Hacking Democracy: Showing up Diebold for what it is.

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****½

How is it that the Diebold company still exists? In a country in which the citizens were more interested in their real well-being (rather than in being entertained into oblivion), any firm that provided completely "hackable" (perhaps intentionally so) voting machines that provided wrong results and then lied again and again about this fact would be out business, its leaders jailed, and its machines placed on the junk heap where they belong. Not here in the U.S., of course, where, these days, political connections trump ability, decency, common sense and all the other positive virtues. The documentary Hacking Democracy, first shown on HBO, tracks the course of one surprised, inquisitive and steadfast PR woman who begins to question voting results from Diebold's machines and turns this into full-time work that may yet pay enormous dividends to the American public. We watch, mouths agape, as Bev Harris and her co-workers track down more than enough evidence of wrong-doing (intentional or merely stupid?) at various poll sties across the country.

This is fascinating stuff, and now that the Democrats have at least some control over Congress, we are starting to see investigations that the Republicans stonewalled time after time. Watch in the months to come, how these same Republicans will finger-wag about the shameful goings on with the American electoral process. You will wonder why these people did not tackle the problem when they had the majority and the power to do something about it. Were they cowardly and venal, or did they simply not care? Likely all three. At any rate, Ms. Harris and her cohorts deserve our gratitude. By the way, before your pooh-pooh Hacking Democracy as Democratic propaganda, note that there are Republican candidates shown in the film who question what was going on just as loudly and angrily as any of the Democrats. In the final analysis, fixing the vote goes against us all, and Hacking Democracy is surely as important a documentary as any in the past year.

See also: American Blackout; Unprecedented.