expert in application security. ...

Harris's investigations into the testing labs that examine voting system software were revealed in a hidden camera interview in the HBO film "Hacking Democracy"; she also obtained secret test lab reports which showed that the Ciber Laboratories omitted security testing on the machines. ^[15]

Harris also identified and broke the story on the criminal records of a number of individuals who owned, programmed, and printed ballots in the elections industry.^{[16] [17][18][19]}

Diebold lawsuit

Together with Jim March, Harris filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that Diebold Election Systems had made false claims when selling their system to Alameda County, California. Diebold paid the state of California $2.6 million to settle the case^[20], and paid approximately $76,000 to Harris, which she donated to the nonprofit Black Box Voting organization^[21] after tithing 10 percent to her church, in accordance with her belief system.

VoteHERE investigation

She has been been served with four cease and desist notices and in 2004, was interviewed by the US Secret Service Cybercrime Task Force five times in connection with a claim by the VoteHere company that their site had been "hacked" with their source code stolen. In connection with this, Harris received a gag order from a U.S. Attorney in preparation for a federal grand jury investigation. The order was dropped following an investigation by The Seattle Weekly^[22]

Other activists

Harris, who the Boston Globe referred to as "the godmother" of the movement to reform electronic voting^[23] has collaborated with many other citizens. Among them: Jim March, Kathleen Wynne, Vickie Karp, Andy Stephenson; Natalie D'Arielli; and Linda Franz. She frequently collaborates with other researchers and voting rights advocates throughout the country; among them, co-founder of Democracy for New Hampshire, Nancy Tobi and co-founder of Psephos, election rights attorney Paul Lehto. The credibility of Harris's work, along with that of Wynne, Thompson, Stephenson, Hursti and others, has been documented in a film produced by Russell Michaels, Simon Ardizzone, and Teale Edwards Productions (HBO documentary, Hacking Democracy, which premiered November 2, 2006."^[24][25] Hacking Democracy is a 2006 documentary film by Simon Ardizzone and Russell Michaels, produced by Simon Ardizzone, Robert Carrillo Cohen and Russell Michaels, shown on HBO. It documents anomalies and irregularities with e-voting (electronic voting) systems that occurred during the 2004 election, especially in Volusia County, Florida, and investigates...

References

1. ^ "Inside a U.S. Vote Counting Program" July 8 2003
2. ^ "End-run the database" Oct 18, 2001
3. ^ Analysis of an Electronic Voting System, May, 2004
4. ^ Krugman, Paul, "Hack the vote," New York Times, December 2, 2003, pg. A31
5. ^ Schwartz, John, "File sharing pits copyright against free speech," New York Times, November 3, 2003, pg. C1
6. ^ Documentary: Hacking Democracy Nov, 2006
7. ^ "photocopies of Volusia County poll tapes, including mismatched tapes with strange errors" Nov. 2004
8. ^ Florida Fair Elections Coalition
9. ^ Broward Election Reform Coalition
10. ^ "Hacking Democracy," HBO documentary. Retrieved October 16, 2006
11. ^ HBO Documentary Films. retrieved Nov. 6, 2006
12. ^ Technology Daily: States Still Concerned About New Voting Equipment; May 30, 2006
13. ^ Black Box Voting TSx Report
14. ^ Black Box Voting TSx Report Supplement
15. ^ "Photocopies of Ciber reports, Penetration Analysis 'Not Tested'" 2002 and 2003
16. ^ "Prison records of embezzler/ voting system programmer Jeffrey Dean" 1996
17. ^ "Prison records of narcotics trafficker/Diebold ballot printing supervisor John Elder" 1996
18. ^ Vanity Fair: Hack the Vote; April 1, 2004 by Michael Shnayerson
19. ^ Seattle Post-Intelligencer: No elections harmed by work of ex-cons; Feb 12, 2004
20. ^ Seattle Post Intelligencer: Election Activist Claims Victory; Voting Machine Maker Settles Over Her Whistle-Blower Lawsuit, Jan. 25, 2005, by Michelle Nicolosi
21. ^ 2006 Black Box Voting 990 tax form, Schedule A
22. ^ "Seattle Weekly article 'Bigbrother.gov'" 2004
23. ^ The Boston Globe: It's the computer's turn to mess up elections; Business section; Nov. 17, 2003, by Hiawatha Bray
24. ^ "Hacking Democracy," HBO documentary. Retrieved October 16, 2006
25. ^ HBO Documentary Films. retrieved Nov. 6, 2006

See also

• Black Box Voting
• Diebold Election Systems
• Hacking Democracy
• Electronic voting
• DRE voting machine

Black Box Voting is voting on electronic machines which dont print paper ballots. ... Diebold Election Systems, Inc. ... Hacking Democracy is a 2006 documentary film by Simon Ardizzone and Russell Michaels, produced by Simon Ardizzone, Robert Carrillo Cohen and Russell Michaels, shown on HBO. It documents anomalies and irregularities with e-voting (electronic voting) systems that occurred during the 2004 election, especially in Volusia County, Florida, and investigates... Electronic voting machine by Diebold Election Systems used in all Brazilian elections and plebiscites. ... Direct recording voting machine developed in Brazil and used in 100% of Brazilian elections Election Technology This box:      A direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machine records votes by means of a ballot display provided with mechanical or electro-optical components that can be activated by the voter (typically buttons or...

External links

• Black Box Voting website (full text for free download)
• Seattle Weekly article on Bev Harris
• Daily Kos - Bev Harris, target of a disinformation campaign with strong links to Tom Flocco
• Bev Harris ProCon Bio
• Bev Harris discusses the voting industry and Diebold Election Systems' master programmer (Audio/MP3)
• Seattle Weekly - Secret Service Investigates