ZDNet UK: Michael Moore attacks e-voting

["Alan Crandall" <ipix@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/emergingtech/0,39020357,39117755,00.htm

 Michael Moore attacks e-voting  Andrew Donoghue   Controversial US
documentary maker and author Michael Moore has lambasted
electronic voting machines being used in some US states, claiming the
technology is inherently open to misuse. Speaking at an event to publicise
his latest book, Dude: Where's my country?,
in London's Palladium theatre on Sunday, Moore attacked one of the main US
voting-machine manufacturers, Diebold, for its links to the Bush
administration. It  has been revealed that the
company's chief
executive Walden O'Dell is a major fundraiser for the Republican Party
O'Dell came in for criticism recently when he claimed in a letter to be
"committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next
year". Moore ridiculed the variety of voting technologies used in the US,
claiming
the pencil-and-paper systems used in countries such as the UK and Canada
were
the still the best method of avoiding vote-rigging.  "In Canada they mark an
X in a box, and then people sit and count the votes
by hand with representatives of the various parties watching everything.
There are hardly any roads north of Toronto but the Canadians manage to get
all their votes in four hours after the ballots close," he said. Jokingly,
he asked for someone in the UK audience to explain to him in detail
how exactly to put a cross in a box so that he could report the intricacies
of the system to US authorities.

Moore also took mobile giant Orange to task, after finding the stage for the
book-reading event festooned with banners advertising the UK company. The
film maker, who is vocally anti-big business, seemed unaware the mobile
operator was sponsoring the event until he came on stage and noticed the
banners.  Moore twisted one of the 20 ft canvas signs around so that the
Orange logo
was no longer visible, amid cheers from the packed auditorium. He then
denied
any knowledge of a sponsorship deals with the company. "Who the hell are
Orange -- are they some kind of phone company? " he said.
"No one sponsors me." The author, who has seen his personal fortune rocket
amid huge sales of
his books worldwide, later apologised to the audience for the prominent
onstage advertising.  Later in the hour-long event, Moore revealed he is
currently filming another
documentary following on from the Oscar-winning "Bowling for Columbine"
called "Fahrenheit 9/11," which is due for release next summer.