Every Vote Counts - If It's Counted.
On November 2, millions of Americans will vote on computers, many of which may be vulnerable to partisan hackers, disgruntled poll workers, or anyone else with a desire to alter the outcome of the election, writes Ronnie Dugger in the current issue of The Nation . "The result," he says, "could be the failure of an American presidential election and its collapse into suspicions, accusations and a civic fury that will make Florida 2000 seem like a family spat in the kitchen." Dugger's detailed analysis of the problems of electronic voting and the potential for fraud and error would seem to be a crucial election story of 2004, full of the stuff journalists love -- hints of skullduggery, cronyism, and conflicts of interest. But, with a few exceptions, the advent of e-voting has remained an issue hovering persistently beneath the media's radar.
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