Activists protest electronic voting

Opponents of the technology gather at the Capitol and question exit-poll data

By Heath Urie
Denver Post 21 November 2004

About 200 protesters and curious onlookers stood at the steps of the state Capitol on Saturday, with protesters toting signs that read "the machine ate my vote" and "paper ballots protect democracy."

Organizers said the presidential election results are tainted because electronic voting machines in parts of the country were inaccurate or biased.

"There's no reason that any reasonable person should have any confidence in this election," said Alan Gilbert, a political science professor at the University of Denver. "We voted on machines that were provided by a private company and were not subject to public review. This is a very, very serious thing."

The electronic voting machines, used by about one-third of Americans this year, don't leave a paper trail that can be accounted for. That could have made the difference during this year's election for Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry, said Gilbert, who said he once taught secretary of state nominee Condoleezza Rice.

President Bush's margin of victory was roughly 3.5 million votes.

In addition to protesting the new voting technology, the group said exit-poll data was off as much as six points from the official results in swing states, which could be a signal of voter fraud.

"Exit-poll data has never been inaccurate in the U.S.," Gilbert said. "This is a new level of unfairness in American elections."

Mark Blumenthal, a nationally recognized political pollster who created www.mysterypollster.com , urged patience on his website Friday for those criticizing early exit-poll data.

"We have not yet seen any empirical evidence in the exit polls to prove the existence of vote fraud, nor any evidence that the exit-poll discrepancy can be explained by any such fraud," Blumenthal said.

Matt Bennett, a 29-year-old Denver resident, said he went to the rally because he didn't trust the electronic systems used in this years general election.

"There are some questionable results that came out of this election," Bennett said. "A lot of questions about the system aren't being asked."