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From: Wired News Daily [mailto:wiredmail-info@lists.wired.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2004 2:15 AM
To: Wired News Daily
Subject: Special Report: How Electronic Voting Threatens Democracy


Note: For specific feedback on this alert, please send it to:
wiredpr@wired.com

Dear Readers,

Today Wired News is running a special report entitled, "How Electronic
Voting Threatens Democracy"
(Full story:
http://go.hotwired.com/news/evote/0,2645,62790,00.html/wn_ascii_se).
The story, an in-depth look at the growing controversy surrounding
electronic voting machines and the companies that manufacture them, raises
important questions about the security of our voting system in this
presidential election year. I'm sending out this e-mail so you'll be sure to
read the piece.

Electronic voting has been touted as the solution to the hanging chad
debacle of the 2000 presidential race. With funding from Congress, voting
officials across the country have been aggressively adopting e-voting in
their districts. It's estimated that about 50 million people will vote on a
paperless touch-screen voting machine this year; another 55 million will use
optical scan machines that require voters to use a pen to mark a paper
ballot, which the machine then scans.

Yet there's mounting evidence these machines are far from secure. In today's
story, Senior Reporter Kim Zetter writes about how that evidence came to
light over the past year. Zetter documents election glitches, including
machines that sometimes fail to boot up, fail to record votes or even record
them for the wrong candidates.

Her story also raises serious concerns about the people behind the machines,
including the partisan loyalty of e-voting company executives. It's no
wonder that computer scientists, election officials and activists are
wondering whether electronic voting can be trusted.

You'll notice that Zetter's story, which took several months to produce, is
longer than most you read on Wired News. That's because the topic is
complex, involving many people, companies and details. Ultimately, however,
it shines a light on one of the more important technology stories -- I might
say stories, period -- of this election year.

Sincerely,

David Ian Miller, Wired News managing editor

Note: For specific feedback on this alert, please send it to:
wiredpr@wired.com