Documentary on e-voting fraud makes Bay Area debut

By Josh Richman, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 01/15/2008 06:13:14 PM PST

A documentary about electronic-voting fraud will have its Bay Area theatrical premiere Thursday in Oakland.

``Uncounted,'' produced, directed and written by David Earnhardt, claims to expose ``how Americans were cheated during the 2004 and 2006 elections and how enraged voters have turned their anger into citizen activism ... to safeguard the vote,'' according the filmmaker's synopsis.

``Eyewitness accounts from whistleblowers are backed up by election experts,'' the synopsis says, ``in revealing how Jim Crow tactics, electronic voting machine security breaches, vote count manipulation and illegal behavior by a major voting machine manufacturer all threaten the very core of our democracy.''

The film hits close to home here: It includes a segment about how former Oakland Tribune reporter Ian Hoffman published stories based on leaked documents detailing illegal activities by voting-machine manufacturer Diebold Election Systems Inc. The Texas-based international law firm Jones Day sued MediaNews Group _ the Denver-based parent company of the Tribune and The Argus _ and Hoffman in April 2004 over Hoffman's article detailing how the firm had warned its client, Diebold, in 2003 that its use of uncertified vote-counting software in Alameda County violated California election law and its $12.7 million contract.

The article was based on internal legal memos, obtained by The Tribune, that show Jones Day attorneys in Los Angeles for months explored ways to keep the nation's second-largest electronic voting provider from losing California's business, which makes up an eighth of the national market.

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http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_7980596